In a large sample of privately insured children who had older siblings with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and thus were at …
Autism rates in the U.S. have been spiking, but is this a case of awareness or are more kids being born autistic? Vaccines Don’t …
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I had all the signs of autism as a child but this was the 70s. I didn’t want to be held, played alone, had speech and social issues in kindergarten. I sat and dug a crater size hole in my front yard with a spoon. If that was today, my butt would have been hauled into the doctor for a diagnosis. I had to take the long road in developing social skills and I’m still learning. I’m a US Air Force vet and college graduate.
Autism is being diagnosed in younger and younger kids…same with adhd…poeple assume a kid has some mental defect without even stopping to consider things like environment or condissioning…when I was a kid I did not socialize much with other kids in my class,not because I didn’t understand how…but because a lot of them were either bullies or too stupid or toxic for me to wanna have anything to do with…so I simply chose not to speak to them….needless to say many were quick to label me call sorts of ways.
Autistic spectrum disorders are overdiagnosed. I know this for a fact. It’s become the go-to diagnosis for kids who just don’t fit. In the 80s and 90s it was ADHD and in the 2000s and 2010s it became autism, but it’s the same thing. It’s the diagnosis du jour. Pervasive Developmental Disorder NOS was actually created for the benefit of schools who had students who couldn’t be diagnosed with anything else because we’ve created a world where difference is pathologized.
I think that the more complex our society becomes, the more conditions we’re going to find, a s more and more people will struggle with the rising pressures. Someone born 100 years ago with autism might have been able to live by themselves, with not that much need to interact with other people, had a job that was easy enough to do, and people might just have thought about the person as a little unsocial, with strange humor
I think a lot of “lighter” cases are being diagnosed too instead of just being called weird or socially awkward. My eldest son is autistic but high functioning and we have high hopes that if he maintains the medication that helps him with his high anxiety he will be able to be on his own and a functioning member of society. Autistic people have a lot to bring. They don’t think outside the box, they LIVE outside the box and can often find solutions to problems that we wouldn’t even start to think about.
I’m a high functioning autistic, and i’m going through a program for special ed students to extend my education. They would suggest me several services to help me get a job, or make extra money through social security. I would reject all of them because I realize I don’t need any of these because I can drive a car, hold a job, communicate properly, and have good behavior. I’m just waiting to get my diploma so I can get a real job.
I can understand how increased awareness could explain increases in mild autism (or Aspergers syndrome) because they would’ve just been considered “odd” or “quirky” years ago but better awareness doesn’t explain increased rates of severe autism because it has a very obvious presentation. When I was a kid in the 80s in a small town I don’t recall ever seeing any kids with severe autism but today it’s shocking how many people in the same small town have kids with high needs autism. At the elementary school my youngest goes to, I talk to a lot of the other moms and out of the 10 I talk to 5 of them have children with severe autism (like the non-verbal kind) and my daughter has 3 children in her class with severe autism. When I found that out I thought to myself, what is going on..??
I think the reason is more obvious for those of us who are autistic realize we are, is because the world is louder and faster than it used to be, making it more overstimulating. Before, things were more quiet and slow, so less obvious autistics didn’t get as overwhelmed as easily. While we’re also getting better at diagnosing it, it’s also just more obvious when the loud and fast world is so overwhelming to us now. At least, that’s my thoughts on it. Also, it’s genetic. Autistics have kids, of course there’s going to be autistic people coming about when two autistics get together, because we’re often drawn to each other.
I think the answer is pretty simple. While greater attention to the disorder is certainly increasing the number or people who are diagnosed with autism, there is another major factor in play here. Men who make babies when they are 40 are 400% more likely to has children with autism than men who make babies when they are 30. Simply put, autism rates are higher because people, in this case men, are delaying baby making.
I find it hard to believe that 1 in 45 kids today have autism, and even more have other brain disorders. That doesn’t leave very many healthy kids. I don’t ever recall any disorder or combinations of disorders giving you a 1 in 50 chance of getting it. That’s incredible, regardless of whether you call it autism or anything else. You should have a 1 – 50 chance of having blue eyes, not of brain disorders. Add in the rise of ADD, ADHD, OCD… and is anyone having a healthy kids these days. Send like if you add up all the things, you have less than a 1 – 2 chance of having a healthy kid. So either we are over diagnosing, and over medicating, or there are environmental factors.
my mother was part of a study for Shriners that analyzed the link of autism and fine air particle pollution. my sister has autism and we lived across the street from the freeway when my mom was pregnant. Out of the hundreds of mother’s they studied there was no denying that the more polluted your environment was during pregnancy to the first two years of life the higher your chances of the child becoming autistic. the whole vaccination thing is a load of bull. the strongest link so far is pollution. some people think kids get diagnosed because its some sort of fad but that is not the case. the good news is early intervention can cure it or help tremendously. it all goes back to the fact that pollution is killing us.
