Autism Rate Triples Among California's K-12 Students

This story comes courtesy of California Watch.

By Joanna Lin

Special education students with autism in California have more than tripled in number since 2002, even as overall special education enrollment has remained relatively flat, according to an analysis of state education data released yesterday.

More than 680,000 students -- 11 percent of all California public school students -- are enrolled in special education. The number of students diagnosed with autism climbed from 17,508 in 2002 to 59,690 in 2010, the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health found.

Students with autism represented 8.8 percent of all special education enrollment last year, up from 2.6 percent in 2002. Other health impairments -- defined by the state as "limited strength, vitality or alertness, due to chronic or acute health problems," such as a heart condition, asthma, epilepsy or leukemia -- are also on the rise, comprising 7.9 percent of disabilities among special education students.

At the same time, the number of special education students with a learning disability -- the most common diagnosis -- is falling. In 2002, 52.4 percent of students had a learning disability, compared to 42.3 percent in 2010. Speech or language impairment affects about one-quarter of special education students.

The data do not explain these shifts in disability diagnoses. The foundation has asked the public to provide perspective on the trends, which track with special education figures nationwide. Autism is the fastest-growing student disability in the country, and learning disability rates are declining, according to a 2009 report [PDF] by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Disability and special education data by county and school district are available at kidsdata.org.

Comments

[Dave Buck]

03:06 PM on 02/07/2011

I disagree with the comment from Drew Puli Wolf that kids with autism get more funding. Insurance companies don't want to cover autism related therapy and often do not. Schools, at least in our state, are hesitant to say kids meet criteria for autism or else they'll have to commit to an IEP.

My main comment to the article, though, is that the anti-vaccine crowd should notice that the data are the opposite of what they would predict if vaccines had anything to do with autism. Vaccine rates are down in California, deaths due to preventable disease are up in California, and rates of autism have not dropped one bit. Can we get back to saving lives by vaccinating kids against whooping cough and measles again please?

[Drew Puli Wolf]

02:31 PM on 02/07/2011

The facts seem at odds with most of the comments here that there is an epidemic of Autism. The number kids with Autism is going up, but the overall number of kids with disability is stable. If there truly was an epidemic increase in the number kids with Autism the number of kids with other disabilities would stay the same, and the overall number of kids with all disabilities would go up with the increase in the number of Autistic kids. What is happening is more disabled kids are being diagnosed with Autism then other disabilities. There is a reason for this; Autistic kids get a lot more funding than other disabilities. Because of this, parents of disabled kids push to have their child diagnosed as Autistic. If all disabilities got proper funding, rather than just the disabilities with the most movie stars behind it, all the children would get the proper treatment for their disability, and the statistics would show a truer picture of the children with disabilities.

[brainbalancecenters]

09:58 AM on 02/07/2011

As evidenced by this article, Autism rates are at epidemic proportions. At the end of the day, neuro-behavioral disorders like autism and ADHD are brain disorders. Regardless of cause, if your loved one has such a disorder, why not start with interventions involving the brain? Take a look at what Brain Balance – has to say about neuroplasticity, functional disconnection syndrome, and changing the brain. It’s worth a read.

www.brainbalancecenters.com

[SaburoHakaida]

11:59 AM on 02/06/2011

As an adult who has Autism, I am rather a bit shocked that there are more and more kids that are developing it and yet we don't know why.

I have a feeling that, the number of kids with Autism may outnumber the kids who don't have it in the near future.

