my name is dana halverson. my days are filled from very early to very light with challenges of my three children. i have one daughter who was diagnosed over age 3 with autism and mental retardation. she was given the label of autism, it fails to describe the nature of her disorder. i discovered her condition. over the next several years, we confirm multiple medical diagnoses, multiple food allergies, growth hormone deficiencies, and to grant discretiimmune dysfunction, andy metal toxicity. we have only been able to help problem by struggling to travel all over the country, spending thousands of dollars on tests and clinical visits, mostly not covered by insurance. the list of diagnosis she carries is long for a young child. this belies her medical problem. people expect her to be able to respond to them and share with them. robin has come a long way but still has difficulties. i know of trojan who of fully recovered with proper therapy. -- i know of the children who have fully recovered with proper therapy. we

pickens boyd from minnesota and dana halverson from iowa. we have covered all the aspects we wanted to cover on autism with these two panels. we will open up with dr. thomas insel from the institute of mental health, not a stranger to this subcommittee. dr. insel, welcome. as with all the people testifying here, your statements will be made part of the record in their entirety. go-ahead and proceed as you so desire. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it is a pleasure and honor to be here with the other panelists. i know this is a busy time for you and your colleagues and we appreciate your taking time in the middle of the summer just before recess to hear about the latest research and challenges with autism. my brief is to get you a quick update on the research since we last met which was two years ago and i can tell you this has been an extraordinary period with lots of exciting progress. i will try to review that. the testimony i hope will be submitted for the record. i thought i would take you through three questions. what do we know at this poi