It's Time to Review Autism Awareness

    Autism rates are getting higher throughout time. In South Korea, one in every thirty-eight children develop autism spectrum disorder. Scientists concluded that as of this past Sunday a rate of 2.64% South Korean children are found with autism, along with an estimated rate of one in one hundred and ten children for the United States, (concluded by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

    This study made differs from others in that in previous studies, researchers mainly used special education classes instead of the cities' populations.This time the Koreans analyzed over 55,000 children, between the ages of seven and twelve.

 Asperger's disease now has a possibility of being a form of autism. Yet these two disorders differ in that of autism comes with significant delays in language and cognitive development. However, researchers say that it is impossible to draw a distinct line between the two and that Asperger's is autism.

    Students at this school have their own views on autism:

    "People need to be more aware of austism.  People need to realize that people with autism are no different than we are.  My cousin has Asperger's disease yet he gets along with me and my other cousins fine, he acts no different than we do.  Just because someone has a disease or disorder, it does not define them as a person."

    "I've noticed throughout my experiences with autistic people is that they are very smart especially when it come to memorizing patterns. It seems like most autistic people have an obsession with one specific thing and focus a lot of their attention on it. It's actually very interesting."

    "My mom has been working with people who have disorders. She has taught a religion class during the school year once a week for the past twenty five years. When I was little I used to be afraid of them, but now I have a much better understanding, especially having worked with them face-to-face. In reality, they are just like us. They need to be understood and it is in our hearts to do so since we are all children of God."

   By: Becky Welc