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Act Early Connecticut
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Spotlight
Act Early Ambassador for CT Selected
Tierney Giannotti has been selected to serve as an Act
Early Ambassador for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program.
Tierney will play an important role in educating Connecticut’s parents, healthcare professionals,
and early educators about early childhood development, warning signs of autism
and other developmental disabilities, and the importance of acting early on concerns
about a child’s development.
Read more...
- Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) - providing information and resources for healthcare providers
- Autism: Be a Family's Champion, Learn the Signs
- Autism Research: Read What CDC is Doing to Understand Autism
- What We've Learned about Autism Spectrum Disorder
- A Minute of Health with CDC - Autism Awareness
- A Cup of Health with CDC – Autism Awareness
- Autism Speaks - IACC April 11, 2011Meeting Summary
- USDA Cooperative Extension Service's Just in Time Parenting (JITP)
- Early Identification of ASD Module
- Autism Case Training (ACT): A Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Curriculum
- Learn the Signs Act Early
Legislative Forum on Developing Best Practices for Early Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders
The Connecticut Picture
The 2005 to 2006 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) estimated that approximately 133,073 children in Connecticut, ages 0 to 17, have special health care needs, representing approximately 16 percent of all children in the state. As of March 31, 2010, a total of 7,766 out of 9,043 children in the Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN) had been specifically diagnosed, with 1,001 having Autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, or Asperger’s as the primary diagnosis. The data indicates that 13 percent of CYSHCN consumers with a specific diagnosis in the database have ASDs, making it the single largest diagnostic group receiving services. Furthermore, the prevalence of children being diagnosed with ASD in Connecticut in 2000 was 1,377 students or 1.86 percent of children ages three to 21. This figure indicates a dramatic rise in the rate of prevalence of 6.36 percent for 2007 to 2008, or 4,387 children ages three to 21 (Easter Seals, 2009).
Birth to Three
Early intervention services or Birth to Three (Part C under IDEA) in Connecticut is administered by the Department of Developmental Services. There are currently a total of forty-four Birth to Three programs in Connecticut, including nine Autism specific programs. From July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010, Birth to Three served 9,591 children and families, including approximately 600 children between one to two years old with ASDs. One out of every 166 two-year-olds in Connecticut provided with Birth to Three services was designated as having ASDs.
Preschools
Services provided for preschoolers (age three to five) (Part B under IDEA) with ASDs in
Connecticut include a variety of services and service models individually
administered by local school systems. For the period of 2007 to 2008, a total of
587 out of 7,660 students in Part B preschools had a diagnosis of ASDs (OSEP,
2007).