Autism

2013

Terri Mathews
[email protected]
402-559-4646

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disability that has recently received an increased amount of attention. The reason for this greater amount of scrutiny is not surprising due to the significant increase in the identification of children with the disorder. Autism was first described in the 1940s by Leo Kanner, and it was thought to occur in a relatively small number of children. However, in the past decade, we have identified the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in children at age eight has increased from 1 in 150 children in 2000, to 1 in 110 children in 2009. The most recent data shows that 1 in 88 children are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (CDC, 2012). This increase in prevalence has been perplexing to the medical and scientific community. We know that part of the reason for this rise is because of increased awareness among teachers, parents and health care providers, along with more refined diagnostic tools.

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Consumers/Families, Professionals, Policymakers, Students

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