Learning about Teen and Adult Autism
An Overview on Autism
Autism: Background and Definitions
Perspective on Teen and Adult Autism
There are several things to consider when living and dealing with individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Especially teenagers and adults with autism. To give some perspective, Adelle Tilton wrote, “The issues surrounding teens and adults with autism spectrum disorders are vastly different than those experienced by young children and their parents. As children mature into adults, their needs and expectations change; this is no less true for a person on the autism spectrum than it is for any other individual The challenge of autism increases ten-fold as the child changes into an adult.
Autism has increased from just a few kids per 10,000 to one in 166, according to the CDC. There are places in the United States where autism is appearing in one in 10 children. And those children will not always be children. They will become adults and one in 166 adults with an autism spectrum disorder is a hard thought to wrap your brain around.
The financial repercussions for society alone are staggering. Medical needs, living arrangements, care after parents are no longer able to fill the caretaker role are concerns that no one can ignore, whether they know someone with autism or not. Autism is the biggest healthcare crisis in the United States today; it is not only stealing our children, it is stealing our future society in terms of the adults that it holds captive.”