As autism diagnoses continue to rise, an alarming new statistic indicates that autism is now diagnosed in one out of every 91 children, instead of one out of every 150 children as previously thought.

The increase in autism diagnoses presents a significant challenge for school systems, which already face limited resources as they seek to educate children with the neurological disorder.

Autism affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others. It is a spectrum disorder that affects individuals differently and to different extents, and so while autism is defined by a certain set of behaviors–including lack or delay in spoken language, little or no eye contact, and repeated motions or words–one particular therapy or treatment will not work the same way for all children with autism.

Experts say autism is typically apparent around age three, but now pediatricians are checking children as young as 18 months for signs of the disorder–an indication, some say, of the condition’s alarming growth.

Organizations such as the Autism Society of America (ASA), Autism Speaks, the Autism Science Foundation, and Fighting Autism are campaigning for increased awareness, assistance, and research to help with the disorder.

Although the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires schools to provide educational services for students with autism and other conditions, “schools have to deliver on a federal mandate without having [adequate] resources,” said Marguerite Colston, vice president of constituent relations for the ASA.

Colston said ASA is developing educational resources to help general-education teachers succeed with their students who have autism, and several companies now offer products and services that can help as well. In this Special Report, we’ll look at how schools can develop the capacity to meet this challenge head on, and we’ll examine some of the resources that are available to help them.

Focus on visual representations

New research from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) published in the journal Pediatrics surveyed slightly more than 78,000 parents of children ages 3-17 on whether doctors or other health care providers ever told them their child had an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). That study resulted in a 1 in 91 occurrence. The study attributed the increase in part to greater education about autism and improved medical ability in diagnosing the condition.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working on a report, due out later this year, that places autism in about 1 percent of U.S. children. A CDC statement on autism, prompted by the HRSA study, said the organization could “confirm that updated preliminary data from CDC shows that overall prevalence findings are similar to those reported by HRSA, indicating that approximately 1 percent of children are affected with an ASD.”