The burden of Autism

By HARIATI AZIZAN (The Star, Sunday April 27, 2008)

Autistic children need a range of intensive therapies

In Malaysia, awareness of autism has increased in the last few years but more research is needed to assess the situation and to draft an efficient support system to address it.

A MAXIMUM of US$80,000 (RM251,075.12) a year – that’s the cost estimated by the Autism Society of America (ASA) for the average parent or family to look after an autistic child in the United States.

Broken down, this amounts to US$6,666.70 per month (RM20,992.90).

This figure covers the cost of “modern” treatment such as early intervention, physiotherapy, speech therapy, behavioural therapy and others.

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Autism Spectrum Disorder Statistics

Experts estimate that two to six children out of every 1,000 will have autism. Males are four times more likely to have autism than females.

Therefore, it can be summarized that between 1 in 500 (2/1,000) to 1 in 166 children (6/1,000) have autism.

 autism spectrum disorder in the United States. However, using the occurrence data stated above, we can estimate that if 4 million children are born in the United States every year, approximately 24,000 of these children will eventually be diagnosed with an ASD.

Distribution of Autism Disorders among Interactive Autism Network (IAN) with ASD, by first diagnosis

This chart shows the distribution of the parent-reported first diagnoses that the affected children enrolled in IAN Research received from a professional. Many parents report a change in their child’s diagnosis over time. This sample chart displays only information on the child’s first diagnosis. This chart may indicate how autism spectrum diagnoses in a state vary from the national pattern

What was the child's FIRST autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis?

Parents are given the following choices:

• Autism or Autistic Disorder
• Asperger's Syndrome
• Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)
• Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD)
• Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) (choose only if none of the above apply)
• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (choose only if none of the above apply)

Assuming the occurrence rate has been constant over the past two decades, we can estimate that up to 500,000 individuals between the ages of 0 to 21 have an autism spectrum disorder. However, many of these individuals may not be classified as having an ASD until school-age or later. Because behaviors related to the autism spectrum disorders are usually present before the age of 3 years, it is important to make sure the individuals are being identified and are receiving appropriate intervention services as early as possible.

• More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes & cancer combined

• ASDs are reported to occur in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, yet are on average 4 to 5 times more likely to occur in boys than in girls.
• If 4 million children are born in the United States every year, approximately 36,500 children will eventually be diagnosed with an ASD.  Assuming the prevalence rate has been constant over the past two decades, we can estimate that about 730,000 individuals between the ages of 0 to 21 have an ASD.
• Studies in Asia, Europe, and North America have identified individuals with an ASD with an approximate prevalence of 0.6% to over 1%. A recent study in South Korea reported a prevalence of 2.6%