Story highlights CDC reports no change in autism prevalence since its last report in 2014

It might be too soon to tell if autism prevalence in the United States is starting to stabilize

(CNN) One in 68 children has autism, according to the latest government report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While the current report (showing data from 2012) shows no change in prevalence from the 2014 report (showing data from 2010 to 2012), the prevalence continues to remain higher than expected, said Dr. Catherine Rice, director of the Emory Autism Center. And it might be too soon to tell if autism prevalence in the United States is starting to stabilize.

"The number hasn't changed, but the impact is still great," said Rice, who previously worked at the CDC and used to lead this autism project. "While this is a hint there may be a slowing of growth and identification of people with autism, it certainly doesn't yet confirm that we are seeing this leveling out. What it confirms is that autism is a more common condition than we had been addressing for many years and we need to use these numbers to motivate us to help address the needs in the community."

Alison Singer, president of the Autism Science Foundation and mother of a daughter with autism, said this is not a sign everything is fine. "It points to the need for more research to understand nuances in data to be able to better serve all children diagnosed with autism," she said.

The report suggests there are delays in acting on early concerns, said Rice. The report says 87% of children later diagnosed with autism had a documented developmental concern by age 3, but less than half (43%) of those children received clinical developmental evaluations by age 3.

"Almost 90% of children (with autism) have an indication of developmental concern by age 3, and less than half of them are getting an evaluation," said Michael Rosanoff, the director of public health research at Autism Speaks . "There is a gap there, a gap in services that we need to bridge. We can reliably diagnose autism by 2 years. Our goal is to diagnose earlier and get services to children earlier."

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