May 7, 2019, NewsMedical.net: Autism estimates for the USA are wildly inaccurate, say experts at INSAR 2019 https://www.news-medical.net/news/20190507/Autism-estimates-for-the-USA-are-wildly-inaccurate-say-experts-at-INSAR-2019.aspx The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released new statistics on autism. They estimate that there has been a 15% increase in the prevalence of autism across the USA, from 1 in 68 in 2012 to 1 in 59 in 2014. The findings were based on an analysis of data from 2014 medical and education records for children aged 8 years across 11 monitoring sites. However, the estimates varied widely between states, depending on the degree of access that researchers had to school records. Numbers were significantly higher in areas where researchers had full access, suggesting that the new estimates reflect an underrepresentation of the true prevalence of autism. In New Jersey, for example, where access to education records was better, the figure was as high as 1 in 34, whereas in Arkansas the estimated prevalence was only 1 in 77. Thomas Frazier, Chief Science Officer of Autism Speaks, says this suggests that the new estimate of 1 in 59 is likely to be a significant undercount of autism’s true prevalence in the USA. “Without more and better research, we can’t know how much higher it really is,” he adds. The report is supported by research presented at the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) annual meeting, which took place between 1-4th May 2019. Research presented at INSAR suggests that autism estimates are wildly inaccurate as they do not involve sufficient data on families from ethnic minority backgrounds. For this study, the researchers conducted the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health, which asked parents about the health of children within their household. From the data the researchers estimated the prevalence of autism to be 2.5% in 2016, almost 1% higher than the estimates made by the CDC during the same year (1.7%). The study also offered a breakdown by race, which found a 2.8% prevalence among black children and a 2.6% prevalence among white children. However, the estimate for black children was only based on surveys of 80 families and in a 2017 survey, the number of black families surveyed was even smaller… just 38 families where a child in the household had autism…. Autism Speaks is now calling on public health organizations, legislators and the National Institutes of Health to ensure research is conducted that improves understanding of the increased prevalence and the medical needs that frequently accompany autism. The organization suggests that policymakers follow the U.S. Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee’s recommendation to double the funding for autism research…. It’s encouraging to see evidence of improved identification of autism in girls and minority groups. We must continue to narrow this gap while greatly speeding up the time from first concerns about a child’s development to screening, diagnosis and intervention….
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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.)
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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