Boys who talk late are being diagnosed. My wife's brother did not speak nary a word until he was FOUR, and now is a top salesperson for IBM. He is 55. Had he been around today, the idiot quacks would have convinced his parents to f**k him up with drugs and useless "therapy".
Just like ADD and ADHD (with which I myself was "diagnosed" and my parents--thank God--ignored the diagnosis), 80-90% of "autistic spectrum disorder" diagnoses are bullshit.
I do not trust these pediatricians, as I do not trust OBGYNs who try to outlaw midwives (our children were born at home despite the hysterical pleas of our OBGYN-brainwashed relatives). Just as with "global warming" this is about MONEY, not science. And the gender discrimination is just absurd, along the lines of "The War Against Boys". Boys who won't act like girls are often the first to be pigeonholed into ADD or Autistic categories.
Of course there are exceptions--but they are OBVIOUS. Truly autistic children are a tremendous challenge and often a nightmare for their parents.
Even some girls barely escape being pigeonhold as autistic. I’m one of them.