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Autisim Facts

According to the Autism Society of America, autism is a spectrum disorder and is defined by certain behaviors that are displayed. Autism awareness needs to be raised because it is the single fastest growing developmental disability in the United States. Each year the number of people that have autism grows between 10 and 17 percent. Autism costs the country $90 billion each year, and if autism were diagnosed earlier this figure could be reduced to $30 billion. There is currently no medical cure for autism, but therapy is available.

  1. Signs

    • Signs of autism are hidden at birth and usually become obvious between the ages of 2 and 6. According to The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), there are five behavioral signs that might be a sign of autism. The first sign is if a child does not coo or babble during the first year of life. The second sign is if a child does not make gestures such as pointing or waving during the first year of life. The third sign is if a child does not say single words after a year and four months of life. The fourth sign is if a child does not say two word phrases before he is 2 years of age. The fifth sign is loss of social or language skills regardless of age.

    New Cases

    • According to Autism Speaks, 67 children are diagnosed with autism each day. This works out to a new child being diagnosed with autism about every twenty minutes. Each year, approximately 25,000 new cases of autism are diagnosed.

    History

    • According to AutismFacts.com, autism was first diagnosed in 1943 by Leo Kanner. Eleven children at his clinic were displaying unusual patterns of behavior and he named the condition "early infantile autism."

    Comparison To Other Childhood Disorders

    • Out of all of the funding provided for childhood disorders, less than 5 percent is provided for autism. One in 150 children has autism, and 1 in 20,000 children has muscular distrophy. However, muscular distrophy receives $175 million of annual funding while autism only receives $42 million.

    Future Cost

    • According to Generation Rescue, $200 to 400 billion is the annual projected cost of autism in a decade.

    Boys Versus Girls

    • Girls are four times less likely to have autism than boys.

    Treatment

    • According to the Autism Society of America, because autism is spectrum disorder, each child needs to be evaluated as an individual. Learning and behavioral plans should be created as early as possible. Individuals with autism can range in intelligence from below average to above average. Academic goals need to be developed to meet these individual abilities. Some experts suggest biomedical treatment plans to improve behavior problems. Removing gluten and casein and adding vitamins B6 and B12 are favored by some experts from the Autism Society of America, but not all experts agree on this treatment. The most important part of any treatment plan is to evaluate each child and build a treatment plan around the child's strengths and weaknesses.

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