Investing in Autism

Investment Opportunities

Google and Autism Speaks are teaming up to find investors for Autism. In a report published by CNBC Private equity and venture capital firms TPG Biotech, Shore Capital Partners, Bay City Capital, Great Point Partners and Google Ventures, plus hedge fund Scopia Capital Management are among the investors slated to attend the 2014 Autism Investment Conference next week in San Francisco.

Funding for Autism has been well below the norm. Autism affects more people than those affected by diabetes, AIDS, cancer, cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy or Down syndrome—combined. According to the CDC one in 88 are diagnosed. Yet funding continues to be a struggle. The reasons may include that there is no known cure and there is no known single cause. There is treatment. Where there is treatment there is hope. Places like the FOCUS Center for Autism in Canton, Connecticut offer treatment using Milieu Therapy. Others use ABA Therapy (Applied Behavior Analysis).

The Need is Growing

Investment in treatment and educational specialists is a big need. Transitional services are going to be the next big wave as these children age out of the system at 18 and 21. Services are hard to come by after chidlren on the spectrum leave high school. Unemployment levels among young adults on the autism spectrum are quite high. Nearly seven years after high school, 35 percent of autistic young adults still had no paid employment or education beyond high school.  the National Autistic Society (UK) shows that 15% of people with autism have full-time jobs, compared to 57% of non-disabled individuals. 

Stem the Tide

It is understood in treatment circles that we are about to be hit by a tsunami of individuals on the spectrum reaching adulthood. There are too few services in place. Investment in treatment, educational services, job training, groups homes and other supportive services are essential.

FOCUS Center for Autism is a licensed Extended Day Treatment Program which runs an after school program, a Clinical Educational Support Program and a Summer Social Skills Immersion program. Each of these programs uses Milieu Therapy; a treatment model that utilizes a planned treatment environment in which everyday events and interpersonal interactions are opportunities for social learning. Through individual and group activities, children and adolescents receive the attention and support they need to develop social maturity, cope with the anxiety and frustration associated with having an Autism Spectrum Disorder, and learn to become successful academically and socially. Additionally, FOCUS runs two residential programs; one DCF Level II Therapeutic Group Home for boys aged 14-21 with Autism Spectrum Disorders and trauma, and one DMHAS Transitional Support House for young men aged 18-25 with Autism Spectrum Disorders and trauma.

Investments in FOCUS gladly accepted. 

Young Adults With Autism Less Likely to Have Jobs

Young Adults With Autism Less Likely to Have Jobs

Articles like this can be depressing. The statistics from the survey of young adults with disabilities don't offer much hope for jobs and independent living. Actually, there were two studies as reported on by HealthDay reporter Brenda Goodman. The first report focused on employment.

Researchers found that only about half of those with autism had ever held a job since high school, and only about a third were currently working. Even worse, young adults on the autism spectrum were less likely to be getting a paycheck than people the same age who had other kinds of disabilities. 

The second study focused on living arrangements. Researchers found that only 17 percent of young adults with autism, who were between 21 and 25 years old, had ever lived on their own. 

By comparison, 66 percent of kids with learning disabilities like dyslexia had lived by themselves, as had 62 percent of those who were emotionally disturbed, a category that includes anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder andeating disorders. Even those labeled as intellectually disabled, meaning they had a low IQ and slower mental processing, were about twice as likely to have lived on their own as young adults with autism

There Is Hope

If you dig deeper into the article, you'll find the situation is not hopeless.  Study author Paul Shattuck, an associate professor at the Drexel University School of Public Health, in Philadelphia points out that getting these children involved in social activities, extracurricular activities and community service increases their chances for employment. 

Alan Hilfer, director of psychology at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York thinks the study is right on target. He says kids with autism require intensive tutoring, coaching and mentoring to help them find and keep jobs.

In other words, services and treatment are the key to the future for 1.5 million children on the spectrum. They are rapidly approaching adulthood.

I'll be up front. I work for FOCUS Center for Autism. We offer treatment that includes coaching and mentoring. It also includes training in social skills and milieu therapy. "The milieu or “life space” is a planned treatment environment that is constantly supporting, nourishing and reinforcing a child’s ability to learn and grow. It is a “social incubator” if you will, in which every day events and interpersonal interactions are used as clinical opportunities for learning."  We're one of the few in Connecticut offering treatment on a daily basis. There needs to be much more so these young adults can be engaged and productive.