Archive for March 2013

Monthly Archive

1 in 50 Is and Is Not Really News…

school busJust this week, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) published in one of its publications, the National Health Statistics Report, the latest information on the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). Once again as we’ve been used to seeing over the past ten years the prevalence has apparently risen again. Just one year ago, the CDC published data widely reported in the press that the prevalence of ASDs in the US was 1:88, equal to approximately 1.13%. This report substantially increases that number to about 1:50 or 2% of the population. What are we to make of these ever apparently increasing prevalence numbers? Read full post »

Oscar Always Wants to Play With Our Neighbors

Oscar and Rosie“Oscar always wants to play with our neighbors, but they aren’t very nice to him. It’s sad because when I was a kid I played with our neighbors all the time and he doesn’t have that,” says Rosie Delcid, a senior at Highline High School.

Eight year old Oscar is Rosie’s younger brother who she describes as hyper and funny. “I love him so, so much.”

Rosie is one of four children and lives with her mom, dad, one of her older sisters and her brother Oscar. Oscar has autism. Oscar is the reason Rosie has organized an event at the Burien Library called Autism Connections. Read full post »

Diagnosis and Identity

teenagerGuest Writer: Ben Wahl, MSW, is the program director of Aspiring Youth Program

Nowadays it is quite common to hear the CDC statistic that 1 in 88 children (and 1 in 54 boys) in the US have an Autism Spectrum Disorder. There is much debate about whether there is actually an increase in occurrence or whether we have just gotten better at detection. There is similarly loud debate about the new criteria for ASD in the DSM 5. For the young people I work with, though, the debate is beside the point. What they experience is what matters; and that experience is often isolation, confusion, frustration, anxiety, and depression. Read full post »