WATCH THIS SPACE!
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WHAT WILL IT BE THIS YEAR?
* For the first time this year the CDC will be reporting on profound autism statistics
MEDIA RELEASE:
2 April marks World Autism Awareness day. This day was set aside by the United Nations in 2008, to create awareness around the condition and support people affected by autism. Because of the significance of focussing on autism and facilitating an understanding of the condition, it has become common practise to use WAAD as the starting point for Autism Awareness Month, dedicating the whole of April to this cause.
Autism is a condition that affects children, regardless of race, ethnicity or economic background.
“The condition is more prevalent than juvenile diabetes, paediatric cancer and childhood AIDS combined.”
As a childhood development disorder, autism impairs the ability to communicate and understand language. Autism is four times more common in boys than in girls. Although South Africa does not have any accurate statistics on autism, we rely on the stats from the CDC. In 2023, the CDC announced Autism Prevalence rates to have risen to 1 in 36 in the USA.
“Autism rates continue to increase and its not because we better at diagnosing. Our kids are in desperate need of access to evidence based treatments for autism” says Ilana Gerschlowitz, Director of the Star Academy and author of Saving My Sons – A Journey with Autism.
The Star Academy uses Applied Behaviour analysis or ABA to deliver instruction to children across the spectrum. ABA, is a teaching method that uses positive reinforcement to increase skills, like communication and independence and reduce behaviours, like aggression and tantrums. ABA is endorsed by the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Academy of Paediatrics and covered under medical insurance in the USA as first line treatment for autism regarded a medical necessity. Click here for more endorsements on ABA:
For years now, research has proven that there is a link between autism and environmental factors. We also know there is a gut brain connection which requires treatment.
Lack of support and caregiver burden is real for many parents raising children with autism and trying to access treatments and appropriate educational intervention.
As the incidence of autism steadily increases we need to demand answers and no longer accept excuses for the diagnosis simply labelled “childhood autism”.