Facts about Autism
Autism is a neurological disorder that typically lasts throughout a person’s lifetime. Autism affects the way an individual perceives the world, making communication and social interaction difficult. It may also result in repetitive behaviors or peculiar or intense interests. The symptoms of autism, and their severity, can vary considerably in each individual on the autism spectrum. It is sometimes said: If you’ve seen one person with autism, you’ve seen one person with autism.
Prevalence
For decades, autism and related disorders were believed to occur in 4 to 5 per 10,000 children. During the past decade, the prevalence of autism has increased to 20 to 70 per 10,000 with the current rate estimated at 1 in every 68 children – 1 in 42 boys and 1 in 189 girls (Centers for Disease Control).
Financial Costs
Autism services cost U.S. citizens $236-262 billion annually. (Buescher et al., 2014)
Education
35 percent of young adults (ages 19-23) with autism have not had a job or received postgraduate education after leaving high school. (Shattuck et al., 2012)
It costs more than $8,600 extra per year to educate a student with autism. (Lavelle et al., 2014) (The average cost of educating a student is about $12,000 – NCES, 2014)
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