From USA TODAY:
More than 15% of school-age kids — about 10 million children — had a developmental disability in 2006-08, according to a study released Monday in the journal Pediatrics. That’s up from 12.8% in 1997-99.
The study suggests that three or four children in a typical elementary school classroom have development disabilities. Some of the increase may be the result of the rise in premature birth, which leaves some babies with lasting impairments, says study author Sheree Boulet of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One in eight babies today are born prematurely, according to the March of Dimes.
In the past, many children who had problems learning or talking would have been dismissed as odd, says Alison Schonwald of Children’s Hospital Boston. Today, these children are more likely to be diagnosed with a problem. Parents may push for an official diagnosis so their children can receive medication, special education or other services, says Schonwald, who wasn’t involved in the new study…
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EDITOR: While it may be true that “many children who had problems learning or talking would have been dismissed as odd,” there were very few circumstances of Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder just as there was far few cases of allergies sixty years ago when the Watchdog attended high school. We need to look towards our human made chemical environment for explanations of what is ailing our children.
