Are there any percentage or number statistic on ASD?

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As the title says is there data on 1 out of X or Y percent are on the spectrum (not just AS but the whole spectrum.) Just curious.

Yes, but estimates vary considerably. I think the last CDC estimate was 1 in 150.

I hear one in every hundred but then I used to hear one in every three hundred. I guess more people got diagnosed but given that maybe it'll go down to one in every fifty.

I think it's pretty strange that people think autism is "epidemic".

historical numbers don't change when an adult is dx'd, right? so add one for me for this year, but it actually should be added to historical numbers back in the 60s, since that's when I was born.

the autism "epidemic" is really an epidemic of diagnoses of previously undetected cases. if the data were corrected for year of birth, then the increase would be seen for what it is, more efficient diagnosis. I don't believe there was only one case per 10,000 back in the 80s or whenever. there was only ONE DETECTED case because no one knew what they were looking for.

sorry, I just got done reading the Larry King article from earlier this year. god that man is stupid. I hate sensationalism and misrepresentation of facts.

Every 100th person I see, I probably saw one autistic person. If I go on a full bus, half of them have a mental illness. If I go to an aspie gathering and there are 15 people there, one of them is probably a savant since 1 in 10 autistics are savants. I have doubts the numbers are accurate.

Savant syndrome doesn't have to be flashy. Remember the definition they are using for the 1:10 is "an advanced skill acquired with little practice". Lots of things qualify for that; you don't have to be some kind of stereotypical caledar-calculating, matchstick-counting Rainman.

You can't tell mental illness just by looking, most of the time. People get so good at hiding it that their co-workers for ten years don't know they have one...

I was not talking about Rain Man when I mentioned "Savant." I know there are different savant abilities and it's not just math and numbers.

I was talking about statistics. It is now 1 in 100 now I saw at Autism Speaks and I've read every 1 in 10 autistics are savants and my friend here says 1 in 4 have a mental illness. So if I go to an aspie gathering, there might be at least one autistic savant there. It doesn't have to be numbers or math. It can be anything like art or music or memory or with geography.

I think my b-i-l is a musical savant. he can play a song after hearing it once, apparently.