Under the heading “Lewiston School Department” (Dec. 3), the Sun Journal reports on an expenditure that is almost one-fourth of the school budget, something that affects one in every 166 kids, and has exploded at an epidemic rate in the last 20 years. They’re talking about autism.

It is simply amazing that the Sun Journal demonstrates no concern over this stunning rate of disabled children. Twenty years ago, autism affected only one or two children per 10,000.

The increase should be sounding an alarm everywhere. It’s even more frightening that 80 percent of autistic Americans are under the age of 18, and little is being done to address the needs of all these affected children in our midst.

At the same time the baby boom generation retires, these children will be aging out into the adult population and going on disability. Eventually, elderly parents will no longer be able to provide a home for their disabled children. Where will they live? Who will care for them?

When the taxpayers realize the overwhelming cost for these disabled adults, they will demand to know why the press failed to report on the massive increases when they were happening. Why weren’t officials made to explain why so many children were affected? Why wasn’t this wasn’t a front-page story?

If one in every 166 children were suddenly going blind, I doubt if it would receive the kind of coverage autism does.

Anne McElroy Dachel, Chippewa Falls, Wis.