Any data gathering is as difficult as determining both cause and how to help, Pingree said. There is not accurate accounting and therefore no way of knowing what is coming down the pipeline for the state services, she said.

There are no known medical markers and these cases don't show up as a birth defect, she said. The emotional impact on the entire family of an autistic child has a heavy economic impact. Behavioral and health problems associated with the disease are not grown out of, and currently the state spends $3.2 million on each autistic person in Utah over their lifetime.

Investing in health and human services isn't like hearing funding requests for roads, said Karen Crompton, executive director of Voices for Utah Children. "You can look out the window and see what those dollars purchased. But these appropriations are important and make a significant difference in people's lives in ways you don't see."

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E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com