Need Statement

According to the website, Autism Society: Improving The Lives of All Affected by Autism, "1 percent of the population of children in the U.S. ages 3-17 have an autism spectrum disorder" (from Pediatrics. 2009, quoted in Autism Society), and according to Andre T. Cavagnaro of the California Health Services Agency in 2007, autism is now the "fastest-growing developmental disability, [with a] 1,148% growth rate." (Autistic Spectrum Disorders: Changes in the California Caseload, also quoted in Autism Society)

In addition, The Center For Disease Control (CDC) website (2013), in concurrence with the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD), notes that that from the year 2000 to the year 2008, there was a marked increase in children with autism...from 1 in 150 to 1 in 88. This is an over 50 percent increase in the number of autism diagnoses in less than a 10-year period.

The issue of autism and the exposure and/or appreciation in music and other performing arts (and this includes visual arts like drawing) are important because generally people with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) often require long-term intervention by professionals inside a special education school before these people with ASD end up fully institutionalized in a halfway house or other mental institution facility outside of a special education school environment. Institutionalization can be costly to taxpayers, so with alternative ways of helping those with ASD, at least, they can try to inspire themselves to create their own artistic works.

In light of the continued financial cutbacks to state-supported mental facilities (which worsened with the stock market crash of 2008), our activities and strategies in Celebration of Joy, Inc. would be a great way of channeling these unfortunate events mentioned above. We will be going right into the public, private, and even parochial K-12 schools that usually have people with ASD who could end up in an institution later on, which in turn, adds to the health care costs to help people with ASD inside an institution.

Moreover, according to a website article from the American Music Therapy Association Inc. in 2006 ("Music Therapy and Music Education: Meeting The Needs of Children With Disabilities"), it can be inferred that music therapy--as well as appreciation and exposure to other performing arts---can be a powerful way for those with ASD to recognize their strengths and talents in a more positive way, which in turn can appease the negative effects of ASD.

Adding to that, In this world of trying to avoid having negative labels for people who do have autism, the way to do this is to channel people with ASD that they turn their "disabilities" into "abilities".