Research on autism is happening all across the world. In the United States, National Institutes of Health are funding research at Autism Centers of Excellence located in major universities. These centers investigate the causes of ASD and the best treatment methods.
In the past research on young children with autism was done through retrospective interviews and family video. Now, prospective studies follow a group of similar children over a period of time. Researchers started to look at high-risk infants- babies who have older siblings with a diagnosis of autism. Studies show that if you have a child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder your chances of the next child also being diagnosed with autism are 10 to 20 percent. The High Risk Baby Siblings Research Consortium consists of 25 principal investigators across the United States, Canada, Israel and the United Kingdom. The goal of the consortium is to discover the earliest predictors of autism.
Download a copy of Information for Parents on the BSRC
How is the current number for prevalence for autism determined?
The number of people who are reported to be diagnosised with autism is most often the statistic reported by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC. The Center funds the Autism Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network. The ADDM consists of 12 sites in 12 different states that review the medical data of 8-year-olds and count the frequency of ASD diagnosis. The current estimate of children diagnosised with autism is 1 in 68 children. This estimate is based on data collected from ADDM in 2010.
Download a copy of the ADDM Fact Sheet.
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