[KelaMa]

11:41 PM on 02/05/2011

My two cents: Good teachers already informally and automatically modify instruction for each child because each child is a unique individual.
I'm an educator and see there are more kids diagnosed and can't say whether or not there are concrete environmental factors though that seems to make sense given the multiple environmentally harmful exposures developing fetuses and children experience in modern life. What I do know is that what is called the autism spectrum is broad indeed. Many kids who are now labeled autistic would simply been kids with a minor peculiarity in the past. These are the kids (mostly boys) who are a bit too awkward to be cool, are messy in their handwriting or personal effects, and will have kind of intense, almost obsessive interest on some topic. None of those "symptoms" are remarkable and certainly don't have to affect school or life in general. They don't need services or meetings or interventions, they should just be treated like individuals. Of course, the other levels of autism can be horrible to deal with and I have a lot of sympathy for parents, but most autistic kids are fine and don't need the drama of labeling.

[JonGH]

02:10 AM on 02/06/2011

KelaMa... Good comments. Thank you for your contribution here. And thank you for your service to children. It's the most important job in the world.

What you are describing is Asperger's Syndrome (DSM-IV 299.80), which is the mildest of the autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Asperger's runs in my family, so I am intimately familiar. And I agree with you, children who present mild to moderate forms of Asperger's do not need special educational "services or meetings or interventions." And, while I certainly believe that parents should be aware if their child has Asperger’s, making a big deal about it at school (“labeling”) or publicly is unnecessary and often counter productive.

Full-diagnosis autism (DSM-IV 299.00 "autistic disorder" ), on the other hand, is a very serious neurodevelopmental disorder. Some children with autism/autistic disorder can not speak! Many of these kids sit and "stim" and rock for hours. They walk on the tips of their toes. They "hand-flap." Many can not maintain eye contact. Some bang their heads on the floor. I could go on for a long time about the symptomology of full-diagnosis/full-syndrome autism, but I suppose my point is...

Although they are both in the same diagnostic category (ASDs), there is a big difference between Asperger's Syndrome and full-diagnosis autism ("autistic disorder").

[Marcilliane M Basso]

03:31 PM on 02/05/2011

Being a mom of an autistic child, he is 14 now, there are alot more signs and test now to diagnose autism. It great they are catching it earlier, there is more you can do with services too. I feel bad for new mothers going threw what I went threw because when I was told my son had autism I was in deep shock. Hang in there parents and be a voice for your kids, yours is the only one they have!

[chardonnay48]

02:19 PM on 02/05/2011

Dang us Californians are just getting slammed today.

[VA Jill]

10:50 AM on 02/05/2011

I think a lot of it has to do with the ability to diagnose. When my now 38 year old son was growing up, we knew there was something not quite "right" about him but we could not get a diagnosis of any kind. Some doctors just shrugged and said he was "slow," others assured us he'd "grow out of it." He was 16 before we finally got a diagnosis of "maybe" autism. Fortunately he is high functioning, graduated high school with a regular (not special ed) diploma and is now able to live on his own with some help. I can't help wondering how things might have been different if we'd been able to get a diagnosis earlier.

[dbrett480]

12:55 AM on 02/05/2011

We keep discussing the cause of autism; what isn't being asked is if the diagnostic criteria has changed. If it has that might explain the increase.

[suso903]

02:29 AM on 02/05/2011

Nope. I suppose more kids are being diagnosed earlier, but we are talking exponential growth over the past 20 years. And educators are saying that flat-out didn't see kids like this before, that from what they observe the numbers are skyrocketing.

[Christie Buchovecky]

03:39 PM on 02/05/2011

"educators are saying that flat-out didn't see kids like this before"

I'm not necessarily saying there has been no increase - I don't think the science is in about that. However, keep in mind that as little as 10-15 years ago, the average educator didn't know what autism was. It can be difficult to retrospectively fit something into a new pattern.

When I was in elementary school, there was a kid who I believe would absolutely have been labeled autistic today. I'm still in touch with some of my old teachers (I started working with the school board as I got older) and we've discussed this. Once, one said to me that she can't remember having anyone she would now call autistic in class until about 8 years ago, much less someone with the label. My response was: "What about *insert name here*?" (from 15 years ago) and she stopped, thought about it, and admitted that, yes, he was quite a bit like the autistic kids she works with today.

