FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Fort Carson's main gate joined famous landmarks around the world such as the Empire State Building, the Great Sphinx and Great Pyramids of Egypt in lighting up blue in recognition of World Autism Awareness Day April 2, 2015.
About 50 people braved strong winds and freezing temperatures that night to celebrate the Fort Carson lighting, the first time the post has gone blue for autism awareness.
"I am absolutely thrilled that we're able to do this," said Susan Moyer, Exceptional Family Member Program manager, Army Community Service.
Angie Petit and her husband, Sgt. Kelly Petit, Company B, 299th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, were there with their son, Hugo.
"Whether you have a supportive Family or you don't … nobody has to go through this alone, and I think by them lighting up that sign, it's showing (Families with autistic children), look at the community that's supporting you," she said. "There's other Families here that are impacted. You can reach out and not feel alone."
World Autism Awareness Day was declared by the United Nations in 2007 to help bring attention to a condition that affects millions of families around the world.
"People need to be educated," Moyer said. "(Maybe) there's a child who's having a meltdown, and somebody will walk by and say that parent just needs to go to parenting class or needs to discipline their child. Well, it could be that that child is on the autism spectrum, has sensory overload because there's too many people. It's too bright in the (store). It's too loud. And people need to be educated that that's not a parenting issue. That child has a legitimate medical condition and is responding to it in the only way that child knows how."
Autism spectrum disorder is a group of developmental dis�abilities that can cause social, communication and behavioral challenges. It affects about one in 68 children in all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups, is almost five times more common in boys than girls and is not caused by vaccines, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Children with autism can range from those who are high-functioning with what was called Asperger's Syndrome to those who are completely unable to speak or complete normal activities of life, such as brushing their teeth or getting dressed.
There is no cure, but treatment often uses applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapy, along with physical and occupational therapy, as necessary.
"(ABA) is to help them function in society," Moyer said. "It's very intensive, very structured."
Therapy is often done several times a week for several hours at a time.
"Some therapy is done in the clinical setting. Some therapy is in the home setting with the hope that the parents continue some of the (methods) and actually model what the ABA therapist has done," she said.
Fort Carson has about 300 autistic children enrolled in the Exceptional Family Member Program, Moyer said.
"I suspect there are many, many more (who are not enrolled)," she said.
Sometimes autism is misdiagnosed in children as attention deficit hyper�activity disorder or other disorders. "Increasingly it's being diagnosed in older children who have been diagnosed with something else," Moyer said. "Then after a thorough evaluation, they find out that the child had autism. They get the appropriate treatment in place for autism, such as ABA … when you treat it for what it is and get the right therapies and treatment in place, it's amazing what'll happen."
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