Tuesday, 27th March, 2012
Canada made an important and exciting step forward today with the announcement by the Federal Minister of Health, the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, of the funding of a Chair in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) Treatment and Care Research Program within the Canadian Institute of Health Research.
There are many efforts underway across the Provinces in an attempt to address this rising health challenge. Although not billed as such, the importance of this announcement is that it marks the first concrete move by the Federal Government toward a complementary national focus on autism.
As a first step, it's an appropriate move forward: gathering and analyzing the national data associated with this burgeoning human, social and economic issue and, as the announcement highlights, "bringing innovative approaches to the treatment and/or care of autism spectrum disorders."
The challenges of autism don't stop at provincial or national borders, and neither should the sound data, nor the good ideas. The measure of success of this new Chair and its program will be the degree to which the new insights and approaches result in improvements to the care and prospects of the children, youth and adults with autism spectrum disorders.
The Chair and its program is a welcome addition, helping those with autism be the best that they can be.
Suzanne Jacobson
Founder and President
QuickStart - Early Intervention for Autism
New Autism Research Chair