Autism prevalence in the USA.

The symptoms of autism are drastic and devastating. These can be remediated to some degree, but treatment is imperfect. In addition to this, autism and other mental disorders are becoming more common in American as well as global society. Unfortunately, the causes of this terrible epidemic are unknown. Perhaps there is a genetic gene that spreads around. Or maybe the air is so polluted with chemicals, it may affect the development of a child by damaging the brain. Nevertheless, the percentage of children diagnosed with autism has substantially increased. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2000, Autism Spectrum Disorder of all levels was prevalent in about 1 in 150 children of all ethnicities and gender in the United States. In a recent statistic, CDC, on March 27, 2014, discovered that autism was prevalent in 1 in 68 children in the United States. However, ASD was 5 times as common in male children (1 in 42) than it was in female children (1 in 189).  ASD is extremely prevalent in other countries as well. In Asia and Europe, ASD is prevalent in 1% of the population. In South Korea, it is reported that ASD is prevalent in 2.6% of individuals (CDC.gov). As seen through the studies throughout the decade, autism prevalence has increased by 45% in 10 years. Today in the United States, about 1.5% of children are diagnosed with autism, which means that a large minority of the population requires heavy special education. The prevalence of autistic kids is larger than the number of doctors in the United States. According a census in 2004, .29% of the population (1 in 300 people) are doctors. Therefore, not only does their need to be more quantity and better quality of special education, but there is also a need for prevention methods.