Autism; the Facts

"Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others."  Autism Society of America 

• The Center for Disease Control issued an Autism prevalence report in 2009, stating that the numbers had risen to 1 in every 110 births, almost 1 in 70 for boys. 
• 1.5 million Americans are currently on the Autism Spectrum. 
• There are five classifications of the Autism Spectrum as follows; 
• Autism 
• Characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, repetitive and restricted behavior before the child is 3yrs old.  
• Asperger Syndrome 
• Characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development.  
• Childhood Disintregrative Disorder
•  Characterized by developmental delays in language, social function, and motor skills.
• Rett Syndrome

•  Almost exclusively affects females, limited to no verbal skills. Rett Syndrome is the nerodevelopmental disorder of the grey matter of the brain. 
• PDD-NOS
• Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified; Two main characterizations of PDD-NOS are difficulties with social interaction skills and communication. As the child ages, they will have trouble with non-verbal communication, sarcasm and figurative speech. 
• Autism affects information processing in the brain. The way the nerve cells and synapse in the brain are organized and connected are different in the Autistic than they are in developmentally functional brains, and the shapes and sizes of the brains can by seen on brain scans. (See Upper Right)
• About 30% of Autistic children engage in self harming actions. 
• Autism is the fastest growing developmental disability, 1,148% growth rate.