as was the case with frankie sanders. >> frankie was diagnosed when he was 15 months old. began to get speech therapy and occupational therapy and physical therapy. he was placed with a group with kids that were typically developing. >> reporter: all that hard work is paying off. frankie is now 15. he attends a regular high school and plays on the football team. >> we can diagnose autism at 2 years of age almost always, ag. about 90% of the children. by 3 certainly. and we actually can diagnose it at 18 months in many children. >> reporter: but aconsidereding to this new report, most cases are diagnosed late, after age 2 or 3. that's when therapy has been shown to help the most, especially with speech and communication. >> parents need to be aware of their children and how their children are interacting. >> reporter: and then they need to seek help. >> if you as a parent are concerned about your child, talk to your doctor, talk to your school system to see if they should be assessed. get them assessed. >> i also asked dr. gupta why researchers think the number of autism ca

. >> frankie sanders is a ninth grader who liked to play chess in his ipad and is trying to pass the ntal disorder that affects language, behavior and social skills. boys make up the vast majority of cases. what you may not know is that 12 years ago the centers for disease control and prevention began to estimate the total number of cases in the united states. they based it on a count of 8-year-old children with autism in select communities. if you looked back in the years 2000 and 2002, was there one child in 150 with autism. two years later, one in 125. then, one in 110. and now the latest report, as of 2008 the last time an estimate was performed, one in 88 children has ought echl. that's a 78% increase just over the last decade. and the question on a lot of people's minds is why? >> how much of that increase is a result of better tracking and how much of it is a result of an actual increase? we still don't know. researchers have discovered many genes linked to autism, but in most cases, genes are only one part of the equation and genes alone wouldn't change that fast in just ten y

. >> frankie sanders is a ninth grader that loves to play chess on his ipad and trying to pass the test for his driver's permit. frankie also has autism. assist you may know, it is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects language, behavior, and social skills. boys make up the vast majority of cases. what you may not know is 12 years ago the centers for disease control and prevention began to estimate the total number of cases in the united states. they based it on account of eight-year-old children with autism in select communities. if you look back in the years 2000 and 2002, it was about 1 child in so with autism. two years later, 1 in 125. then 1 in 110. now the latest report as of 2008, the last time an estimate was performed, 1 in 88 children has autism. that's a 78% increase just over the last decade. the question on a lot of people's minds is why? >> how much of that increase is a result of better tracking and how much of it is a result of an actual increase? we still don't know. >> researchers have discovered many genes linked to autism but in most cases genes are only one pa