upFRONT spring 07.FINAL.rev - University of Pennsylvania School ...

The national CADDRE study will examine
children between the ages of three-to-five
years and their parents. The PA-CADDRE also
conducts research with toddlers between 18-
to-24 months for early signs of ASDs. “Among
the factors we are looking at are what might
happen to a mother when pregnant or
something that might have happened to a
child shortly after birth,” says Dr. Giarelli.
The CADDREs conduct surveillance studies of
ASDs and other developmental disabilities
with the CDC’s 10-site Autism and
Developmental Disabilities Monitoring
Network (ADDM). The ADDM sites are the
Alabama Autism Surveillance Program;
Arizona Autism Spectrum Surveillance
Program; Arkansas Autism Project; University
of Miami (Florida) Autism and Developmental
Disabilities Monitoring Project; Missouri/
Illinois Autism and Developmental
Disabilities Monitoring Project; New Jersey
Autism Study; South Carolina Developmental
Disabilities Surveillance Program; Utah
Registry of Autism and Developmental
Disabilities; West Virginia Autism Study; and
the Wisconsin Surveillance of Autism and
Other Developmental Disorders System. The
PA-CADDRE arm of the ADDM network is the
Pennsylvania Autism and Developmental
Disabilities Surveillance Program (PAADSP).
“PADDSP is a multi-source, multi-year project
to determine and monitor the prevalence of
ASDs in children born in Philadelphia County
between January 1-December 31, 1998 and
were eight years old in 2006, and children born
in Philadelphia County between January 1-
December 31, 2000 and who will be eight
years old in 2008,” says Dr. Giarelli. “We
determine the ASD rate of prevalence by
accessing health records of the children from
hospitals, healthcare providers, and other
medical centers.” The results are based on
comparisons to diagnostic criteria for ASDs.
Children are not identified and not formally
evaluated for ASDs. PADDSP works with the
Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare
to expand educational activities to improve
public and professional awareness and
screening of ASDs.
“We hope that the data will lead to a
standardization of the practice of screening
children for ASDs during routine pediatric
care,” says Dr. Pinto-Martin. “Earlier
detection and education will allow
healthcare providers to be able to help
children and their families when it is most
beneficial, in the first few years of life. It
could also lead to equalizing the level of care
so that children of all races with ASDs get
the help they need.”
When Ms. Pereles organized her first 5K race
to benefit the CAN Foundation in 2001, she
was told she would lose money. Not willing
to accept defeat, she secured many sponsors
and 1,200 participants, raising $100,000 net
for the CAN Foundation. Last year, the sixth
annual event raised almost $200,000.
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Susan Pereles and her family (clockwise from left): Sons Luke and Noah, husband Dan, C ’83,
Med ’87, and daughter Grace.