HENRICO, Va. (WRIC) -
Today, one out of every 68 kids is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. That rate that has more than doubled over the last decade.
And children are getting the news earlier than ever, thanks to improvements in screening.
Jakeman Nowak's mom says she noticed her son acting differently early in life.
"Our son's name is Jakeman. He just turned three. We first noticed he had some issues when he was very young."
Jakeman wasn't much older than his little brother Xavier is now when their mom noticed something was off.
"He was saying, like, dada, mama, yaya, nana, and all that completely disappeared. That was the red flag that there was something really different about him that we needed to take a look at."
The Nowaks quickly learned their little boy is part of a growing number of kids getting the same news. Jakeman was diagnosed with autism.
"Autism used to be considered a low-incidence diagnosis. It was about 1 in every 30,000 kids back then. Over the last 30 years though, we've seen that go from one in 10,000 to one in 5,000 to now about 1 in 68," said Adam Dreyfus, director of early autism services at St. Joeseph's Villa.
The CDC finds that although children can be diagnosed as young as two, most aren't until they're four and a half.
Read more:
How Early Intervention Is Changing The Game for Autism