How Autism Changed Throughout My Career

In 1979, as a fourth-year medical student at the Medical College of Virginia, I was told: “Everyone be sure to see the patient with autism at the Virginia Treatment Center for Children. Autism is very rare—this may be the only case you see in your career.” Autism prevalence was then 1 in 5,000. (1)

I never would have imagined that I’d end up evaluating more than 600 children with autism from 20 different states and giving lectures about their medical conditions in 21 countries. Nor would I have believed autism prevalence would reach 1 in 31 children by 2025. (2)