Data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has shown that autism is affecting one out of every 68 persons and in the Philippines, one in every 100 Filipinos has brain-based autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that affects behavior, communication skills and social skills.

This means about one million Filipinos are afflicted with ASD with more and more children being forced to wait years for autism diagnoses and thus are being ‘robbed’ of their childhood due to the adverse impacts of the disorder.

Sources had detailed that one in six children seeking autism diagnosis in government facilities and public hospitals have waited more than four years while some have remained undiagnosed due to difficulties encountered by parents not only in detecting the ASD but also in the lack of a program that would address the issue.

Waits were even more catastrophic for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), with nearly one in four (23 percent) of children with the condition waiting more than four years for a diagnosis.

Children with cerebral palsy, a group of lifelong conditions that affect movement and co-ordination, faced the longest average wait for diagnosis that has been recorded at three years and four months.

One parent with an 11-year-old autistic child demonstrated the dire situation children, and their families faces.

“The (latest) findings are a stark reminder of the daily fight children and their families face seeking support for neurodevelopmental conditions like autism and ADHD, and how (our health) system has failed to keep pace with rising demand,” the mother, who requested anonymity, pointed out.

“These children face an invisible crisis, in a system that is working against itself by forcing families to jump through multiple hoops in a complex and lengthy process of assessment, diagnosis and intervention,” she added.

In ending, the parent underscored the need for a system that moves away from a reliance on diagnosis because failing to provide timely support is robbing children of their childhood and their potential.