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I've been thinking about this early testing news lately. Like Mr. Sowell, I wondered who would do all the testing. My son was obviously Autistic but it still took several meetings for the psychologist(s) to say so.

Though some parents may appreciate a diagnosis, there are many more parents who will resist. And in fact, if the number of false positives is high, as it inevitably will be, it will show that they are right. Perhaps that's not as bad as I think. I tire of meeting some kids who are so high on the Autism spectrum as to have it not apply yet have parents who for whatever reason (Munchausen's?) insist they're Autistic. Meanwhile, I fear that inflating the number of children with a diagnosis of Autism may actually hurt truly Autistic children like my son.

Agreed! I’ve seen this in my own family — one daughter with a profoundly autistic child and another daughter who insists her very bright, but quirky, child is “Asbergers”. The fact that he has bright, but quirky, parents does not seem to register with her.

I agree. You have many of these "Self Diagnosed" Aspies, who in reality, are NOT Autistic, but really and truly, need to get out more, stop playing those stupid video games, read a book that doesn't have illustrations of oddly angled oddly proportioned Japanese people, go to more parties where people aren't dressed like those said oddly proportioned Japanese people and play a sport. Sorry, kendo and bowling doesn't count as a sport. A real sport like football, basketball, hockey or even boxing or the various non sword martial arts that encourage you to spar constantly. (This is from personal experience with these so called "Aspies".) A.S. and other forms of Autism are VERY real PSYCHOLOGICAL conditions. PSYCHOLOGICAL conditions should only be diagnosed by a PSYCHOLOGIST and not a person sitting on a computer taking a stupid test. Also, you should be tested by a real psychologist, and get a second opinion, because Autism is a very serious mental disorder. You don't get medical diagnoses from just one doctor, so why get a mental one from just one doctor?

BTW, Out of proably over 20 doctors I've seen in a lifetime, only 3 said I wasn't Autistic, and 2 of them haven't even heard of A.S. or Autism so my DX is VERY real.