Grant helps detect autism in Latino community

Autism Grant Could Have Big Impact in Latino Neighborhoods
Centers for Disease Control Label It a ‘Health Crisis’
By HEATHER CHAMBERS San Diego Business Journal Staff

Until recently, a program run by UC San Diego’s Autism Center of Excellence could only go so far to help parents who suspected their child was at risk for the complex brain disorder.

Language barriers hampered the English-speaking staff’s ability to interact with San Diego’s populous Latino community. But researchers knew that autism, like other developmental disabilities, knows no racial divide. Autism spans all racial, ethnic and social backgrounds.

A relatively small grant given by the San Diego-based National Foundation for Autism Research is anticipated to make a big impact on autism diagnosis and treatment in San Diego, according to program executives.

The $43,000 grant provided UCSD’s ACE program with a part-time, Spanish-speaking psychologist, among other resources.

“Rates of treatment were being reported in all areas except in Latinos,” said Sharon Leon, co-founder of NFAR and mother to a 15-year-old son with autism. “And they are one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in our community.”

In an effort to reverse those trends, Leon said NFAR chose UCSD’s program, one of only six centers of excellence nationwide supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Using brain imaging of sleeping infants and small blood samples to identify genetic biomarkers, researcher Karen Pierce and her colleagues at UCSD are trying to understand the underlying causes of autism, one of the nation’s fastest growing, yet most elusive, developmental disabilities.

“We want to make clinical practice much more early so we can start treating these symptoms,” said Pierce, who acts as lead investigator and center director.

Autism is a complex brain disorder that impairs a person’s ability to communicate and socialize, and is often accompanied by extreme behavioral challenges. In California, there are an estimated 185,000 people living with autism. The state spends $320 million annually on autism treatment costs.

National Health Crisis

Growing rates of autism prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to call it a national public health crisis without a known cause or cure. The condition is more prevalent in children than childhood cancer, juvenile diabetes and pediatric AIDS combined.

Despite its growing prevalence, “It’s one of those diseases that has been less popularized,” said David Lightfoot, a director with the nonprofit Autism Speaks in San Diego.

Pierce, who received her master’s and doctorate degrees in experimental psychology, said she yearned to get a clearer picture of the complex disorder after getting punched by an autistic 16-year-old while on an outing to reward him for his good behavior. She shifted from treating autism to researching its underlying causes.