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 Autism is a life-long developmental disability that typically appears during
a child’s first three years. It is a developmental disorder that affects functioning of approximately 1 out of every 500 individuals. Autism is four times more common in boys than in girls and knows no racial, ethnic, or social barriers.
It is conservatively estimated that more than a million people in the United States today have some form of autism spectrum disorder. Its prevalence rate now places it as the third most common developmental disability in the United States.
Autism interferes with the normal development of the brain in the areas of reasoning, social interaction and communication skills.It significantly affects the way an individual relates to others and to the world. Symptoms can be classified in the following general areas:
- Qualitative impairment in social interaction skills
- Qualitative impairment in communication skills
- Limited interests and activities
- Repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior
- Delays or abnormal functioning usually appear before three years of age in social interaction, language or symbolic/imaginative play.
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