Prevalence of autism among children with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

Autism is prevalent among primary school children, and these children exhibit difficulty in communication. They have reduced communication skills, problems with social relationship, especially they experience isolation by their family members, and they have persistence of stereotyped behaviours and have low social development. Children experience a high incidence of intellectual disability. We aim to estimate the prevalence rate of autism among children with a developmental disability. 50 children who have been diagnosed and underwent treatment for their intellectual disability were screened and assessed by direct observation method. Initially, every child was screened by using the DSM criteria for autism with the help of the caregivers and teachers as well as other therapists who previously treated children were also included selectively. The children after the screening programme, if found be diagnosed as autism in DSM criteria were reevaluated with the checklist appropriate for their age grouped. Indian Scale for Assessment of Autism was used to screen autism children. After the baseline assessment, the researcher collected the data and results were analyzed. Results conclude that 20 children out of the 50 children were found to have autism and the prevalence estimated as 40% among children’s in Kancheepuram district. We conclude that prevalence of children with autism was considerable increasing and these children were prevalent among children with other pervasive developmental disorder and especially the prevalence was high in children with mental retardation and the study highlights that all children with intellectual disability must be screened for autism.