As many as 1 in 175 primary school children in Great Britain may suffer from autism, 11 times higher than previous estimates.
Previous studies have estimated that five in every 10,000 children aged between five and 11 were autistic, but a new study, of children in Cambridgeshire, puts the rate at 58 in 10,000. Extrapolated across Britain, this suggests that 30,000 primary school children and tens of thousands in other age groups may have clinical autism.
Significantly, the study established that one in eight children with special education needs was suffering from some form of "autistic spectrum disorder".
Autism is a very contentious issue in medicine and education and the study was undertaken to establish basic figures for the number of primary school age children with the condition. It affects boys three times more frequently than girls, although it is not known why, and there is much debate among doctors on how the condition should be defined.
The National Autistic Society describes autism as a "lifelong development disability that affects the way a person communicates and relates to people around them".
This includes "difficulty making sense of the world", "repetitive behaviour" and "resistance to change in routine". The most affected "classically" autistic children also have severe learning difficulties and low IQ.
The report put the cost of autism at nearly 5 million dollars over a lifetime for a severely affected autistic child with learning difficulties, nearly 2 million dollars for people with "high functioning" autism.
Telegraph February 18, 2001
Autism is increasing on both sides of the Atlantic and most who have objectively studied this believe the vaccines are a major contributing reason for this increase.
Fortunately, rigid application of the diet is frequently useful to improve some of the damage. However, this is an enormously challenging problem and is a major tragedy for the families who have a child with this problem.
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