UPMC Receives $250,000 for Autism Network Site

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has received $250,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare to create an autism treatment network site.

The site, a start-up of Autism Speaks, will offer comprehensive diagnosis, treatment, care and counseling for children and teens with autism spectrum disorders.

The money “was critical in demonstrating the support from the state for this effort to develop national evidence-based guidelines for the assessment and treatment of autism, and for recognizing autism as a neurological disorder with medical complications,” said Dr. Nancy J. Minshew, a psychiatry and neurology professor and director of the NIH Autism Center of Excellence and Collaborative Program of Excellence at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.

The site would be part of a group of 15 hospitals and medical centers in the United States and Canada working to improve medical care for children and adolescents with autism disorders and to standardizing their care.

Families receiving care at these sites can participate in a data registry that tracks those receiving care. The information is part of developing evidence to create and substantiate clinical standards.

To learn more, visit www.autismspeaks.org/

Originally published by The Tribune-Review.

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