California sees twelvefold increase in autism caseload
May 7th, 2009From the San Jose Mercury News:
A new study by California researchers says the state is providing services to twelve times more people with autism than it did two decades earlier.
Between 1987 and 2007, the number of children and adults with autism served by state regional centers rose almost 1200 percent, from 2,701 to 34,656, according to a study by the state’s Department of Developmental Services. Over the same time period, the state’s general population grew by just 27 percent.
The study projects that more than 4,000 California teenagers with autism will reach adulthood over the next five years, pushing the state’s rolls to an estimated 10,000 autistic adults by 2014. Researchers expect the number of adults with autism in the state to exceed 19,000 by 2018.
The dramatic rise in autism has broad implications for California families, taxpayers and social service agencies.
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