From the New York Daily News, New York Times, New York Post and elsewhere:

A bus driver and matron have been arrested in the case of a 3-year-old boy with autism who was left unattended on a Bronx school bus for a full school day. Jose Gabriel Lopez was discovered missing when his mother went to pick him up at school and was told that he had never arrived. Police found him dehydrated and hungry, still strapped in his carseat on the bus.

An editorial in the New York Daily News said the incident is…

… just the latest shameful example of drivers forgetting children entrusted to their care.

The Daily News investigations team has documented dozens of cases of children who fell asleep on school buses and woke up, alone, in dark parking lots. Or were dropped off far from home.

See also:

Guy who left kid on bus had booze raps — New York Daily News

From CNN:

Parents of children with autism say their budgets are being broken by the cost of therapies for their children, which can exceed their family’s income. The Autism Society of America is now estimating that a family’s lifetime costs for a child with autism can reach as high as $5 million.

Over the past few years, under pressure from parents, states have been adopting legislation that would require insurance companies to cover the medical cost of treating autism. Many of the bills already passed around the country mandate applied behavior analysis or ABA, a controversial technique that some health plans consider experimental.

The insurance industry opposes such mandates, arguing that they will drive up the cost of health care for everyone. But parents say it’s time to stand up for their kids.

Carol Nunez of Potomac Falls, Va, (above) says monthly cost of therapies for her son Ethan is more than the family’s income.

Earlier posts here.

(CNN photo)

From the New York Times Magazine:

About two dozen schools around the country are using a new, creative and highly interactive teaching method to reach teenagers with autism spectrum disorder. Known as D.I.R./Floortime, it is based on the work of two George Washington University researchers and is getting “striking results.”

Most programs for young people with autism use an approach called Applied Behavior Analysis, but critics worry that ABA focuses on modifying symptoms rather than addressing underlying disabilities.

Writer Melissa Fay Greene observes the action at The Community School in Decatur, Georgia.

(Ty Martin at The Community School, New York Times photo)

Janet Grillo, former board member of the Cure Autism Now Foundation, says in a Huffington Post column that she was moved to tears by Sarah Palin’s pledge to be an advocate for people with disabilities. Still, she says, Palin’s presence on the Republican ticket is no guarantee that John McCain will help people with autism. An excerpt:

Senator Obama told us that every autism advocate he has met, stresses the urgent need to increase funding for medical research. He was right to tell the American people that this essential work will cost money. … Piecemeal tax rebates will not cover health costs for our families, as they contend with this lifelong neurological disability. Tonight, John McCain told us that Governor Palin “knows more about autism than any other American I know.” Perhaps he should get out more.

Anne Sutton, writing for the Associated Press from Juneau, says programs and spending for children with disabilities “haven’t been a highlight” during Sarah Palin’s 21 months in office as Alaska’s governor.

The Department of Health and Social Services did not see its budget go up during her first year, although her second year brought a 6 percent increase.

The governor also pushed through an increase in education funds for severely disabled students, which rose from $26,900 to $49,300 per student this year. (The term “severely disabled student” was not defined.)

She approved the expenditure of $500,000 for diagnosing autism, and also $250,000 to train early intervention workers. But she cut in half a request for $550,000 for an indoor training facility for Special Olympics Alaska.

In an email interview with her hometown newspaper published September 30, Palin touted her record supporting children with disabilities.

“It is our hope that by providing the necessary funding support, we can touch more children with special needs who did not have opportunities before due to the prohibitive costs of providing the appropriate care,” Palin wrote to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

Earlier post here: Factcheckers say many claims about Palin are false, misleading

Los Angeles Times blogger Elizabeth Snead thinks McCain wasn’t mixed up in his comments during the debate last night. He just failed to point out that Sarah Palin has a family history of autism. An excerpt:

Palin doesn’t have an autistic child. Her youngest son has Down syndrome.

OMG! Does McCain not know the difference? Gotcha!

No, no he’s not senile. He just didn’t clarify that Sarah’s older sister, Heather, has an autistic son, age 13.

Also, two of her cousins in her extended family have children with autism/Asperger’s.

Earlier post here.

From CBC News [Canada]:

Ontario’s “piecemeal” approach to treating adults with autism leaves some of society’s most vulnerable people without the help they need, an advocacy group said in a paper released Wednesday. Autism Ontario said the region’s government needs to develop consistent policies to serve these people.

The paper, entitled “Forgotten,” called for plans to provide educational, employment and social opportunities, as well as supported living options.

Related story from the BBC News:

Northern Ireland’s National Autistic Society says seventy percent of adults with autism in Northern Ireland feel they do not get enough support. The organization launched a campaign entitled “I Exist” to advocate for approximately 17,000 adults with autism in the region.

Here’s the video.

See earlier post.