Scott Haverlock kisses his son Adam, 9, at the dinner table on Tuesday. Adam is autistic. Photo by Samantha Clemens. Dr. Elizabeth Moore gives her son, Dennis Moore III, 6, a kiss Friday at the Moore Institute for Autism. She said her son's disorder was "one of the reasons we wanted to start this institution, to help other children and their families beat this.'' Photo by Sara Tramiel/Review-Journal. Adam Haverlock, 9, picks at his dinner on Tuesday. Adam, who is autistic, takes various medications to treat symptoms of autism. Photo by Samantha Clemens.

Every day Adam, Jaime and Peyton wake up, get dressed and head to school for another day of learning. Unlike most kids their age, Adam, 9, Jaime, 9, and Peyton, 8, face something that is a fear among parents today: They are autistic.

On good days, they thrive and function. They interact with others, respond when spoken to and are somewhat attentive to their surroundings.

But their bad days are a different story. They don't respond to their names, much less to simple parental demands. They show little or no desire to interact and play with their parents, siblings or other children. They can retreat to a corner of a room for no apparent reason and emotionally disappear.

"One day they are here, and the next day they regress into this awful world. Their souls are taken from us, and we are left with this little shell of a body,'' said Catina Haverlock, Adam's mother and president of Families of Effective Autism Treatment of Southern Nevada, FEAT, a nonprofit organization that provides education, advocacy and support to families of autistic children.

According to a recent report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 150 U.S. children has autism.

With no cure in sight and resources limited, especially in Nevada, Haverlock and other parents of autistic children here are calling the CDC's report a wake-up call. They urge Nevada legislators to find ways to bring more help to their children.

"We absolutely have a shortage of professionals. We need a regional location where our kids can get all the services they need, and we need additional funding for special education teachers, to name a few,'' said Diane Butler, Jaime's mother and a member of FEAT.

"We, as an organization, have known this was an epidemic for a long time,'' Butler said about FEAT. "It seems to be getting worse but yet it was cut out of our governor's budget, though the governor's wife has somewhat embraced this cause.''

Earlier this month Dawn Gibbons told the Review-Journal that autism would be her next issue to tackle. She already has been prominent in expressing concern about the state's methamphetamine problem.

She said the state has to look at supporting research and providing more services for autistic children and their families. The state's first lady plans to work with Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, and state Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, on the issue.

"When all of us found out the effect autism was having on our children in Nevada, we realized what a serious issue this is, and you can look at this in two ways,'' Randolph said. "One is the pure humanity side: How do we help someone who can't help themselves? Next, we have to look at it from an economic point of view. ... This is a huge drain on the economy which is through no fault of the parent or the child.''

Haverlock said the cost of home-based behavioral programs to the average family is $40,000 to $80,000 a year. Without early intervention, autism could cost up to $4 million over an individual's lifetime, she said.

Adding to the financial strain is the fact that insurance plans often refuse to pay for certain treatments such as speech therapy, something most autistic children need.

"Someone can get into a car accident, lose their ability to speak and an insurance company will step up and pay for years and years of speech therapy, but they won't pay for my son. That makes no sense,'' Haverlock said. "If a family cannot provide treatment, the child is not getting it. It's just not OK. Down the road somebody is going to pay.''

Leslie said helping families of autistic children acquire services will be a priority on March 1 when the Joint Budget Subcommittee on Human Resources meets. During that meeting, Leslie said there will be a hearing on reinstating a $4 million budget proposal to fund an autism decision unit. Parents of autistic children, advocates and legislators have been asking for this unit for several years now, Leslie said.

"It's not in the governor's budget but we need to bring it back,'' she said. "Last time, we just ran out of money and couldn't fund it.''

Leslie said this money would financially assist families of children with autism to pay for certain services such as speech and physical therapy.

Leslie also said she told Gibbons she plans in the near future to introduce a bill specific to autism that likely will include starting a statewide autism task force. Task force members, which would include parents, advocates, health care providers and legislators, would be asked to discuss Nevada's specific needs for autism services.

Additionally, Leslie said research proposals might be included in the bill.

"I've talked to several people and they have mentioned that in other states, on their (organ) donor cards, they have a special box where people can check off to donate brain tissue for autism,'' Leslie said. "I'd like to hear more about this because we know there needs to be more research involved.''

