Panel OKs bill to help autistic kids

A bill that would provide $6.4 million toward autism treatment and education in Nevada passed through the Committee on Health and Human Services on Friday.

Supported by first lady Dawn Gibbons and Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, Assembly Bill 525 would allocate $5.2 million over two years to the state Department of Health and Human Services to help parents of autistic children pay for their treatment.

Autism experts estimate that the cost of home-based behavioral programs for the average family is $40,000 to $80,000 a year.

The bill would have allocated $1.2 million to the Las Vegas-based Lili Claire Foundation, which assists children and their families with diagnosis and therapy, but that portion of the bill was amended. The state's Department of Health and Human Services, which is charged with distributing those funds, wanted other foundations to have access to the money. These foundations provide free services for autistic children.

Foundations seeking to obtain funds would have to submit a proposal to the state's Department of Health and Human Services.

Also amended were several sections that would have allowed holders of Nevada driver's licenses or identification cards the opportunity to indicate on either of them whether they wish to donate tissue for autism research. Those sections were removed because they are already in state statutes.

According to a recent report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in every 150 U.S. children has autism, but not much is understood about the disorder. Autism could be caused by genetic or environmental factors, but evidence shows that therapy at an early age can help.

Without early intervention, autism treatment could cost up to $4 million over an individual's lifetime, health officials say.