by Pajama Girl

Created on: October 11, 2009

About 1 in every 100 children is diagnosed with autism and the states department of educations has expected it to grow 10% to 17% yearly. Males are four times more likely to have it than females. Girls diagnosed with autism seem to have more severe symptoms and greater cognitive impairment. There are more then 500,000 people under the age of 21 in the United States right now that suffer from some form of autism. Different forms of autism include, Asperger syndrome, Childhood disintegrative disorder, Rett syndrome, and Pervasive developmental disorder - not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS, including atypical autism).

There are ways to help Autism and are quite a few opinions as to what the cause may be but yet there are no direct answers or cures. Early intervention is vitally important to a child at having a chance of improvement and ability to function in everyday life.

Some early signs of autism include lack or delay in speech, the inability to socialize or understand others, inability to display the correct emotions, sensory issues, have a hard time to change such as in routines, and repetitive motions such as hand flapping for instance. If you have a child that you suspect to have a form of autism please meet with your child's doctor and get a reference to a professional who can test and diagnose autism. Autism is a very complex disorder and should not be taken lightly. A comprehensive evaluation requires a multidisciplinary team including a psychologist, neurologist, psychiatrist, speech therapist, and other professionals who are experienced in diagnosing autism. Hearing is also a main cause for some of these behaviors along with vision issues so your child will most likely be checked for these issues.

Many parent's can suffer from severe depression from there child getting diagnosed and the percentage of marriages that fail with having a child diagnosed with autism is extremely high so it is very important for parents to educate themselves and have a circle of family and friends that they can count on. Everyday there are studies going on to why there is such a rise and from what this epidemic is coming from. The United States government is working on a package to reach aid more people in this situation. By more people not only being aware but helping in the fight for a cure will make a difference in our next generation and the generations to come.

Resources:

www.autism-society.org

www.autismspeaks.com

www.webmd.com/brain/autism/autism-symptoms

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