Have you ever had the experience of reading a blog post, knowing next to nothing about the topic, and still, what the blogger writes is so intriguing, it stirs around in your mind hours later? This is what happened to me this morning while reading this article on the increasing number of autistic children in the States.
The author, Kim Stagliano (blog here), asks the very pertinent question of, “Why are so many more children autistic today in comparison to 20 or 30 years ago?” Apparently, way back then, only 1 child in 10,000 was diagnosed with autism. Now the figure is a staggering 1 in 120. Yes, you read that right.
It is beyond my comprehension to think of such an enormous increase in this disorder, disease (sorry, I don’t know what it is called). What has changed so fundamentally in the last two or three decades, which could induce, exasperate, trigger, and complicate… the occurrence and degree of autism?
Looking at another example, a cousin of mine has been a special needs teacher for nearly forty years. When she started working, there were only very few children in her classroom with allergies. In the last twenty-five years, she says an epidemic has arisen of seriously allergic children.
The rise in chronic illnesses such as allergies and asthma, or autism, can’t all just be genes or a natural predisposition. There must be something environmental, sociological, chemical, medical (think common and early use of antibiotics or diverse vaccinations) practices that are common practices today, which were not twenty years ago and which are affecting our young children’s health.
Ms. Stagliano has three children, all with varying degrees of autism. It is easy to understand why she might like to know the Why Is It So?
I think to some extent it's because they now have labels for things that they didn't in the past.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree that there are changes in the youth of today that need explanation..