There’s likely a lot of misdiagnosis going on also by doctors who are too quick to diagnose. While the advantages of early diagnosis are mentioned here, the flip side is that it stunts a child’s ability to develop his/her own coping mechanisms with the social world around them, Labels are not always the answer and everyone can be diagnosed with some disorder or other if some doctor decides to tick the boxes. Also, ass burgers? Really? If there’s a gain in awareness for a condition it can at least be pronounced correctly.
some people have said autism is part of who they are, and that’s fair enough, but clinical depression and ADD are part of who I am but that does not mean i would disappear if were happy and could concentrate. the problem of “am i the same person?” is similar to a thought experiment called The Ship of Theseus, where a ship has a rotten plank replaced, and then some time later, it has another replaced and so on until none of the original ship is left. one solution to this problem is to tell the philosopher to shut the f up and stop being silly. if someone were “cured” of autism they would have the same memories, the same family and friends and would have the same past experiences, so they might still be the same person. I’d say they probably would be the same, except some things that they previously had to figure out would come naturally. (like instinctively knowing someone’s feelings or the meaning of figurative language or whatever they could’t do when they were autistic. p.s. i know autism symptoms are unique to the individual, i’m not saying all autistic people have these symptoms just that some do ) (i apologise for my poor english skills, i’m extremely lazy)
I raised an autistic kid in the US, and let me tell you it was no picnic. He was also nonverbal and PPD. But most of the difficulty was not so much my son — albeit a challenge. Most of the problems were from idiot strangers who would 911 us or call the CPS. You have no idea just how annoying that is, having now to do with cops or social workers WHO HAVE ZERO CLUE ABOUT AUTISM.
I definitely think part of it is that kids are getting misdiagnosed with autism, which was the case with me. When I was 3, I was misdiagnosed as having autism because my speech was slightly delayed, I was shy and introverted and preferred to play by myself, and I had a habit of rocking back and forth in my bed at night. After my diagnosis I went to a preschool for developmentally delayed kids and I caught up with my speech, became more social, and it soon became apparent that I didn’t really have any autism symptoms at all. So, when I was 6, I got reassessed and it turned out I actually have ADHD, learning disabilities, and some anxiety. I spent most of my school years in a special Ed class for LD, and did very well.
Honestly, a lot of social norms of non-western countries are seen as symptoms of autism by the west. For example, a lot of cultures see direct eye-contact too aggressive and as a sign of disrespect. Could the rise of autism also be attributed to the rise of diversity and classifying common traits of various cultures as symptoms of autism under a western lens?
I have high functioning autism. The one thing I have to say to parents is, if you suspect it, take your child to a doctor to get them (possibly) diagnosed. The treatments this provides your child will only help them to become a happier, more nureo-typical person in society. With the treatments my parents got me I am able to have friends, speak, look in people’s eyes, and live a full, rich life. Please, do the same for your child.
i still find it hard to believe that it went from 1 in 2000 to 1 in 45 just from bett diagnosing,with the growth of the population and the introduction of numerous unhealthy items added over the years.people are quick to blame 1 thing and not look at the big picture as where a chemical say as in being sprayed on a crop maynot be bad but when you have chemicals in food water vaccines paints air its starts to become overwhelming to the human body and thru the 50s 60s 70s 80s alot of unsafe stuff was released that we didnt know the effects of
If I grew up now a days, I would of been diagnosed with Autism as a kid. Being unaware my teacher just thought I was slow (I was socially); she just didn’t know what to look for. Now I’m in a top physics PhD program, so I’m not stupid. Yep awareness reflects number diagnosed which increases those demographics.
I think it is due to more than just a greater awareness and understanding of autism. People these days are obsessed with obtaining labels, and they think that just because someone has a few quirks in their personality, that means they have a mental disorder. Also, the diagnostic criteria for autism has expanded so much in the past 10 years or so that it is getting harder to draw the line between what is considered autistic behaviour and what is considered “normal.” There are also many things that can look like autism but are not, for instance I have social anxiety and can come off as being autistic at times due to being anxious and socially awkward, especially around people I don’t know very well.
