The autism epidemic that never was

New Scientist ^ | August 13, 2005 | Graham Lawton

[Dont Mention the War]

I'm not taking a side here. I'm only posting this because the subject has come up on FR many times in the past, so I thought others might find it of interest.

[konaice]

Gawd i hate articles that have to take you on a touchy feelie sob story ride before getting to the point. Why are all the drama authors writing for so called science organizations.

/rant

[Choose Ye This Day]

Nothing to see here. There is no epidemic. Your child doesn't really have a problem. Move along...

[RebelBanker]

Read later

[technochick99]

This confirms what I've thought. Changing the way we measure things changes our results.

[pabianice]

This seems to be a clear case of Victimology 101. If a child is behind his contemporaries, it MUST be due to a desease over which neither he nor his parents have any control. They're all "victims," instantly removing any hint of responsibility.

That said, the ability to correctly diagnose does improve over time. I keenly remember a "stupid kid" in school who was simply put in the 7th grade retarded division. As an adult he self-diagnosed dyslexia and went about solving it. He has since done very well.

[OldFriend]

We have a friend whose little boy is truly autistic. He was fine until about 2 yrs. old and then all progress stopped and he began to regress.

From reading all I can, it is clear that many children are labelled autistic that are not autistic at all.

The 'powers that be' seem to use that term as a catch all for many developmental problems.

Just my considered opinion from watching this dreaded situation up close and personal.

[cas7boys]

I have 3 children on the spectrum - in my home it does feel like an epidemic.

Some of the comments I read seem to suggest that there is nothing really wrong with these kids - I would invite you to spend time with a child diagnosed with autism and then report back - you might have a different perspective.

Thank you for posting this - I am always willing to read information about autism. My older autistic is 19 next month, and there has been a lot of change in information since he was first diagnosed. My twins are 8 this month, and as always there is still much speculation about what the cause or causes of autism might be. I am thankful that is has been determined that it is not because of "refrigerator moms - might explain why my other 4 children AREN'T on the spectrum.

[nuffsenuff]

You have SEVEN kids?

WOW! You have my utmost respect.

You sound like a great mom.

[TomB]

Some more information from another article:

A far more obvious explanation for the increase in autism rates in California was the one that mainstream autism experts expounded: diagnostic changes, new laws that expanded federal payments to care for autistics, and greater parental awareness of these resources. In 1990, Congress made autism one of the disabilities that qualified for federal funding. Thereafter, states were obliged to report all cases of autism. In a Minnesota study, to take one example, admissions of autistic children to developmental programs jumped starting in the 1991 school year and continued to do so for a decade. Often these increases occurred within the same grade. For example, 13 autism cases were reported per 10,000 Minnesota 6-year-olds in the 1995-96 school year—that is, among children born roughly in 1989. Five years later, the prevalence rate for this cohort was reported at 33 per 10,000. These were the same kids. Between the ages of 6 and 11, they'd suddenly "become" nearly three times as autistic—or rather, doctors, parents, and school counselors were enrolling them in programs more aggressively.

[George W. Bush]

My sympathies for your situation. I can only be glad if they actually eliminate the mercury from vaccines, something entirely unneeded in the modern era. And the harder look into the side effects of various childhood vaccines will certainly do no harm.

I think this article is irresponsible. Trying to pretend there is no increase in autism when so many patients and doctors disagree demonstrates that the so-called autism experts won't define what they claim autism is. I suppose they can next announce a cure for autism by declaring it doesn't exist.

This article is mostly a hear-no-evil-see-no-evil bit. But children who abruptly halt and then regress from normal development of speech and learning are suffering from something.

[TomB]

Trying to pretend there is no increase in autism when so many patients and doctors disagree demonstrates that the so-called autism experts won't define what they claim autism is. I suppose they can next announce a cure for autism by declaring it doesn't exist.

Reread the entire article, he isn't saying what you think he is saying.

[George W. Bush]

It would help if he would actually state a thesis for his article and stick to it. But it's clear enough that he's saying there is no autism epidemic. More like an epidemic of diagnoses of autism. And pointing to increases in federal funding for behavioral disorders as a cause for the increased diagnoses. I didn't think his quote from New Scientist of auism as 'trendy' among parents exactly does their situation justice. Portions of the article simply don't seem serious about the real problems of developmental disorders and the impact on children and families.

I think the average person would be more confused by this article than they were prior to reading it.

[TomB]

It would help if he would actually state a thesis for his article and stick to it. But it's clear enough that he's saying there is no autism epidemic.

Uh, his "thesis" is that there is no autism epidemic. I don't think he could have been more clear about that. He then goes on to discuss the possible reasons the diagnoses have increased.

I don't see any reason why the average person should be confused.

[George W. Bush]

I think the article is more confusing than the DSM guidelines for diagnosing autism and ADHD, a pretty elastic standard.

But if autism and ADHD are increased by increasing funding, as the author seems to suggest, then decreasing funding and services should make it disappear.

You know, I have a long history of being a conservative education activist but there really are some problems with fomenting such a view on the public as an adequate explanation.

I would certainly agree with many of these premises being applied to ESL or ADHD or general increases in special ed funding. But I do think we have seen a real increase in severe developmental disabilities in children as well. And I don't believe that somehow pretending it's merely parents and doctors soaking up available funding for kids with temporary problems is an adequate answer.

[Dianna]

Nothing to see here. There is no epidemic. Your child doesn't really have a problem. Move along...

I don't think that is what this author is saying at all. 20 years ago, my son would never have been diagnosed as having Asperger Syndrome. Kids like him were thought of as just weird and dorky. My son receives NO special services paid for anyone but us and our insurance company. He isn't a special ed student.

We were well aware of his problems and our lack of ability to change them quite awhile before we came across information on Asperger's. Eyes wide with amazement, we saw that the persons described were very much like our son. It gave me a code word to use in order to find help and other people who understood. That's all.

It's rather like someone with a fussy infant. To find out that the baby has colic, and that other people have encountered it and might have a tip or two doesn't solve your problem. But it sure does make it easier to know you aren't alone.

[TomB]

But if autism and ADHD are increased by increasing funding, as the author seems to suggest,

Could you point to the actual part of the article where the author states that?

[hinckley buzzard]

This confirms what I've thought. Changing the way we measure things changes our results.

No doubt. When I began my clinical child training in the 60's "autistic" was reserved for the kid who crouched in a corner and chewed on his arm and never said a word, or banged his head against the wall all day, or sat and waved his fingers in front of a flourescent light for hours at a time.

More recently I have seen kids in my office "diagnosed autistic" according to their martyred parents, but who basically just acted odd or were socially maladroit. Anymore, you can't tell the players without a program.

[cas7boys]

Thanks for the kind words. My boys are my heart and soul (after God and my hubby). Despite their challenges, they are amazing kids.