The attached papers were published in the peer reviewed proceedings of the 2004 Australian Biennial Autism Conference in Canberra. The Conference was run by Autism Asperger ACT (AAACT).

The papers are no longer available on their website, so A4 made it available here ...

Autism/ASD diagnosis rates in Australia

Bob Buckley

Abstract

Reports show the number of people with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis in various parts of Australia. The reports provide prevalence and incidence data. The different types of data cannot be compared directly.

The detailed age distribution of diagnoses provides the means to calculate a ratio of the number of ASD diagnoses relative to the number of births for a region. This metric estimates the number of people in the population who have ASD. The current diagnosis rates in all regions of the country suggest that around 1% of Australians will be diagnosed with an ASD. ASD is life-long and can be severely disabling so this level of ASD imposes a substantial burden on the community.

The age distribution of diagnoses can be further used to estimate for planning purposes the number of people with an ASD diagnosis (including Asperger’s syndrome) at important transitions, such as the how many students diagnosed with ASD enter primary or secondary school.

full text

Autism Spectrum Disorders: are we there yet?

C. Gilberg

presentation