March 20, 2013
A new government report released information today that says 1 in 50 school-age children has a form of autism. According to the report, that's one child per every school bus.
Numbers from last year's report showed 1 in 88 children being affected by the condition.
The study looked at children ages 6 to 17 and asked 100,000 parents across the nation if their child had been diagnosed on the autism spectrum.
The executive director to the Virginia Inistitute of Autism spoke about the study's importance.
"Why this study is important is that parents are identifying their children as having needs and those needs, while they may not be the most severe needs, they are still important and need to be addressed." says Ethan Long.
"Perhaps what's going on is that doctors are diagnosing milder forms of autism and that's what's increasing the numbers."
The study also shows that 15% to 20% of children who were once diagnosed with autism no longer have the condition.
According to the study, the higher numbers could suggest that researchers are getting better at counting children with autism, not necessarily that there are more children with the condition.
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New Autism Report Shows Rise in Numbers