AUTISM 2
Running head: AUTISM 1
Issues Related to Autism in Children
Student Name
Course
Institution
Date
Issues Related to Autism in Children
Research Question
What are some of the social factors that have led to increased autism in children from the age of 3 to 10 within the last decade?
Thesis
There has been an increased number of autistic children in the last ten years despite having infant and child development training for both new and experienced parents.
Topic Significance
I chose this research topic because autism rates are rising in American children. The study will help identify major autism issues leading to the rise and develop approaches to encounter it. Various factors are associated with delayed communication in children and lack of interest in socialization which has become a major issue in parenting. It is a wish for parents to have a child who develops properly and all the stages of development are clear, and there are no worries of delayed stage development. Communication is important, and this is why raising a child who does not know how to talk and make requests instead of crying is challenging, and most parents will always be happy when their children start to utter understandable statements. This is not the case for all parents, as some will delay in babbling or develop anti-social behaviors (Kogan et al., 2018). Although psychological therapies and changes in environments can reverse this condition, sometimes it becomes lifelong and has negative effects on the child’s later life.
According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), autism in children is on the rise a one in 59 children in the US is predicted to have autism which is higher than one in 68 children as reported in 2016. Generally, these numbers present a 15% increase in autism in the last ten years while a 150% increase from 2000 (Liftoff, 2021). Autism advocates agree that increased awareness of autism in the US is one of the main reasons for the rise as parents are able to report such cases. Frazier Thomas states that there are other factors that have led to increased autism in children and the increased survival mechanism is another factor in the modern world (Kogan et al., 2018). Furthermore, more people in the US have started bearing children at an older age, especially in late adulthood, raising the chances of having autistic children.
Autism in children is also associated with the environment the children are raised in. Autism advocates argue that it is always advisable to raise a child where he can see other toddlers and instinctively start competing with them, a move that reduces autism conditions. Sometimes a child can be born alone with no siblings yet, and there are no children in the neighborhood, which means the parents and other adults-only surround him. Such a surrounding also increases the chances of developing autism as the kid already lacks peers to play and compete with. In a pair of studies, children aged 8 to 15 showed improvement in learning basic English terms, but their senior autistic counterparts showed better performance (Xu et al., 2018). The results were also similar when it came to comprehending complex English vocabularies and statements as children struggled even more. This indicates some individuals are likely to overestimate the potential of autistic children in comprehending a little complex statement when engaging them.
The only way to encounter autism is to make an early diagnosis and immediately start management procedures to prevent its negative outcome on child development. Unfortunately, CDC reported that only 42% of the children diagnosed with autism were reported at an early age of below 4 years (Liftoff, 2021). According to autism experts, parents need to start tracking their child’s developmental milestones early, especially developmental milestones in speech, communication, and interaction. This is because if there are any impairments, the child can start to receive help and services early enough to correct the issue.
Annotated Bibliography
Durkin, M. S., & Wolfe, B. L. (2020). Trends in autism prevalence in the US: A lagging economic indicator?. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 50(3), 1095-1096.
Durkin and Wolfe studied the trends of autism prevalence among the US children in which they found out there in an increased rate of 0.43% annually for autism disorders. They compared the results with the economic trends among children and realized that autistic children were averagely low in economic status. However, this study slightly contradicts with the positive rise of the US economic status within the last decade, and that is why it will be excluded in the final draft.
Kogan, M. D., Vladutiu, C. J., Schieve, L. A., Ghandour, R. M., Blumberg, S. J., Zablotsky, B., … & Lu, M. C. (2018). The prevalence of parent-reported autism spectrum disorder among US children. Pediatrics, 142(6).
The research aimed to estimate the prevalence of parent-reported cases of autism diagnostic using the 2016 National Survey of Children Health (NSCH) for children aged 3 to 17 years. Kogan and his colleagues found out that `1.5 million us children were reported for ASD diagnostic and 27% of them were receiving medication while 64% of them were receiving behavioral therapies. These rates represent that there are 1 in 40 children tested with autism.
Liftoff, (2021). Why Autism Rates Are Increasing in the US. Why Autism Rates Are Increasing in the US – Learning Liftoff
Liftoff studies confirms Kogan’s research on the increased autism conditions in children. In regard to the CDC statistical analysis, Liftoff found out in a 2016 study that 1 in 59 children are tested to have autism which was a 15% increase from 1 in 68 children. However, the rates are forecasted to go higher due to increased anti-autism awareness among parents. It is concluded that change in parenting environments have been a major factor in the increasing autism conditions.
Xu, G., Strathearn, L., Liu, B., & Bao, W. (2018). Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among US children and adolescents, 2014-2016. Jama, 319(1), 81-82.
Autism is a neurodevelopment disorder that has been on the rise within the last two decades. Xu and his colleagues (2018) found out the 2012 autism analysis from the Autism Developmental Disability Monitoring (ADDM) was a 0.67% increase from 2000 and a 1.47% in 2010. However, the study indicated the rates reduced with increase in age.
The thesis of the study is to investigate issues that have led to increased number of autistic children despite increased children development training for parents. These sources are credible since they confirm increased autism in the last ten years and majority of them discussing potential factors for the increased rates in their discussions.