Health Community
Speak Up for Kids!
As part of National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, you can make a difference in your community for children who may not be getting the mental health services they need. Participate in the nationwide Speak Up for Kids Campaign in partnership with the Child Mind Institute, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and others. The campaign recruits psychologists and other mental health professionals to give presentations in their local communities about various mental, emotional, behavioral and learning disorders in children and teens. Presentations will be scheduled during National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, May 6-12, 2012.
An estimated 15 million young people in the United States have a diagnosable mental or emotional health disorder but studies report that up to 80 percent will never receive treatment. As many psychologists see firsthand, lack of information and stigma prevent many parents from seeking help for children who need mental health care. One way to break down this barrier is to educate parents and teachers about mental and emotional health disorders and other issues related to raising healthy, happy kids.
Light It Up Blue for Autism Awareness Month
Autism Numbers Skyrocket
Reposted from On Point with Tom Ashbrook, Boston’s npr news station
The new numbers from the Centers for Disease Control last week on autism were absolutely arresting. In their latest survey, 1 in 88 American children were found diagnosed with autism and related disorders. One in 54 American boys, on the autism spectrum.
The numbers were stunning in themselves, and far higher than prevalence rates found just a handful of years ago. Maybe it’s all about rates of diagnosis. Or ways of defining autism. Maybe it’s not. But it’s got our full attention.
LISTEN NOW
Highlights
The new numbers on autism are scary: One in 88 children falls someplace on the autism disorder spectrum, according to the latest from the Centers for Disease Control. “We do have a public health crisis,” said Geraldine Dawson, the chief science officer for the advocacy group Autism Speaks. She called for a coordinated national response, more research, earlier screening, and better treatment.
