Brief Report: Prevalence of Co-occurring Epilepsy and Autism Spectrum Disorder: The U.S. National Survey of Children's Health 2011-2012.

Thomas et al. (2017) looked at a big U.S. parent survey from 2011-2012.

They counted how many kids with autism also had epilepsy.

Parents answered yes or no to the question, "Has a doctor ever said your child has epilepsy?"

About 1 in every 12 children with autism had epilepsy.

Epilepsy showed up more in older kids, girls, and children with low income or intellectual disability.

Speech problems also went hand-in-hand with the epilepsy group.

Van Hanegem et al. (2014) used the same survey and found girls with autism have fewer total health problems, yet Shiny still flags girls for epilepsy. The two papers agree: when girls do have a medical issue, it is often speech or seizure related.

Parsons et al. (2019) moved the lens to adults 40-88 years old and saw epilepsy stay common, especially in those with ID. This extends Shiny’s child numbers into later life and tells us the risk does not fade.

Tan et al. (2019) swapped epilepsy for food allergy in the same 2011-2015 survey and found a 2.5-fold jump in autism. Together these studies show parent surveys can quickly flag several hidden medical burdens.

You now have a fast benchmark: expect epilepsy in roughly 8% of the autism caseload.

Add a quick epilepsy screening question for older girls, non-speaking clients, and any learner with ID.

If parents say yes, request a neurology consult before starting intensive behavioral sessions that use flashing lights or long waits—common seizure triggers.