Statistics Saturday

Autism statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) indicated that cases of autism spectrum disorder have risen over the past several years. Autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, is the term used to describe a number of developmental disabilities that stem from a problem within the brain.

Autism is the most common form of ASD, and it is now prevalent in 1 out of 150 children in America, according to the CDC's 2007 autism statistics. This number is even higher for boys, where nearly 1 out of 94 have autistic disorder. And those numbers are rising, as is evidenced by autism statistics provided by the CDC and other organizations. Here are the facts and figures that have been discovered over the past several years:

• Autism is usually diagnosed before a child turns three years old, but symptoms have been noted as early as four months.

• Autism is a lifelong disability and life expectancy of autistic individuals is normal.

• Anywhere from 10-20 out of every 10,000 people are affected by autism.

• Estimates show that 1-1.5 million Americans have some form of ASD.

• Autism is currently the fastest growing developmental disability in the United States, with an annual growth rate of 10-17 percent.

• In the United States, a new case of autism is identified almost every 20 minutes.

• In the past 10-15 years, cases of autism have risen 172 percent. In this same amount of time, the U.S. population grew 13 percent, and cases of disabilities rose 16 percent.
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• Care of autistic individuals costs approximately $90 billion per year. This dollar amount is expected to more than double, or even quadruple, over the next five years.

• Early diagnosis of autism can cut down on costs for lifelong care by about two-thirds.

• About half of autistic people score less than 50 on IQ tests; 20 percent score between 50 and 70, and 30 percent get a score over 70. Only a very small percentage of people with autism are savants, showing genius-level abilities in a particular area.

• About 17 percent of all children have some type of developmental disability.

• Autism became a special education exceptionality in 1991, and it is the sixth most commonly found disability acknowledged in public schools today.

• Autism is diagnosed more frequently than Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis and all forms of childhood cancer combined.

Autism statistics are always changing as research and observation is completed and shared. The growing numbers have led to some societal concern, and hopefully this will lead to new treatments and eventually a cure.

*information from Autism Diagnosis.com*

Thanks for reading some of you may have already read this stuff but I feel its always important to share again.

Tomorrow is going to be titled Straight Up Sunday I will share and try to answer some question about Mav that you all might have like where he is on the spectrum, what some of his quirks are, his health, sleeping issues, potty training, just more Mav stuff in general and what it's like to be his momma.I'm also going to get Louis in on this so it won't just be my view I know and have experienced how different and difficult it is when it comes to being the Daddy and having your only son diagnosed with Autism by watching Louis these last few years.Love picking his brain too lol he usually isn't much of a talker. If you have any question please please ask away I am open about anything when it comes to this I want to share our story so please don't not think your asking a rude or bad question because the only bad question is the one that never gets asked. The more I share or answer the better off Mav's Life and others like him will be.

XOXO