According to the CDC, autism is one of a group of disorders known as autism spectrum disorders, or ASDs. ASDs are developmental disorders that cause substantial impairments in social interaction and communication. To date, there is no known cause of autism nor is there a cure.

Children who are autistic typically begin showing signs by age 3. They often lose their ability to make sounds and walk, and their social skills disappear. No one child is the same, health officials say. Some children have more severe forms of ASDs than others. The disorder lasts a lifetime.

ASDs occur in all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups and boys are four times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with one. As of 2005, the state's Health Division estimated there were 4,007 autistic children in Nevada.

In the new report by the CDC, the autism rate in the United States was about 6.6 per 1,000. Last year, the CDC estimated the rate was 5.5 in 1,000.

In the 1980s, it was estimated that one in every 10,000 children was affected by autism.

Debra Vigil, associate professor of speech and audiology at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, said the CDC's new report is alarming, but the increase is in part attributable to more awareness of autism and better diagnostic practices.

"We do know that if we can get to these kids early they can be taught some very good interaction skills and can do a lot better by the time they reach kindergarten,'' Vigil said.

Vigil said the School of Medicine is working with the state's Department of Health and Human Services in developing more services for autistic children, such as early screenings, more treatment protocols and behavioral and educational programs.

The school is in the planning stages of creating a state Web site that provides parents information on services available in Nevada and on research and evidence-based treatment methods.

Such a Web site is needed because some parents are desperately turning to alternative treatment methods that have not been proven safe or effective.

For example, Vigil said some parents buy products such as saunas in hopes of treating the disorder.

"I was at a conference where someone said putting a child in a sauna for a few hours each day cures them of autism,'' she said. "There isn't a cure for autism.''

Jennifer Petrillo, Peyton's mother and vice president of FEAT, said parents in Nevada have to wait up to a year before their children can see a specialist. Many pediatricians misdiagnose or don't diagnose autism at all because they don't know enough about it, she said.

Haverlock said she received all kinds of reassurances that her son would be OK. In the end though, she firmly believes Adam missed at least a year of early intervention because his pediatrician kept telling her "boys talk later than girls.''

Dr. Dennis Moore II, a pediatrician who founded the nonprofit Moore Institute for Autism in Henderson with his wife, Dr. Elizabeth Moore, said understanding of autism among pediatricians is indeed limited. He acknowledged that, like any business, pediatrics is about making money.

"The more patients you see in a day, the more money you can make,'' he said during a tour of the institute which is named after his son, Dennis III, who is autistic. "I'm not saying this about all physicians, but some get lost in the numbers game."

Sometimes, he said, pediatricians will just follow what is known as a "well-child" script when doing exams, which lasts only a few minutes. Moore said he tries to spend 10 to 15 minutes with a child and their parents to identify problems.

Still, there are some things that are just missed, Moore said. Moore said when his son first showed signs of autism, he was in denial.

"I was a pediatrician but when it comes to my son, I'm a parent,'' he said. "I didn't believe there was anything wrong with him. I denied the severity of it. It was my pastor that helped me accept his condition.''

But Elizabeth Moore said she knew there was something wrong with their son. At one point, she even hid the fact from her husband that other physicians and specialists were seeing the boy.

"This is a very emotional disease that affects the entire family,'' she said. "We have a 20-year relationship that is coming to an end because of autism. It can be frustrating for parents to deal with this. That's one of the reasons we wanted to start this institution, to help other children and their families beat this.''

The Moore Institute for Autism, which opened about three months ago, is a partnership with Touro University and the University of California, Los Angeles.

The institute is also working with the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

It is housed in the medical office building at St. Rose Dominican Hospitals' Rose de Lima campus in Henderson. About 15 patients, all from Nevada, are receiving behavioral care.

"We have traveled throughout the country looking for services for our son and what we've found is that there is no work-up formula for a person with autism. For example, if you go into an emergency room suffering from a heart complication, a protocol is followed based on the severity of your condition,'' Moore said. "We don't have that with autism. What we've attempted to create is a medical and behavioral facility that provides care based on the individual's needs.''

Within the next two years, the Moores, with Touro University, plan to build a larger facility for the institute at Gibson and American Pacific roads in Henderson.