Last week, the Centers for Disease Control released new data that shows a continued increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism.

One in every 31 children in the U.S. has an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. That’s up from one in 44 just a few years ago, and it’s a huge increase from the one in every 150 children who received the diagnosis twenty years ago.  

Autism has gotten more national attention in recent months after U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. resurfaced debunked claims linking autism to childhood vaccines.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with experts and advocates about the prevalence numbers, what autism is, what it isn’t and why the conversation matters.

Guests:

• Zephyr James is the director of marketing and communications at the Autism Society of Minnesota, also known as AuSM.

• Dr. Jennifer Hall-Lande is a psychologist and one of the principal investigators of the Minnesota division of the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network.  

  
  

  For autism information and resources, contact the Autism Society of Minnesota.

  
  

  Call: 651.647.1083

  
  

  Email: [email protected]

  
  

  Text: 651.321.2909

Additional conversations on living with autism

• 
  
  MPR News with Angela Davis Living with autism as an adult
  
  


• 
  
  MPR News with Angela Davis Living with autism as an adult, part 2
  
  

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Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.