Unlocking secrets of autism treatment

It's a disease with unknown causes, no known cure and treatments as varied as the minds forced to live with it.

Success for a person with autism can be measured by something as simple as being able to sit quietly through dinner at a restaurant - something it may take years for that person to learn.

And if one form of therapy is more successful than another in unlocking minds and personalities trapped by the ailment, executive director Frederica Blausten and her Association for Metroarea Autistic Children (AMAC) staff will probably be a part of finding it.

Autism is a developmental disorder "characterized by impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, and unusual, repetitive or severely limited activities and interests," says the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes Web site.

"There are all sorts of public policy definitions of autism," Blausten said. "It is a neurodevelopmental disorder that primarily affects social and emotional development, socialization skills, social interactions and language.

"We do not know what causes autism, and there is no biological test where you can take blood and say, 'Aha! You're autistic.' Diagnoses are made by observable functions and behaviors, which makes it [diagnosis] so difficult."

AMAC's W. 17th St. facility is all about observing the several hundred students - ranging in age from pre-schoolers to people in their 40s - and designing treatments for each.

Classrooms and hallways are equipped with video cameras that record all students and teachers as they go about the school day.

Observations from those videos are teamed with meticulous classroom notes and daily student evaluation reports done by teachers to design individual student treatment therapies, Blausten said.

Dr. Nyla Lamm, AMAC's director of research and applied behavior analysis training, then crunches the report numbers to see not only what therapies work, but which teachers are more effective.

"If we have something that is really working, we want to get it out there so more people can use it," Lamm said.

Said Blausten: "We have a saying: You do not get a raise for getting older; you get a raise for getting better.'"

Nothing proves what works like results: last week, several AMAC students took the state Regents exams in several subjects.

That success could figure in why Blausten is now reviewing 120 applications for 40 student openings.

"Our goal is to move people out when they are ready," she said.

Though stung, like most nonprofit groups, by a recession-fueled drop in donations, AMAC has continued several initiatives.

In September, AMAC will hold opening ceremonies for a two-building, full-time facility for adult men with autism on 129th St. in Harlem.

In August, it will again operate Camp AMAC - billed as the the only camp for autistic children on the East Coast - at Alpine, N.J.

The two-week camp "gives students and their families a much-needed break," Blausten said. "We get camp applications from around the country."

To learn more about AMAC or to make a donation, call (212) 645-5005, or see the Web site www.amac.org. crichardson@nydailynews.com

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