Oct 5, 2009 10:49 pm US/Eastern
Numbers Diagnosed With Autism Continue To Rise
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
Suzanne Griffin is a single mother of 4 1/2-year-old twin boys, James and William, who both have autism.
She says when they were diagnosed at just over the age of 2, she wasn't terribly surprised.
"I knew there was something totally off with (James). And with William, I was hoping maybe not, but I'm not really surprised he's got the PDD/NOS (a mild form of autism) diagnosis.
And the number of children with
Autism Spectrum Disorders continues to rise. Researchers surveyed more than 78,000 parents of children from ages 3 to 17 and found that 1 in 91 had been given the diagnosis. That's up from 1 in 150 estimated back in 2002.
Dr. Martha Herbert, a child neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, says part of the reason may be that more children are being identified than ever before.
"The reasons the numbers look higher is because we're looking harder, and we're looking younger, and we're looking more carefully," Herbert said.
Even though the higher numbers may, in part, be due to changes in reporting, there probably is still a real increase in the number of children with autism in the U.S. A big concern is the environment.
Dr. Herbert says studies are on-going looking at the effects of a variety of chemicals including pesticides, PCBs, and heavy metals as well as..."anti-microbial hand soaps, flame retardants, and air pollution and deficiencies in the diet," Dr. Herbert explains.
Regardless of the cause, everyone agrees, early diagnosis is key. "The more you can do about it really, really early, the more you can minimize the severity, saving suffering, and saving money for the family and society," says Dr. Herbert.
Suzanne thinks back to when she learned of her sons' diagnosis, "I just said, I don't know what caused it. I don't have time for that. My focus is going to be on what I can do to help them."
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