Marty Richerson suspected for years that something was wrong with her daughter Britney. It took years before Britney was diagnosed with autism, a disorder that is one of illnesses increasing in alarming numbers among children.

“She cried all the time, she wouldn’t grow, she wouldn’t suck,” Richerson said. “She didn’t walk until she was almost 2 years old.”

According to the National Institutes of Health, three of the most alarming childhood illnesses are becoming more widespread.

• Asthma incidence and mortality have more than doubled.

• Neurodevelopmental disorders like learning disabilities, dyslexia, mental retardation, attention deficit disorder, and autism affect 5–10 percent of babies born in the U.S. each year.

• The prevalence of childhood obesity is four times previous levels.

Richerson, 35, said Britney, now 9, had many developmental issues.

“She cried all the time, she wouldn’t grow, she wouldn’t suck,” Richerson said. “She didn’t walk until she was almost 2 years old. For a long time, I thought she was deaf. I would ask the pediatrician, ‘Does she have autism?’ It runs in her dad’s family. And she was running around all the time talking real loud. To talk to her, she’s still like a 4- or 5-year-old. She’s had speech therapy for the last five years. I finally got a team of doctors to help her.”

After her daughter was diagnosed with autism, a condition whose cause remains a medical mystery, she continued to feel like she was on her own. Then she read an article in the Phoenix that gave her new hope.

“The Christi Kellogg article in the paper two years ago said she was starting a support group (Muskogee Autism Support Network),” Richerson said. “I pulled out my cell phone, and I called her.”

Being with others who had faced the same problem made a big difference.

“In a support group you learn a lot, meet with other families who have been through the same thing,” she said. “There is a lot of laughing, sharing, crying; it helps to release that. We also share information about new research.”

Richerson said she believes support groups may be essential for parents of children with unusually difficult diseases.

“I think that with every child, whatever their disability may be, it only helps to have other parents to talk to because it’s a constant learning thing,” she said.