1 out of 150 kids? Really?

So I kept reading that 1 out of 150 kids suffers from a "autism spectrum disorder." I didn't believe it. It sounded like the kind of statistics that parents make up to advocate for their kids. I did some research. I avoided any sites that were run by advocates. I stuck to the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute of Health. First, NIH said 1 out of 1000 kids. Then another NIH website said 3 out of 1000. That's a big difference. Finally, yet another NIH website said -- for accurate prevalence statistics go the CDC. I did. CDC's conclusion? 1 out of 150! I trust the CDC. Good grief. I was so hoping I was wrong. Since boys are more likely to suffer from an autism spectrum disorder than girls, that's a LOT of boys. It's a lot of girls, too, but it is a HUGE number of boys. So I thought about my office. About 75 lawyers. I can think of 10 lawyers with SONS with some type of developmental disorder serious enough to affect their education and their future. That's just based on hallway chit chat. I can think of one lawyer with a daughter with similar issues. That's 11 kids out of 75 families! Totally unscientific, but interesting nonetheless. Of course, lawyers are trained to advocate for just about anything, anytime, but we are especially good at advocating for our kids. Even so, these aren't trifling situations. We aren't talking about kids who forget their books at school. . . . What the heck is going on with our kids??? Is it better detection or is something else going on? I have no clue. And, We won't know unless we make an enormous effort to find out. That takes money and muscle. If you want to learn more, you can start by checking out Erika Martin's stamping blog and blog about her son Zach. ****** I stamped almost all day yesterday. I have a very expensive pile of scrap paper to show for it. I know that most of you understand. Some days you got your mojo, some days you don't.