The Hannah's Gift Briefing
Prevalence of profound autism declines with new definition
A new CDC study estimates that nearly 17 percent of 8-year-old autistic children in the United States meet criteria for profound autism, down from a previous estimate of 27 percent published in 2023. The decline reflects an updated definition that now includes adaptive functioning scores alongside IQ and verbal ability measures, making the criteria more precise. Researcher Matthew Siegel attributed the drop largely to this definitional change.
What this means for clinicians: The revised profound autism definition adds adaptive scores, so prior prevalence figures are not directly comparable to current ones.