Autism symptoms exist along a spectrum of severity, from very mild and difficult to notice to severe and disabling. Early signs of autism among babies and toddlers include, according to the National Autism Association: a noticeable lack of smiling or other joyful expressions among children over 6 months of age; a lack of gestures, such as waves or pointing, in toddlers over 12 months; an inability to speak after 16 months; and the loss of ability to speak between the ages of 1 and 2 years. Autistic children usually avoid eye contact and often do not smile when a parent smiles at them. They rarely initiate or respond to cuddling or make noises to get parents’ attention.- http://get.smarter.com/qa/health/signs-autism-7b4727841035f937?qo=contentSimilarQuestions
- About 1 in 68 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to estimates from CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network
- ASD is almost 5 times more common among boys (1 in 42) than among girls (1 in 189).
- ASD commonly co-occurs with other developmental, psychiatric, neurologic, chromosomal, and genetic diagnoses. The co-occurrence of one or more non-ASD developmental diagnoses is 83%. The co-occurrence of one or more psychiatric diagnoses is 10%
- Research has shown that a diagnosis of autism at age 2 can be reliable, valid, and stable
- Studies have shown that parents of children with ASD notice a developmental problem before their child’s first birthday. Concerns about vision and hearing were more often reported in the first year, and differences in social, communication, and fine motor skills were evident from 6 months of age
- The total costs per year for children with ASD in the United States were estimated to be between $11.5 billion – $60.9 billion (2011 US dollars).
- Children and adolescents with ASD had average medical expenditures that exceeded those without ASD by $4,110–$6,200 per year.
- In addition to medical costs, intensive behavioral interventions for children with ASD cost $40,000 to $60,000 per child per year
- http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html
- Over the last 12 years, the Prevalence of autism has increased 289.5%;
- http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/developmentaldisabilities/features/birthdefects-dd-keyfindings.html
