Questions concerning the frequency of individuals being diagnosed as on the autistic spectrum have been frequently raised over the last few years. Instinctively one can consider there seems to be more individuals, especially in school age that require assistance. If you are aged 40 or more and can still remember primary school, you would most likely be hard pressed to think of more than 2-3 children in your school experience that appeared to require special support of some sort.
A study recently released by the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), which is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
According to data from the 2007 telephone survey of parents of nearly 82,000 US children, the odds of a parent being told that their child has an ASD are one in 63. If it is a boy, the chances climb to a science fiction-like level of one in 38, or 2.6% of all male children in America.
Overall, the 2007 NSCH survey revealed a 100% increase in parent-reported ASD rates compared to the 2003 NSCH survey (which showed a 50-per-10,000 reported rate).
The and other areas of interest looking at the apparently increasing levels of this group of conditions are explored in the article by David Kirby from the Huffington Post
