A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention medical review of more than 320,000 eight year olds found the number of autism diagnoses had increased by 150 percent since 2000. Teresa Daly is the director of the University of Central Florida’s Center for Autism and Related Disabilities. She says services for children and their parents are not increasing at the same rate as diagnoses.
“We’re not seeing a decrease in the age of identification and the impact that that has on basically pulling time away from where we could be focusing time on the skills the children need to develop.”
The Centers for Control and Prevention says most children can be reliably diagnosed and start treatment by age two. With changes in diet, medication, behavior, or even alternative medicine, a child might have increased chances of being able to walk, talk, or interact in social situations.
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