The Cost of Autism....Too Many Families Have More Than One Child With Autism. Watch this CBS News Story on Autism June 21, 2009

This link is a story about a family with three children diagnosed with autism, which is too close to home for us. What really saddens me is that this is becoming way too common. I know that some people think that people who have children with autism must have had something wrong with them to produce children with such defects and so don’t worry about people like us. But let me tell you…. it CAN happen to anyone! The statistics are real, the ratio’s are growing substantially, the pain is real and lonely and the cost is astronomical! I don't even keep track of what we pay for our kids' therapy because it would be too devastating.

All we do is try to mainly focus on the benefits and results they are getting from our therapy of choice and worry about how to pay the bills later. We are lucky, however, because we don't have a mortgage and currently own our house outright. I shudder to think what it would have been like should we have had a mortgage, especially given the fact we are on the pension because Shane suffers chronic and debilitating migraines and I had to leave my career in Human Resource Management to care for the kids and manage their therapy, etc, etc, etc.

Even though this story applies to American health insurance, the situation is not much better here in Australia. Our kids need hours of therapy (40 hours of one-on-one therapy a week they say), which we would exhaust all our insurance and Medicare benefits in just weeks if we paid someone to do this. My family's only choice was that I leave my respectfully paying job to do the therapy myself. All I get for the 40 hours of therapy x 3 (=120 hours) each week is approx $275 AU. On average, it costs $100 AU an hour for a therapist. Therefore, my time is worth $12,000 per week and a staggering and unbelievable $624,000 AU a year. WOW..... IF ONLY!

Heartbreaking to know that families are doing work worth this kind of money only to lose their homes and everything they have. I can't tell you how much this situation saddens me. God Bless all the families who are facing this type of crisis and God Bless all families & individuals living with ASD. Allison xxx
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5101616n

Welcome to Autism Global Network's Blog

Our Story

Autism Global Network was born in March 2009 as a result of the struggles and triumphs we have experienced as a family since our three beautiful children were all diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum in July 2007. Kristie, who was 8 at the time, was diagnosed as having Asperger's Syndrome. Our identical twin sons, Jacob and Aaron, were diagnosed as having Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
We quickly realised that little was known by the community and the medical profession about autism and other related conditions. Sadly, this meant that there wasn’t much available in terms of services to help us and so we decided to embrace autism and do everything we could to give all of our children the opportunity to be the best that they can be.We are very proud to say that through team work as a family in combination with everyone in our support network,the children have made inspirational progress.
We dedicate this website to the families across the globe that are living with ASD and the many other related conditions, some of which include: ADD, ADHD, PDD-NOS, dyslexia and epilepsy. Our goal is to share the knowledge and experience that we, along with other families and professionals have gainedas a global network. We hope that the sharing of information and experiences will unite everyone to create a more powerful support network and make life that bit easier for families living with these conditions.
We do not plan to rest on our laurels and will keep researching and learning as much as we can to help save you the time and effort required to do this. Although we can’t be in your homes helping out with the housework, therapy, medical regimes, diet/cooking processes and emotional issues that is a part of your everyday life, we can be here to share our experiences with you and hopefully save you time by providing a NETWORK of quality information, advice and support.
All the best for your own personal journey.
Love Shane, Allison, Kristie, Jacob and Aaron Dix
(South Australia, Australia)


About Us...

"Autism Global Network is an innovative and dynamic organisation that provides knowledge, support, care and understanding to people dealing with autism to enable enhanced opportunities for social inclusion and quality of life. With our drive and passion, we strive to advocate for the human rights of our families and promote community awareness and inclusion at every opportunity."