By Sophie Pappas
Autism is on the rise, now affecting 1 out of every 68 children. According to a new study completed by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there has been a nearly 30 percent jump in autism rates in just two years.
Mary Rosswurm, a Zionsville resident and Executive Director of Little Star Center, Inc. in Carmel, knows the perils of autism well.
Little Star Center, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that helps the families and children affected by autism diagnoses every day.
She is also the mother of a 23 year-old autistic son, Brad.
Brad was diagnosed with a neurological condition at only four months old. It was then — nearly 20 years ago — that Mary first learned what autism was.
“They warned me that with the neurological condition, it could cause autism,” she said. “But this was before the Internet, so all I had was two or three sentences in a book at the library. And the book didn’t paint a very good picture.”
Mary said she tried going to support groups, after feeling the blow of what her son’s life could look like.
“I really thought my world was over,” Mary said. “I felt like there was this black cloud that would never go away. But my mom came to my bed one day and said, ‘You have to get up, you have two small children.’ So then I decided I would make every opportunity to give Brad the best life.”
Her older son, Ryan, was only three years old when she began caring for all of Brad’s medical needs. Mary said it affected her whole family; which is one reason why she is such an advocate for Little Star Center.
“Twenty years ago the support groups were like a pity party,” she said. “But Little Star offers advice and mental support, even over the phone, for moms dealing with an autism diagnosis.”
Little Star Center offers intensive autism intervention based on the principles of applied behavioral analysis and verbal behavior.
Mary said that autism has changed the face of childhood in America and around the world.
“Everyone is affected by it,” she said.
When her son Brad was born, 1 out of every 10,000 children was thought to be autistic. In 2000, it was 1 out of every 110.
Mary is cautious to make a claim as to why these numbers have increased, but said that she doesn’t believe it is because of vaccinations, as some celebrities have declared.
“50 percent of this increase is about better knowledge and better diagnosis, but that’s not all,” Mary said. “There’s still something out there that we haven’t discovered. These autism rates are even in countries outside of America that don’t vaccinate like we do. And none of the scientific studies show any correlation with vaccines and autism.”
To support children with autism, visit www.littlestarcenter.org.
