Summary of the Goals of the
Professional Awareness Campaign

Funding Provided by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation

1) To systematically raise the awareness and basic understanding of autism among pediatricians, and increase the number of early and accurate diagnoses of the condition autism. By design, this should also raise awareness of the conditions most often mistaken for autism: mental retardation, hyperkinesis, attention deficit disorder, and will simultaneously increase the accurate diagnoses of these conditions.

2) To systematically reach parents in all localities of India who have children newly diagnosed as autistic, provide relevant information about the condition, and provide information on how to receive further assistance. Also, to provide this same information to parents of children already diagnosed as autistic who are seen for follow up.

3) To estimate how many children in India during the upcoming year are newly diagnosed as autistic in order to estimate the extent of the condition in India. At this point, this information is unknown.