Prevalence of Autism

When I was a teenager, my favorite movie was Rainman. I watched it so
many
times that I still have some of the dialogue memorized. Autism was a
rare
disorder back in 1988 and I never dreamed that I would wind up working
with
autistic children.

Autism is no longer a rare disorder. Ten years ago only one in
ten-thousand
children was diagnosed with autism. Today one in 166 children is
diagnosed
with autism. In Pennsylvania, the numbers have risen over 600%.

Autism falls under a spectrum of disorders known as Pervasive
Developmental
Disorders. Children diagnosed within the PDD spectrum of disorders vary
in
symptoms and abilities.

Awareness of the disorder may factor into the rise of autism. More
doctors
are aware of autism and its symptoms; as the awareness increases, so do
the
diagnoses. Many high-functioning children with autism may have never
been
diagnosed years ago.

There may be environmental factors as well. Some argue that MMR
vaccines
that contained mercury literally poisoned hundreds of thousands of
children.
Mercury is also a byproduct of power plants and many believe that the
cause
of autism is literally in the air. Others argue that there is no
connection.
The debate is still raging on mercury and its relation to autism.

The bottom line is that there has been a significant spike in the
diagnosis
of autism in the United States. Finding the source of the problem will
lead
to prevention and it may lead to a cure.

Tammi Reynolds