Why We Care

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability in which the individual has abnormalities in the areas of communication, socialization, and the display of repetitive bizarre behaviors called stereotyped behavior. The severity of symptoms present uniquely in each child. For instance, one child may be completely non-verbal, yet display relatively little social deficit or stereotyped behavior, while another is quite verbally precocious but unable to make eye contact and is compulsive about ritualistic behavior. The broader term Autism Spectrum Disorder is often used to describe the condition.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC), the National Institute of Health (NIH), and the Board of Education concur: autism rates have reached alarming numbers. In 1960, autism affected one individual in ten thousand (1/10,000). In 1980, the numbers had increased to one in five hundred (1/500). When the figures were calculated in 2000, the numbers had grown to one child in every one hundred and sixty-six (1/166). Currently the numbers are a shocking one child in every one hundred and fifty (1/150). That is more than childhood cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. Common Threads was developed in response to this crisis.

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Copyright © 2008 Common Threads Family Resource Center
Last modified: January 06, 2008