May 5th, 2007

To Whom It May Concern:

I am a father of a 3-year-old boy with autism who lives in Tokyo. My son started to talk, saying, “mommy” and “daddy” when he was 9 months old. He seemed to be growing up very well until he had a very high fever when he was a year and a half. He had been hospitalized for about two weeks. Since then, he had stopped talking. He seemed that he lost his ability he had once had day by day. After he had turned three, he no longer made eye contact and spoke few words. He was not successful with toilet training. He increased some stereotyped behaviors and spent most of the time crying and screaming. No daycare center accepted my son. One day, I took my son to get a doctor’s check up and I found out he had autism. It meant that my son would never be able to live in a society independently in the future.

Since then, I have tried everything that might be good for my son with autism. I found that ABA therapies at Pacific Learning Center have been the most effective of all that I have tried.

A psychiatrist at one of the national hospitals recommended me to take my son to receive therapy at Pacific Learning Center. At first, I was quite surprised to know the cost which is very expensive. Then I agreed with the price setting because they support one to one therapy which is given by a well-trained-therapists for 5 to 7 and a half long sessions each day. I have been very impressed that my son has been making so much progress since then. During one month, he started to greet with others. He has increased his vocabularies from 20 words to 100. He goes in a toilet with a prompt. One of the things my son made me very happy is that he has been in a good mood most of the time. If my son could go to Pacific Learning Center for 2 more years, I believe my son will be able to live like any other typical person would do in the future.

The number of autistic children has been increasing in the world. Since people with autism cannot live independently, they would cause a lot of financial burden for the government to support them. To get autistic children ABA therapy in their early ages promises them to be able to live independently in the future. However, to do so, it costs a lot more than I expected it would. Actually, I know some children with autism who had to give up ABA therapy because of the high cost.

If there is financial support from the government, more children with autism in need will be able to receive ABA therapy. The children with autism will recover from their problems and be able to live independently in the future. I strongly believe that it will bring a positive result not only to improve people’s quality of life, but also for children in need of government support to be able to live independently. As a result, I am sure it will reduce the financial burden of a welfare policy in the medium and long term.

I strongly hope that you consider the anguish of a family of a person with autism and extend assistance to all of us who are trying to overcome difficulties.