Autism Rates - KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

A new federal study indicates there are more autistic children in the U.S. today than previously thought.

The Centers for Disease Control announced Thursday the rate of U.S. children born with autism has skyrocketed over the last three decades

"It was about 1975 the incident rate was one in 15,000 live births and now we're talking about it being one in 150 live births," said Leslie Sinclair, the Director of the Cleveland Clinic for Autism.

That means out of every one thousand children born in the U.S. each year, a little more than six are autistic.

Even in the mild cases, communication is difficult, but in 40 percent of the cases, autistic children don't speak at all. Scientists still don't know what causes it. But they do believe that early detection is key to successful treatment.