It has been over 50 years since Dr. Leo Kanner, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University, wrote the first paper applying the term 'autism' to a group of children who were self-absorbed and who had severe social, communication, and behavioral problems. For many years, the most cited statistic is that autism occurs in 4.5 out of 10,000 live births. This was based on large scale surveys conducted in the United States and England. More recently, estimates on the …showed first 75 words of 910 total…

…showed last 75 words of 910 total…symptoms of autism are treatable, there are many treatments that have made a significant difference. The logo for the national parent support group , the Autism Society of America, is a picture of a child embedded in a puzzle. Most of the pieces of the puzzle are on the table, but we are still trying to figure out how they fit together. We must also keep in mind that these pieces may fit several different puzzles.