“Why are there more and more autism cases now?” This is a question that many parents or teachers often ask with frowning eyebrows.

The prevalence of autism has indeed increased significantly since the 21st century. In developed countries where this disease is fully understood, the prevalence has stabilized at around 1/68 of the children in the past two years. If we consider this prevalence rate, autism is indeed no longer a rare disease, but has become a relatively common disease.

Autism is an innate neurodevelopmental disorder. There is currently no research that can completely clarify the cause of autism. It can only be said that autism is related to genes and environment.

As for the incidence of autism, there is currently no official data for reference in China, but the number of cases diagnosed with autism is indeed increasing year by year. Why is this?

01 Advances in diagnostic technology and increased diagnostic awareness

Our country has successively conducted epidemiological surveys in local areas and sample surveys nationwide. The data from these epidemiological surveys show that , the prevalence rate of autism is lower than that in developed countries, but this is probably related to the fact that our understanding, discovery and diagnosis of autism still need to be improved. Even so, autism-related clinical professionals estimate that the prevalence of autism among children in our country should be around 1.

Perhaps the incidence of autism has not really increased, and the number of children with autism may not have increased due to different generations, but it may be just the research and development of domestic medicine in this area. More is understood and diagnostic techniques have advanced.

In the past, people did not pay so much attention to autism in children. At the same time, after the onset of the disease, parents did not understand that this was autism. With the popularization of the concept of autism, more and more people Parents have learned about the meaning and dangers of autism, so more and more children are now sent to the hospital for ASD examination, which has also led to a significant increase in the probability of children with autism.

02 The development of network information

The development of information has prompted us to learn more about autistic children, giving us the impression that "autistic children are everywhere" 20 years ago, the disease "autism" was just introduced in our country. The general public knew very little about autism, and the information was equal to 0. Even if there were children with autism around us, we didn't know what it was. Autism.

So, the development of modern information has, on the one hand, increased our understanding of autism, and on the other hand, it has also increased our misunderstanding of the number of autistic children.

03 Environmental pollution and life pressure

The current environment has a great impact on both parents and children, whether it is the external environment or the internal environment.

Think about today’s life. In order to keep up with the pace of the city, how many people have irregular daily routines and irregular meals. Under such a stressful situation, some mothers may not be able to eat well or sleep well when they are just pregnant. However, the three months in the early stages of pregnancy are exactly the golden period when the child's brain is developing. None of us can guarantee this. Periods of stress and nutritional imbalance have absolutely no impact on a child's development.

While the internal environment is full of pressure, the external environment is full of many pollutants. There may be heavy metals in the food that cannot be washed away, and there may be suspended matter in the air that cannot be filtered. People with developed Internet There may be radiation everywhere now that cannot be prevented. Some children may already have recessive genes when they are born, but environmental stimulation may also induce autistic traits.

04 Children lack entertainment and interactive experience

Children in the past had plenty of time every day to spend time with children of similar age, play a lot of games, jump rubber bands, and climb trees. , stepping on shadows, etc., these activities that seemed ordinary to us when we were young, now seem to be great contributors to our growth, unknowingly improving our motor coordination, sensory integration, and fine movements. , or even the social nature of interacting with others.

I often think that maybe there were many children with developmental delays or poor interaction skills in the past. It’s just that children in the past had an environment and opportunities to play freely. Everyone often gathered together to play, and maybe they naturally There won’t be so many maladaptive issues anymore. So maybe those games in the past have indeed made many children with less abilities grow into adults who can keep up with social changes.

Some children may not have that good interaction ability, and because the entire environment does not provide many practice opportunities, children do not have so many opportunities to practice things that seemed natural to us before. It’s time to learn the ability.

The stimulation that the large environment cannot provide can only be given to children through deliberate arrangements by parents. However, in my opinion, these deliberate arrangements can never be as good as nature. Those games in situations, after all, children in natural situations can have higher motivation and learning flexibility.

05 There is no cure for autism, only new ones

Because the exact cause of autism has never been found, and there is no drug treatment like other diseases, so autism Only by recovering slowly can you return to a normal level in a better situation. But even so, it cannot be judged as being cured, because they are more or less accompanied by certain deficiencies, which is also a global problem.

The autistic community is like a reservoir with no outlet. Water flows in continuously, but very little flows out, so the pool accumulates more and more water.

This is one of the reasons why we feel that there are more and more people with autism around us.

Although the exact cause and cure have not yet been found, autism is not terrible and there is nothing surprising. I hope that the public will understand the autism community and not have too many prejudices. .

In addition, professional intervention and guidance is currently one of the most effective methods of rehabilitation. Once parents discover that their children have developmental abnormalities, they should not take it lightly and go to a professional hospital for evaluation and screening in a timely manner and provide active treatment.

Why are there more and more cases of autism today?