Tuesday, March 26, 2013

1-in-50 School-Age Kids Has Autism: What Does This Really Mean?


Post by Babble's Lisa Quinones-Fontanez, a native New Yorker. She's a secretary by day, grad student/blog writer by night and Mami round the clock. When Lisa’s son, Norrin, was diagnosed with autism in May 2008, she found herself in a world she did not understand. Her blog, AutismWonderland, chronicles her family journey with autism and shares local resources for children/families with special needs.
The year I was born, the number of children diagnosed with autism was 1 in 5000. And I went through my school-age years and then some never knowing what autism was or anyone who had it. As I grew older, I had an idea it existed but it wasn't anything I knew about.
It wasn't until 2008, at the age of 33,  that I really learned what autism was. I had no choice to know because it was my two year old son, Norrin, who was just diagnosed. That spring I had entered the digital world of MySpace. I didn't know anyone else raising a child with autism. For a long time, among my network of friends, Norrin was truly 1 in 110.

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