**Author details**

**Age group**

**m f m f m f m f m f m f m f**

**County of residence 0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-29 30-39 40+ Total**

KOPRIVNIČKO-KRIŽEVAČKA 1 0 7 0 1 0 4 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 17 KRAPINSKO-ZAGORSKA 1 0 4 0 8 2 9 5 6 1 1 0 1 1 39 LIČKO-SENJSKA 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 7 MEĐIMURSKA 0 0 10 0 2 3 1 2 2 2 0 0 1 0 23 OSJEČKO-BARANJSKA 1 0 20 3 18 3 6 5 12 6 1 3 2 1 81 POŽEŠKO-SLAVONSKA 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 6 PRIMORSKO-GORANSKA 0 2 18 7 24 3 15 4 6 2 2 0 1 0 84 SISAČKO-MOSLAVAČKA 0 0 4 3 8 0 7 1 2 4 1 0 0 0 30 SPLITSKO-DALMATINSKA 7 0 21 4 33 9 18 6 23 8 3 7 8 0 147 ŠIBENSKO-KNINSKA 0 2 5 3 8 1 4 1 7 2 3 1 0 0 37 VARAŽDINSKA 2 0 8 2 6 1 1 6 3 0 0 0 0 29 VIROVITIČKO-PODRAVSKA 1 0 4 1 4 1 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 15 VUKOVARSKO-SRIJEMSKA 1 0 10 3 7 1 4 2 5 2 1 0 1 1 38 ZADARSKA 0 0 17 5 7 0 6 3 5 0 3 0 2 0 48 ZAGREBAČKA 0 0 5 2 11 3 8 4 6 5 4 1 1 1 51 Unspecified 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 7 TOTAL 33 11 224 56 232 47 136 64 143 62 42 18 32 9 1109

**Table 4.** Overview of persons with PDDs (F84) by county of residence, sex and age group.

All the above leads to the conclusion that there is a difference between the registered prevalen‐ ces of PDDs in Croatia and other countries of the world. According to the last available CDC data, global prevalence reaches 6.6 per 1000, while in Croatia the rate is ca. 1 in 1000 children (0-18 age group). This great discrepancy, that is under registration of PDDs, could be ex‐ plained by numerous factors. One of them could be the phenomenon of *diagnostic substitution*, which was encountered in the USA before 1990 until which time PDDs, as a diagnosis, could not secure children the right to special education. In 1990 the passing of the individuals with Disabilities Education Act was the culmination of a long tradition of state and federal acts pro‐ moting the closing of institutions and encouraging state governments to support families in their effort to care for and raise their disabled children in their own homes. Autistic children, especially children with comorbid mental retardation and behavior disorders, who, otherwise,

As amended on 5 May 2012

54 Recent Advances in Autism Spectrum Disorders - Volume I

**4. Conclusion**

Tomislav Benjak1\* and Gorka Vuletić<sup>2</sup>

