Study finds rise in NC autism rates
ASHEVILLE – The findings in a new report showing higher rates of children diagnosed with autism in North Carolina are due at least in part to greater awareness and a better job of identifying children with the disorder, local advocates say.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report estimates 1 in 68 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder. That was up from 1 in 88 children two years earlier.
The study looked at autism in 8-year-olds in 11 states. The data was collected in 2010. In North Carolina, the prevalence rate was 1 in 58 children compared with 1 in 70 children two years earlier.
But the study found wide variations between states, with a rate of 1 in 175 children in Alabama versus 1 in 45 children in New Jersey.
“A lot of folks think this estimate that’s come out now is maybe more a reflection of how well we are identifying children,” said Michele Villalobos, clinical director and assistant professor at the University of North Carolina TEACCH Autism Program’s Asheville Center.
The TEACCH Autism program, which is a nonprofit partially funded by the state, has seven centers across the North Carolina. The centers provide a range of services for individuals with autism.
The North Carolina study sample was pulled from 11 counties in the central part of the state, according to David Laxton, director of communications for the Autism Society of North Carolina.
“This is an ongoing prevalence study that involves multiple states, but they are looking at the same area over time to see what the trends are,” Laxton said. “The increase is attributed partly to there being better understanding and awareness of the signs and the symptoms, which means earlier diagnosis which can mean early intervention for those children.”
The higher prevalence rate is also reflected in numbers compiled by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, according to Laxton.
“That number over the last 10 years has gone from kids having a primary diagnosis of autism numbering in the 3,000s to numbering almost 14,000 in 10 years,” he said.
The CDC report shows children in North Carolina are being diagnosed earlier than other states in the study.
“About 60 percent of the kids that were diagnosed with autism in the North Carolina sample were identified under 36 months, which is young, which is very good,” Villalobos said.
But Villalobos said the report also highlights continued disparities.
Fewer black and Hispanic children are being diagnosed compared to white children. For example, the rate for white children was 1 in 63, but the rate for black children was 1 in 88, Villalobos said.
“And we have no reason to believe that autism is a factor of race by any stretch, so what that really tells me is that children of black or Hispanic descent are much less likely to be accessing the same resources as white children,” Villalobos said. “We’re missing a huge chunk of the population. We’re missing them in the fact they don’t get into these estimates somehow or they’re not being diagnosed.”
Laxton said the report also highlights the need for resources to serve children with autism.
“It means that we have more kids that need resources and support in the school system and early intervention programs,” he said.
Ray Hemachandra, of Arden, has a 13-year-old son who is autistic.
He said the CDC report, released last week, helps show that millions of people across the world are autistic, and that “The world is not built for people with autism, but more and more, it will need to be.”
Hemachandra pointed out, “There are challenges for many people on the spectrum to be sure, but I know a wide variety of adults with autism. Some need strong supports in their lives. Some live completely independently. Some you’d recognize through stereotypical markers of autism, some you’d have no idea.”
“Those ideas we have about autism are very simplified and have a certain bias against the idea of autism. But in fact, it’s a very large population of people living lives and just interacting, engaging in the world in a markedly different way,” Hemachandra said.