Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Autism Likely Underreported in Minority Children

Layoffs Boost Suicide Risk in African-American Teens
Layoffs Boost Suicide Risk in African-American Teens
While autism rates have risen among white children, rates among black and Hispanic children also increased, but at a much lower rate.

A  new study suggests autistic black and Hispanic children are not being identified in national counts. Jason Travers, an assistant professor of special education at the University of Kansas co-authored a study that analyzed administrative identification of autism in every state for the years 2000 and 2007.

He discovered that while the number of students with autism increased in every state from 2000 to 2007, black and Hispanic children were significantly underrepresented.

The disparity in the odds of white students identified compared with minorities might reflect a similar phenomenon associated with the widespread increase in students diagnosed with learning disabilities in the late ’70s and attention deficit hyper disorder in the ’90s, say the authors. 

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