Autism rates are much higher than originally thought but may have stabilized in recent years, a new study suggests.

An estimated 2.41 percent of children in the United States have autism spectrum disorder, according to a new analysis of data from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). The most recent previous estimate put autism rates at 1.47 percent in 2010, researchers from the new study said.

“The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder is much higher than previously thought,” said senior author Dr. Wei Bao, an epidemiologist with the University of Iowa College of Public Health.

Autism spectrum disorders now affects about 1 of every 41 children, a huge increase in autism from previous decades, Bao said.

Read the full article here!

Finding the best and brightest workers is the goal ofprofessional services company EY, and with 260,000 employees across the globe, it’s a search that takes them across the world.

Yet two years ago, they found a talent pool often ignored and dismissed by many employers.

“We identified a huge population of very bright, well-educated people,” EY’s Dallas office managing partner Michelle Vopni said. “Their IQs were high and they had graduate degrees in their field.”

But despite their acumen and qualifications, those workers had jobs they were overqualified for or even unemployed. Vopni knows why.

“The way they communicate or express themselves is different from others,” she said.

She is talking about workers on the autism spectrum. Though qualified and intelligent, difficulty with communication or job interviews might leave them overlooked and passed over.

Read the full article and watch the video here.

Prince Harry had a sweet exchange with an autistic royal fan from Canada during a walkabout in Toronto last week. The fifth-in-line told Dylan Atack to “keep working hard” and “make people smile” when Dylan told the Prince that he has autism.

Read the full article here

“As a parent with two out of three children on the autistic spectrum, I nodded with many points by Jem Lester (Seen Rain Man? That doesn’t mean you know my son, Family, 30 December). However, despite the common feelings around having our verbal and non-verbal autistic kids, I feel that actually 2017 provided plenty of great autism-inspired TV.

I gorged on Atypical on Netflix, was intrigued by Chris Packham’s Asperger’s and Me, consumed another series of The A Word and concurred with The Good Doctor.

Even better, autistic characters entered kids’ TV too. Our non-verbal son connected with the first CBeebies autistic animated character, Pablo. And hot on the heels of Sesame Street’s first autistic Muppet came the Power Rangers movie, in which the Blue Ranger was autistic.

But while I was keen to point out to our eldest son, Anthony, that this Ranger shared some of his difficulties, Anthony did the opposite. He said he was like the Blue Ranger because he was brave, strong, wanted to protect people and (most of all) was the best he could be by being himself, autism and all.”

Read the rest of the article here.