Monday, May 9, 2011

NPR: Report says that autism much more common.

So this morning on Morning Addition, there was an article about ASD in South Korea. 

Because all Asian nations are the same right?

The study looked at 55,000 children in a medium sized town in South Korea. The team of scientists then looked and tested all of the kids for Autism.

They tested 55,000 kids for Autism. 



Do you know what they found? 
No.

 They found that rates of ASD are 2.5 times higher than in the united states. One out of every 38 children in the study was found to be on the spectrum. 

2.5 times higher than expected.

That is so much higher than previously thought. Even the scientists were baffled. 

Do you know what? This wasn't even the most surprising number to me. The number that wins that prize? The 2/3 of those with ASD that were in mainstream schools without any help. These children weren't diagnosed because they weren't failing classes, even though they were having difficulties with peer interactions. 

2/3 of those with ASD go without recognition and treatment.
 The study goes on to say that South Korea isn't unique.They think that ASD is probably higher in other places, but it gets missed because kids only get tested if they're failing classes or acting out annoying teachers.

The reason most NNTs get tested.

Further, the authors suggest that children who aren't failing but do have ASD would benefit from treatment. Especially from learning about how to interact with their peers.

This is how school made me feel.
 The take home message from the authors of the study:
"if you really go look carefully among all children everywhere, you find that things are far more common than you previously expected."
The part where I make a snarky comment.
DUHHbya
No really?
Of course there are more people out there that have ASD. People who are NNT and parents of kids who are NNT know this is true. How many times have you met another person and just known that they were NNT? 


Do you know how many people's lives could be improved by early testing and intervention?
Thousands.
Sorry! Here is the link to the article if you're interested in listening to it.

2 comments:

  1. I *love* your picture about how school made you feel... that's exactly how it made me feel also.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This makes so much sense. I have had trouble my whole life. I don't know what to do about it though, I'm afraid no one would listen to me or take it seriously. I'm in my 30's. My family calls me a social retard and it's kind of a joke for them.

    ReplyDelete

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