Re: CA report for 2007 New Autism cases ~ Sets Records

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California Reports:

2007 New Autism Cases

Sets Records

>From Rick Rollens.

California added 4,143 new cases of professionally diagnosed full syndrome

cases of autism to its system according to a report just released this week by

California's Department of Developmental Services (DDS). This is during the

most recent 12 month reporting period from January 1, 2007 through December

31, 2007 . What took 22 years to accumulate in the system in raw numbers of

persons with autism now takes just 12 months. Twenty years ago in 1987 there

were 2,778 persons with autism in the system, by the end of 2007 there were

36,952.

In 1971 California added full syndrome autism to its list of eligible

conditions that could qualify for admittance into California's eligibility

based

developmental services system. During the next 22 years, from 1971-1993, the

system grew to serve some 4000 persons with full syndrome autism.

During the 4th Quarter of 2007 alone, there were 1,236 new children added to

the system with full syndrome autism -- an all time record number of new

cases for a Quarterly reporting period in the 39 year history of California's

system. It was the recent 3rd. Quarter of 2007 that brought in, for the first

time ever, more then 1,000 new intakes (1,060) in the history of the system,

followed now by another record number (1,236) of new intakes during the 4th

Quarter of 2007. Autism now accounts for 59% of all new intakes entering the

system that also includes children with mental retardation, epilepsy, and

cerebral palsy.

Last year, for the first time ever, California's developmental services

system served more persons with autism then cerebral palsy, and by the end of

the

first quarter of 2008, autism will surpass epilepsy as the number two

condition served by California's developmental services system. Historically,

autism, prior to 1980, accounted for just 3% of the total population and ranked

a

distant fourth among all the eligible conditions.

The most telling about California's autism epidemic is the age distribution

in the autism population. Whereas with all the other conditions that are

served in the system where between 55- 60% of those populations are over the

age

of 22 years old, in the autism population only 15% are over the age of 22.

Eighty-five percent of the autism population is under the age of 21, 78%

under the age of 18, and over 1 out of 4 persons with autism in the system is

between 6 and 9 years old. No children under the age of three are included in

the DDS reports.

Due to the strict eligibility requirements to enter California's

developmental services system, the director of DDS estimates that California's

developmental services system serves less then 20% of the autism and autism

spectrum

population in California.

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