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1ST CENTER FOR TREATMENT/RESEARCH OF AUTISM TOGETHER IN USA DEBUTS IN WHITE PLAINS

The New York Presbyterian Hospital Center for Autism and the Developing Brain in White Plains as it was dedicated today (ABOVE). 

Dr. Catherine Lord, Director of the new Center for Autism and Dr. Steven Corwin, CEO of NYPH, and Laura Slatkin, Co-Founder of New York Collaborates for Autism cut the ribbon dedicating the $11 Million facility this morning

Dr. Lord, in an exclusive interview with WPCNR said,   ” I think there are other facilities that do parts of this: There are other facilities that are more reseach-oriented  and other facilities that do the clinical part. What we represent is this blend of clinical research so  our research is really about what treatments work and how can we describe kids and how we can identify strengths and weaknesses. We are affiliated with a number of  neuro-biological researchers but we don’t do that here.  Many of the centers around the country are really more focused on the neuro-biological. We really hope  we’ll be a resource center, sort of a hub both to develop other kinds of programs in Westchester and the New York area and we’re very involved in the national and international research.”

Lord said “The treatment of the individual is the key; the research is really important to us , but we’re going to start with how can we do the best service we can.”

Dr. Philip Wilner,  Medical Director of Behavorial Health for the New York Presbyterian Hospital  explained the Center for Autism difference: “It’s a clinical treatment center where we’ll be doing assessments for people across the life span. People could come when they are very small and first diagnosed with autism We will help establish a good treatment plan after a good diagnosis is achieved and help people take that treatment plan into their community. People will stay a part of our community so they’ll be able to come back when they need further consultation so if a child moves into school age years say, 6 or 7, they can come back for further assessment and development and advancement of their treatment plan. Teenage years they can come back, and we will take care of individuals through the adult years. That’s one of the very unique elements of the program to take care of individuals on autism spectrum across their entire life span. We’re committed to providing ongoing plans for adults as well. Over time as we develop more phases to the Center program we’ll do much more with vocational rehabilitation, independent living to allow people to achieve as many skills as possible, moving into adult years. Our goal is collaboration and partnership. We will look towards collaborating and partnering with other people (and organizations).”

Lord gave WPCNR insight on what’s ahead:  ” We’ve been trying to visit as many places  as we can both in Westchester and surrounding areas, some in Manhattan and to some extent even Brooklyn and the Bronx. We been trying to get acquainted with people that conduct other kinds of services. The NYPH has a resource and liaison center and are trying to deal with the same kinds of things on the state level.

In the next year, we should have programs that will be up and running and  should have the main programs available to people, and have patients coming through on a regular basis. We hope we’ll sort out how much we can do through (people’s) insurance. We want to take as much insurance as we can.  We can see families on Medicaid. The idea is really to see all payers.”

She said the Center expected  to service 200 new kids this year.and continue to see them to the point where the center would be handling thousands.

The Center presently has a staff of 28 and a research staff of 20. Four more persons, she said are committed to coming to handle the preschool program, some social workers, and Occupational Therapy.

The donors for this building Center, Lord said raised the bulk of funds, and those donors are Laura Slatkin, founder of New York Collaborates for Autism, Marilyn and Jim Simons of the Simons Foundation, Autism Speaks and the Mortimer D. Sackler Foundation. Lord said the donors have committed to support the Center for 10 years. The cost (of operations) is split between the donors and New York Presbyterian Hospital The Center costs $2 Million a year to run, Lord said.

Lord told WPCNR  what can be expected when the doors officially open in a matter of weeks:  “We’ll begin services, see kids and adults for assessments. We’ll start various treatments, so we’ll have behavior management. We’ll have early intervention starting  at some point in the next few months.We will have a Milestones and Transitions Program helping families think about what is coming up, families of kids of different ages, and we’ll also have groups with typical peers all the way down to young children and separate groups for adults.”

Autism has been growing at an exponential rate national. Currently according to the Center for Disease Control Prevention, 1 in every 88 children in 2012 was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, up 23% since 2009. The cause of this increase is not well understood.

Lord described what she views autism as: “What Autism happens is a combination of particular behavioral difficulties that happen to occur together and when they occur together, they really change the lives of a person who has these things together. So they are clearly caused by a variety of different things, whether there is a final common pathway where you could have various genetic conditions or environmental things and they all cause the same thing, and that yields to the same behavior, or it just happens to be different causes result in the same behavior, we don’t know. It is not a disease. It really isn’t one cause. It’s not infectious. It’s really probably something that happens really early in brain development.”

“We do have families who have already called (the Center), and we are ready as soon as we are open to contact them. We will see everybody. They should call, and someone will call and talk to them about what they want and we’ll have them come in and go through with them what exactly we do and how that fits with what they need.”

The number to call at the Center is (914) 997-5848 or go to www.nyp.org/autism.