Robert MacNeil Returns to PBS NEWSHOUR to Report on Autism Today

Robert MacNeil Returns to PBS NEWSHOUR to Report on Autism Today

6-part series airs during Autism Awareness Month

April 18 - 26, 2011

ARLINGTON, Va., March 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Autism - it's a developmental disorder that has become increasingly prevalent, affecting 1 out of 110 American children. Despite years of study, little is known about its cause and access to treatment varies. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of American families hungry for answers struggle to care for the unique needs of children with the disorder. Among them, Robert MacNeil, co-founder of the PBS NEWSHOUR and grandfather of Nick, a 6-year-old boy with autism.

"I've been a reporter on and off for 50 years, but I've never brought my family into a story ... until Nick," MacNeil said, "because he moves me deeply."

MacNeil and producer Caren Zucker tell the story of Autism Today in a 6-part broadcast series beginning Monday, April 18, 2011 and a robust online component where viewers can join the conversation. Ms. Zucker has produced many stories on autism and is the mother of a 16-year-old son with autism.

An introduction to Nick and autism as a whole body
experience: MacNeil brings viewers along on a
visit with his daughter and grandson Nick in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, to see how autism
affects the whole family, including his 10-year-
old sister, Neely. Nick experiences autism not
just as a disorder in brain development but also
Monday, April 18 as physical ailments affecting the whole body.

Autism Prevalence: Why are the numbers of children
with autism increasing? At the UC Davis MIND
Institute in Sacramento, California, MacNeil sees
the wide range of different behaviors that
comprise the autism spectrum. Anthropologist
Richard Grinker argues that the rising numbers
of children with autism is explained because
conditions previously given other names, like
mental retardation, are now included in the
autism spectrum. Scientist Irva Hertz-Picciotto
says the wider definition only partly explains
the increased prevalence, pointing instead to a
Tuesday, April 19 variety of environmental factors.

Autism Causes: The rise in autism numbers has
caused a surge in research to find the causes.
For the latest thinking, Robert MacNeil speaks
with four leading researchers: Dr. Gerald
Fischbach of the Simons Foundation, Dr. David
Amaral of the MIND Institute, Dr. Martha Herbert
of Harvard University and Dr. Craig Newschaffer
Wednesday, April 20 of Drexel University.

Autism Treatment: Although children with autism
see doctors periodically, they go to school
everyday. It is the school system that bears
most of the burden of treating children with
autism because treatment means education.
MacNeil visits two schools in New York - a public
school in the Bronx teaching 700 children with
autism and a charter school created in Manhattan
as a model of possibilities in educating children
with autism. With only 30 students, it can use
one-on-one teacher/student ratios employing
intensive Applied Behavioral Analysis - the gold
Thursday, April 21 standard treatment for autism.

Adults with Autism: Although federal law mandates
educational services for children with autism,
there are virtually no services when they become
adults. MacNeil profiles Zachary Hamrick in
Mahwah, New Jersey, about to turn 21. As his
family contemplates the uncertain future now
facing hundreds of thousands of young people like
him, his parents ask themselves, "What will
Monday, April 25 happen when we die?"

Autism Policy: The NEWSHOUR series ends with a
discussion of the public policy issues raised in
the series, including the enormous discrepancy in
the quality and availability of services for
children and future adults in what the federal
committee that determines research priorities for
autism now calls a "national health emergency"
with a panel of experts including: Dr. Thomas
Insel, Director of the National Institute of
Mental Health, Catherine Lord, Professor of
Psychology, Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the
University of Michigan, Ilene Lainer, Executive
Director of the New York Center for Autism - a
private advocacy group, and John Shestack, a
Hollywood producer and the co-founder of "Cure
Tuesday, April 26 Autism Now" a former advocacy group.

PBS NEWSHOUR will host an online content hub that will offer easy access to video of all the pieces in the series, as well as web-only features that are part of Autism Today, including:

-- First Look Online: In a brand new online-on-air cross promotion, check
the NEWSHOUR's website after each night's broadcast during the week
April 18: We'll post the next chapter in the Autism Today series online
by 7pm ET.
-- Autism 101 - A primer on autism, how it's diagnosed, the spectrum of
disorders, and available resources. We'll also look at the costs of
autism, through the lens of the families profiled in the series and
others.
-- The Story of Donald - A new look at Caren Zucker and John Donvan's
profile of the first child diagnosed with autism as reported in The
Atlantic.
-- Live Chat with Experts - Viewers can ask their questions directly to
some of the experts and doctors profiled in the broadcast segments via
live text chat moderated by PBS NEWSHOUR digital correspondent Hari
Sreenivasan.
-- Ask Robin MacNeil - Hari Sreenivasan will preview the series with Robin
MacNeil in a special interview on the Rundown news blog. MacNeil will
also answer viewer questions after the series concludes.
-- Join us on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook: We want to hear how you or
those you know are coping with autism. Use the Twitter hashtag
#autismtoday to ask questions or join the conversation on the series.

PBS NEWSHOUR is seen five nights a week on more than 315 PBS stations across the country and is also available online, via public radio in select markets and via podcast. The program is produced by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, in association with WETA Washington, DC, and THIRTEEN in New York. Major corporate funding for The NEWSHOUR is provided by Chevron, Bank of America and Intel, with additional support from the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public television viewers.

SOURCE PBS NEWSHOUR

PBS NEWSHOUR

CONTACT: Anne Bell, +1-703-998-2175, abell@NEWSHOUR.org, or Rob Flynn, +1-703-998-2174, rflynn@NEWSHOUR.org, both of PBS NEWSHOUR

Web Site: http://www.pbs.org/newshour

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