[Christie Buchovecky]

03:44 PM on 02/05/2011

Also, don't forget that autism was once blamed on "refrigerator mothers", which brought shame on the families and potentially resulted in the child being hidden from the public eye, or even removed from the home based on psychiatrists assessments of what was in the best interest of the child (ie: home schooled/tutored or institutionalized). Because of this, the most severe cases were rarely seen.

[Twyla]

03:11 AM on 02/05/2011

Actually, that question has been asked repeatedly. And answered repeatedly, for example here:

http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/09/autism-not-really-on-the-rise-967-impossible.html
http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/12/david-kirby-dr-insel-on-rising-asd-numbers-no-question-about-environmental-factors-/comments/page/2/
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/welcome/features/20090218_autism_environment/index.html
"A study by researchers at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute has found that the seven- to eight-fold increase in the number children born in California with autism since 1990 cannot be explained by either changes in how the condition is diagnosed or counted..."

[MNmommy]

04:31 PM on 02/05/2011

you post propaganda to back your assertions?

::giggles::

[LeeCalif]

12:37 AM on 02/05/2011

Can you say rocket fuel !

[Sheree Miller Altobelle]

07:28 PM on 02/09/2011

I was thinking the same thing..

[Meesterclean]

07:58 PM on 02/04/2011

I just read a study a month ago that said the closer you live to a freeway the more likely your child is to get autism. What has changed in these last few years that autism rates have skyrocketed?

We have switched to fuel additives in gasoline relatively recently as well.

If anybody knows anybody in charge of this, please, let them know that this should be on the top of our list of suspects.

[Christie Buchovecky]

03:46 PM on 02/05/2011

here's a critical review of that article that you might want to look at:

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=9103

[JonGH]

07:17 PM on 02/04/2011

The rate of childhood autism can, and is, rising. The controversy is why.

[JonGH]

06:41 PM on 02/04/2011

"The developing human brain is understood today to be exquisitely susceptible to injury caused by toxic chemicals in the environment."

-Philip J. Landrigan MD, MSc.
Professor of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine. Director, Children’s Environmental Health Center; Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NYC.

------------------------------
Landrigan PJ. “What causes autism? Exploring the environmental contribution.” Current Opinion in Pediatrics. April 2010; 22(2): 219-225.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20087185

[JonGH]

06:10 PM on 02/04/2011

"The rapid increase in autism is environmental."

-Linda Birnbaum, PhD
Director, NIEHS, Dept of HHS. Director, National Toxicology Program, National Institutes of Health (NIH). Diplomat of the American Board of Toxicology.

"Our genetics can’t change this quickly in order to explain this increase in incidence. So what we’re seeing is it’s likely an interaction of the environment and genetic susceptibility there are certain triggers that are released because of environmental exposures.”

-Paul Anastas, PhD
US-EPA, Office of Research and Development (ORD).

Autism and Environmental Hearlth Research
August 03, 2010
US Senate

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/ID/229731

[JonGH]

06:00 PM on 02/04/2011

“Autism likely encompasses several disorders with distinct etiologies and pathologies that converge on a common set of behavioral diagnostic criteria.”

“We know that autism prevalence continues to increase dramatically clearly implicating environmental factors in autism risk.”

“It is likely that constellations of epigenetic and environmental factors are contributing to the increasing prevalence of autism, a rise that cannot be fully accounted for by changes in diagnostic criteria.”

“Genetics alone cannot account for the majority of autism cases currently being diagnosed.”

-Isaac N. Pessah PhD
Professor of Toxicology, University of California at Davis. Director, Children’s Center for Environmental Health and Disease Prevention, University of California MIND Institute.

-------------------------
Aug 03, 2010
United States Senate Hearing
State of Research on Potential Environmental Health Factors with Autism and Related Neurodevelopment Disorders.
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/ID/229731
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_id=1ab3cf42-802a-23ad-4a3a-686da83bf6d0