March 26, 2020, AAP News: Autism rate rises to 1 in 54 as screening improves https://www.aappublications.org/news/2020/03/26/autismrates032620 The autism rate among 8-year-olds increased to one in 54 as screening improved, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The rate, which is up from one in 59, is the same for white and black children for the first time. Kristin Sohl, M.D., FAAP, a member of the AAP Council on Children with Disabilities Autism Subcommittee, applauded improvements in screening to reduce disparities and said early diagnosis is “vital for a child’s development.” “We know the early years, meaning really birth to 5, is where the pivotal time points are to intervene in development,” she said. “That time frame is where the child’s brain is most adaptable so if there are delays, they can learn the most and make the most progress during those ages.”… The new autism prevalence rates are based on 2016 data from 11 communities in the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network and were published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. They ranged from one in 76 children in Colorado to one in 32 children in New Jersey. As in the past, boys with autism were four times more likely to be identified than girls. Dr. Sohl, associate professor of clinical child health at the University of Missouri, said girls’ social skills may lead to them go unrecognized. Girls who were diagnosed with autism were more likely to have an intellectual disability than boys, according to the report. While identification of black children caught up to white children, diagnosis of Hispanic children still lagged. Both black and Hispanic children also tend to be diagnosed later than white children. “We still have work to do to increase access for our underserved populations to evidence-based diagnostics … in order to continue to reduce existing inequalities,” Dr. Sohl said. …
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
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What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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