World autism day:The prevalence of autism has increased by 63.9% in just six years , and many people know nothing about it

 

The prevalence of autism is rapidly increasing.

CDC data show that 1 in 36 8-year-olds will be identified with an autism spectrum disorder in 2020.

In 2018, this figure is 1 in 44

In 2016 it was 1 in 54;

In 2014, it was 1 in 59.

In six years, the prevalence has increased by more than half.

Note: In recent years, the incidence has been increasing rapidly for all ethnic groups in the United States

What kind of disorder is autism? And how do we live with it?

Today is World Autism Awareness Day, and we've compiled 6 insights that may refresh your perception of autism.

In fact, everyone has a little autistic trait

A study in the National Academy of Sciences used the Autism Trait Questionnaire to test over 500,000 people and found that the distribution of autism trait scores in typically developing populations was also a smooth curve, except that they scored lower on average compared to the autistic population.

There is also a large body of research that correlates autistic traits with a number of cognitive functions, and people with high autistic traits may be less able to "read subtexts" and "empathize", showing this correlation in the cerebral cortex.

Note: Representing the distribution of autistic traits in different populations, higher scores indicate more pronounced autistic traits, blue and purple represent typically developing populations, green and red represent autistic populations

Autism is not a genius, nor is it a mental disability It's more likely to be a group of people with better creativity

The most common misconception about autism is often related to intelligence. When describing the mental image of a child with autism, most people give the answer as either an inarticulate, incompetent child who cannot take care of himself or as a withdrawn, gifted genius.

However, autism does not necessarily mean a high or low level of intelligence. Data show that only a very small percentage of children with autism reach "exceptional levels" of intelligence, and only about 1 in 3 children with autism have intellectual disabilities (IQ < 70).

However, although children with autism are not geniuses, many of them do have some special strengths. A survey by the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University showed that children with autism were three times more likely to have an engineer for a father than a control group. In addition, they went into the Dutch Silicon Valley of Eindhoven, which is home to a large number of high-tech companies and IT talent, and they found that the rate of autism diagnosis was also significantly higher here than in other parts of the Netherlands. In other words, autism may be closely related to human creativity.

Because of stereotypes Girls tend to be more difficult to diagnose with autism

Girls are often diagnosed later. A study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry noted that the average age of diagnosis for boys with autism was 5.6 years, compared to 6.1 years for girls, although girls diagnosed with autism tended to have more severe cognitive impairment. And a Canadian database showed that the more cognitively competent girls with autism were, the later they were diagnosed compared to boys.

Note: The horizontal coordinate is the verbal IQ of children with autism, and the vertical axis is when they were diagnosed. The left panel is for girls and the right panel is for boys, and it can be seen that girls are diagnosed later than boys, and more so for high IQ girls.

Loneliness also has love and the right to chase love

Many media outlets have been known to refer to autism as "autism," which has given many people the stereotype that the autistic community is reluctant to socialize and has no social skills.

This may not be the case.

An Australian reality show "Love on the Spectrum" shows us the dating lives of a group of autistic people.

In front of the camera, they confess that they still have a desire for love, despite repeatedly hitting the wall. Chloe on the show says, "I want to experience love, I want to be like everyone else. I don't want to end up alone."

Autism is not about not wanting to make friends They are just not good at making friends with ordinary people

People with autism actually have a great desire for friendship.

Although children with autism have certain abnormalities in their social skills, ask them friendship-related questions and their answers are almost identical to those of typically developing children.

That is, they have a similar understanding of friendship. The only difference is that they expect more attention from their friends, probably because they have experienced too much indifference, rejection and even bullying. Therefore, please don't be stingy in caring for your autistic friends, and don't be shy to express it.

We call for a more autism-friendly environment

In fact, autism is more like a special state of being, their unique selves, always making people feel out of place. But how is this not true for each of us? It's always hard to be comfortable entering a new job, a dinner table with lots of strangers, and not knowing how to socialize. Autism is just a little more special than we all are.

But so what if it's not, if each of us could learn more about autism, maybe everything would be a little better.

The easiest thing we can do is to start by not looking the other way.

If you meet a child in your life with stereotypical behavior and emotional breakdowns, don't be overly concerned with them and don't show dislike or disgust. If you have a child with autism in your community and in your life, then I implore you to show them greater tolerance.

Today is World Autism Day and we would like to invite you to forward this article to as many people as possible and join hands to make more people aware of autism.

Every child deserves a bright future, and so do children with autism.