Statistics on Autism:
Approximately 1 in 1,000 people have autism or autistic disorder. It appears to be the most highly genetic of all psychiatric disorders. If a family with one autistic child has another child the chance that this child would be autistic is 50 to 100 times more likely to than would be expected by chance. However, it's clear that no single gene produces the disorder. Rather, the commonly accepted model states that it is a result of the accumulation of between five to ten genetic mutations. Scientists are aiming to identify all these genes in order to find a full cure to this issue.