UW receives $10 million to study autism
A $5 million donation from a Microsoft executive, coupled with a matching $5 million gift from an anonymous donor, will be used to establish a center for the study and treatment of autism at the University of Washington.
June 7, 2000 -- by Benjamin Shors, Seattle Times staff reporter
seattletimes.nwsource.com
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... The donation ... is the largest private gift ever made to the UW for the study of a specific disorder.
... the Autism Center will be established at the university's Center on Human Development and Disability and will be a place where parents of autistic children can learn, health officials can be trained and the newest research can be put to use.
The facility also will provide early treatment services for children with autism and increase public awareness of the disease.
Autism, a neurological disorder manifested in the first three years of life, affects one in 500, making it more common that childhood cancer, deafness and Down syndrome, said Dr. Geraldine Dawson, a UW professor of psychology who will be the director of the new center.
Autism often results in severe mental retardation and the inability to speak or form social relationships. But Dawson said intensive intervention when a child is young can increase a child's IQ by an average of 28 points. ...
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The last decade has seen an increase in the number of children with autism, an illness thought to have genetic roots but which may also be affected by environmental conditions, Dawson said.
"One of the most exciting recent discoveries is that autism is a treatable disorder," Dawson said. "Unfortunately most health professionals do not recognize autism until the child is 4 years of age when the optimal time for treatment has passed."
Commonly characterized by a child's failure to make eye contact, autism can be diagnosed as early as 12 months. ... |
