At first, Joann Fouquette's son, Ezra, was hitting all the milestones. It's what every new mom hopes for: a happy, healthy baby. But around 17 months, things started to change. He stopped speaking. He started covering his ears and hitting his head on the floor like something was bothering him.

Fouquette remembers her mom telling her, "I think we need to get him tested. There's something definitely going on there."

Five months later, in 2012, Ezra was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

"It's devastating," she told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. "I've heard people compare it to like losing a child. You lose the idea of the child that you were gonna have, the life that you were gonna have, the life that he's gonna have."

Children and adults with autism tend to have difficulties with verbal and nonverbal communication and social interactions, depending on the severity.

"These are people who have difficulty communicating -- in particular socially. They may speak very well, but they can't carry on a conversation. Then you have the opposite end of the spectrum, where you have children and adults who are entirely nonverbal," said Dr. Doris Trauner, a pediatric neurologist and distinguished professor of neurosciences and pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego.

But autism can also lead to more troubling issues like severe disruptive behavior and self-harm.

"Aggression and self-injurious behaviors are unfortunately very common, especially in children with severe autism," Trauner said. "Anything from repetitively banging their head against a wall to hitting their head with their hands to pinching themselves or biting their hands."

Behavioral therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy can help, but there are no US Food and Drug Administration-approved treatments for the core symptoms of autism.

Trauner is the lead researcher for the UCSD trial, a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study, which means the participants don't know when they are receiving the placebo or the medicine, and neither do the doctors. Researchers are examining how CBD could affect the brains of children with autism.

"We know that in autism, there are some differences in brain chemistry. There are some changes in neurotransmitter systems, both in the

Israeli scientists presented in a study the successful treatment of autism in animals using medicinal cannabis oil, suggesting a change in direction of efforts to use cannabis to treat the disorder.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) in Israel, led by Ph.D. student Shani Poleg and Prof. Daniel Offen, found that the treatment improves behavioral and biochemical limitations of autism.

The results were published in the peer-reviewed Translational Psychology journal, Hamodia reported, a Hebrew-speaking daily newspaper.

he usual process for testing new medications involves research in Petri dishes… With medicinal cannabis, the process has been reversed: treatments began in humans,” Prof. Offen explained.

In the TAU study, researchers used animal models to test the effectiveness of cannabis oil for alleviating symptoms of the disease.

Traditions are a year-round part of life at Carobell, an Onslow County center for the intellectually and developmentally disabled, but the holiday season brings into focus how they are a foundation for those who live and work there.

In a campus of small residences, day support and learning centers, and offices tucked near the back of a neighborhood close to Camp Lejeune’s back gate, Carobell provides around-the-clock care for as many as 38 individuals with severe or profound intellectual and developmental disabilities. These are people who cannot live on their own, but with professional care, guidance and boundless love, they can enjoy lives made brighter by smiles, achievement, good food and Christmas trees.

Carobell is a homegrown nonprofit founded more than 50 years ago by two local women, Virginia Franks and Elizabeth Bell Midgett, whose mission was helping parents of children with various types of severe disabilities. They started on July 1, 1969, by bringing a few children into their own home in Jacksonville’s Sherwood Forest neighborhood.

Their aspirations blossomed into reality as Carobell grew in staff and children, relocating several times before moving to its current complex in the Hubert area. The project started by Franks and Midgett continues under people such as current President and CEO Vanessa Ervin and Programming Director Mary Butts, who have made Carobell their life’s work.

“What we do and the way we do it has changed over the years, and will continue to change,” Butts said during a recent discussion about Carobell’s role in the community. “But our purpose and our mission remain the same, and that is providing quality services to the members, making sure the guardians are involved, and continuing to make sure that the quality of life that you and I would want for ourselves and our family members is provided. That will never change.”

The Interim Finance Committee of the Nevada Legislature on Tuesday approved more than $21 million of American Rescue Plan Act funding to support COVID-19 treatments as well as an intermediate care facility for youth in Clark County.

The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Public and Behavioral Health was allocated $19.6 million to support the increase in access to monoclonal antibody treatment and other COVID-19 treatments throughout Nevada. Through this funding, Nevadans will have easy access to oral antiviral medication and freestanding treatment centers.

Additionally, the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) was approved for more than $1.9 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds to support Clark County and an intermediate care facility for youth.

“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and behavioral issues for children and youth has been widespread and there is an increasing number of children suffering from mental health conditions,” said Dr. Megan Freeman, State Children’s Behavioral Health Authority.

Before the pandemic, Lisa Stagon and her son Chris had their care routine figured out. Chris, who is 26 and has Down syndrome, worked part-time at an Eat’n Park in Westmoreland County, received monthly job training, and spent 46 hours a week with a direct support professional while his mother was at work.

But their structure began to crumble during the pandemic when Chris was laid off and Stagon, fearing Chris could contract COVID-19 through a caregiver, suspended his services. Suddenly Chris was home all day, without any support.

“I was working 50 hours a week and trying to care for him at the same time,” Stagon, 62, said. “It was a lot.”

The breaking point came when Stagon was called back to the office last year after working remotely. She tried to find someone to help Chris with everyday tasks like shaving, cooking, and taking his medications. But agencies across the region were turning families away. There simply wasn’t anyone to do the job.

In July 2020, she made a difficult decision.

“I left the workforce in the pandemic to be a full-time caretaker for him,” she said. “Because it was just — it was too hard.”

Pennsylvania is facing a dire shortage of direct support professionals who help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities bathe, get dressed, eat, exercise, socialize, and perform many other fundamental tasks. Putting an exact

In late September, a non-verbal 13-year-old boy with autism was brought to Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett.

His name was Matthew.

He wasn’t sick. He hadn’t been injured. There was no medical emergency.

Instead, he’d been taken to the hospital after back-to-back incidents in the same day at the group home where he lived. First, he flooded a bathroom. Later, he attacked several staff members who called police to the home.

Nearly three months later, Matthew is still at the hospital in Everett. He spends his days watching SpongeBob Square Pants on TV or viewing music videos on his iPad. Four times a week someone from the school district comes to give him an hour of instruction.

When Matthew gets frustrated, he often acts out. At times, hospital staff have had to physically restrain and even sedate him, according to an