Autism surveillance system starting on P.E.I.

The P.E.I. government has signed a new agreement with Ottawa for the development of an autism spectrum disorder surveillance system.

It means the province will report on a regular basis the number of children in the school system who have autism.
No names will be given.

Several provinces have already signed on. The idea is to have accurate information on the number of children and families living with autism across the country and how many new cases are emerging over time.

P.E.I. department of education special education autism coordinator Marlene Breitenbach said the program will help ensure the proper resources are in place.

"It is not intended to be a one-time thing but rather a sustainable system that will continue to provide us with the kind of information that we needand ultimately, of course, benefit the families and the children," said Breitenbach.

"So it's a very exciting project. It is going to be actually really wonderful because they'll do a lot of the crunching of the data and we will get really good information back."

Breitenbach notes that the federal government will provide the province with the money needed to administer the system.

There are currently about 325 Island students with autism.

Officials with the Autism Society of P.E.I. saidhaving detailed numbers from across the country will give them the data needed to support their efforts to have a national autism strategy in place.