Hot on HuffPost Parents:
Babble.com: 8 Parenting Lessons To Learn From 'Arrested Development'
Our Favorite Tweets From Parents This Week
One in Six U.S. Kids Reportedly Developmentally Disabled
Filed under: In The News, Special Needs
At least one in every six children is now considered developmentally disabled. Credit: Getty Images
Whatever the reason for the number of kids tagged as developmentally disabled, USA Today reports those numbers are soaring. At least one in every six children in the United States is now considered developmentally disabled -- a spike of 17 percent in the past dozen years.
That means, on average, every American elementary school classroom has at least three kids with a developmental disability.
The newspaper reports this is largely due to the number of kids diagnosed with autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
While some are cynical in their view the autism and ADHD epidemics, Sheree Boulet of the Centers for the Disease Control tells USA Today the rise could be result of more premature births. And the side effects of premature birth are no concoction of over-reactive parents, she tells the newspaper. They can definitely cause lasting impairments.
Boulet led a study tracking the latest numbers of kids with developmental disabilities. The results are in the latest issue of the journal Pediatrics.
It may be better to diagnose kids too much rather than too little, Alison Schonwald of Children's Hospital Boston tells USA Today. It used to be that kids who displayed the symptoms of autism and ADHD were dismissed as odd and left to twist in the wind, she says.
Nowadays, she adds, children are at least getting help for their challenges.
"It's great to diagnose them early, so we can intervene early and help them reach their full potential," she tells USA Today. "It's much more daunting to think of the number of adults out there who have never been identified and served."
Related: ADHD or Paranoid Parents? One or the Other Is Increasing
Want to get the latest ParentDish news and advice? Sign up for our newsletter!
Your<span>Voice</span>
Ask Us Anything About Parenting
Recently Asked
TheTalkies:RelatedVideos
-
Inside Joey Travolta's Film Camp For Military Kids
Forty-seven lucky kids were given the rare opportunity to learn the ins and outs of Hollywood filmmaking thanks to Joey Travolta's project of love, Inclusion Films. PICS: The Travolta Family Through the Years
Together with Cox Communications, the film workshop, which took place in San Diego earlier this year, gave nearly fifty developmentally disabled children with an interest in film production the extraordinary opportunity to create short films under the guidance of professionals while their
-
Missing Kids, Disabled Woman Found Safe
The two kids and a disabled woman who were missing from Long Beach, California have been found safe at an area bus stop.
-
Accommodating Kids with Disabilities
In the United States, every child is guaranteed the right to a free public education from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Some of these kids will have disabilities that require a modified curriculum. For them, there's the track that's popularly know
-
Dr. Ashok Banskota Says That Helping Kids Is Its Own Reward
Dr. Ashok Banskota has dedicated a lifetime of service to Nepal's most disadvantaged children, spending the past several decades volunteering to provide more than 43,000 poor, disabled children with life-changing medical care. After training in New York, Dr. Banskota returned to Nepal and was shocked by his country's lack of medical resources for the poor. He started a small program to help poor children with disabilities, to become the Hospital and Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children.
SitesWeLove
- Site Map
- |
- Staff
- |
- Terms of Service
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Trademarks
- |
- Advertise With Us
- |
- About Our Ads
- |
- AOL Downloads
- |
- Contact Us
- |
© Copyright 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Aol Family
ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
5-23-2011 @ 6:51PM
Must SVT said...My very delayed son was diagnosed with Autism a few months ago. I was shocked at the number of people who questioned if he "really had" it. Genetic testing also confirmed he has Fragile X Syndrome soon after. The world at large needs to know that better attention from parents and doctors means we are catching these conditions more frequently than in the past, and this is not a case of an illness concocted in an overbearing parent's head.
Reply
5-24-2011 @ 10:30AM
Kristen said...I think that SOME of the problem is the way our school systems are run. All of the kids with ADHD, ADD, ect.... those kinds of things could be dramatically helped with good diet, proper healthcare screenings(although who can afford health insurance) and by not making kids UNNATURALLY sit in a classroom for 6+ hours a day with no fun. Good grief our society needs a serious wake up call. Schools in Germany go from 8am until 11 am for kids pr-k through 4th grade, from 5th grade on school is from 8am until 1:30pm, they still have time to be kids.
As for the previous poster getting the comment of "does he really have it", yeah I understand that, I think anyone can be diagnosed with anything BUT the thing is their are still kids that need help and still have problems. I too have high functioning Autistic child and what we have found is that homeschooling is better, less stressful and helps her to learn how to work in the real world.
Reply