I have autism, and I started talking when I was 3, but I am starting to think that It was harder to learn English, than anything else, I had a hard time learning English because it was already like I knew another language… but I couldn’t remember that language, and my memory was stoked, but the strange thing was that my mother had a form of autism, when it isn’t even autism
in the USA autism is OVERDIAGNOSED it seems like the parents go to the doctor because of mischief childs that don’t listen to their parents and the doctors give the diagnose of autism like is the only answer. The insurance covers it… but medications have side effects, please don’t try to look for a excuse for your bad parenting.
The people in the comments clearly have no idea as into what they’re talking about. Autism is a disease/disorder. I understand that a lot of people with autism are high functioning and you would probably never even know that they had it unless they told you. But to say it isn’t a disorder in some way, shape or form is neglecting those who actually have their lives again heavily affected by it. Most people with autism aren’t savants or geniuses. Some are low functioning. I know autistic people who can’t even drive because of their autism. I know autistic people who can’t even pursue their dream careers because if it. People need to understand that it’s a spectrum disorder. Yes, there are a lot of autistic people who the sane as everyone else, but at the same time there are autistic people who aren’t as fortunate and their autism is nothing short of a curse.
There are lots if adults who have problems because of their undiagnosed “autism”. They may have IQs, even college degrees but most of them are unemployable or working at a fraction of their potential. They will need emotional support, financial support. Who will look after them according to their needs ? Do governments understand ? Employers are increasingly demanding, requiring lots of skills neuro-diverse people are less likely to have. Robots and machines will take over jobs in the future. There are lots of undiagnosed people with dyslexia, dyspraxia, AD(H)D etc.
It’s fashionable, pure and simple. Western culture is – on the whole – utterly obsessed with personal identity. And since social awkwardness is being helped along by the early introduction of digital devices, this one is just low-hanging fruit. This is a perfect way for a narcissist to secure more supply, while shutting down any information to the contrary.
In a world of instant gratification, attention seeking, and over stimulation I think many disorders are misdiagnosed for healthy, normal functioning people who aren’t comfortable in their own skin and need a little societal crutch to “make it all make sense”. We all struggle in our own ways and if you don’t deal with problems that can be traced to truly autistic behavior then you’re watering down the definition of the term for your own narcissistic causes.
I disagree that autism is more accepted than intellectual disability. If you look at most autism awareness initiatives, they’re all about parents complaining that it’s so hard and their lives are ruined and they’ve thought about killing their kids. There are certainly some people like that in the intellectual disability community, but the awareness initiatives don’t focus on them. Instead, the focus is on parents saying their lives have been enriched by their child, and self-advocates talking about how their lives are good. I remember shortly after Autism Speaks’ Autism Every Day article came out, the Canadian Down Syndrome Society had posters up showing a person with Down Syndrome and saying “different genes, same value”. (This isn’t a Canada vs US thing, the Autism Society of Canada is very much like Autism Speaks in their views.) And it’s having an impact – in article games, I’ve started seeing gamers using “autistic” as an insult the way they’d usually use “retarded”.
It’s so common because we as humans have brain variations. I’m autistic and I wouldn’t change it for the world. Also, kinda spring when I heard early intervention and less symptoms – instead of focusing on “less symptoms” (hand flapping, rocking, etc. why not focus on acceptance of those symptoms? For us, it’s a way of self-expression and emotional expression. Taking that away harms us. I’ll flap my hands, and if you’re uncomfortable then that’s not my problem 🙂
As a resident in Illinois know the state didn’t accept the Asperger’s classification change. Yet the number of diagnosed children remains statistically the same as those that did. So while the shift did inflate the numbers some. Cases as Illinois show that increase is minor at best. Also, the information presented only goes back to the 1 in 2,000 level. Yet records indicate less then 30 years before that the numbers were 1 in 10,000+. So what caused that increase of 5 times? Yes, reclassification can explain much of it … but no more then 50% or so. So in reality this is a trend that is happening and their must be some under lining reason or reasons. Quit the dogma to keep people stupid and admit the trend in rising, in a few decades the ratio will hit 1 in 2, then eventually 2 in 3. Instead of wasting energy tying to understand why … how about we spend a third of that energy changing society so when those who have the condition outnumber the atypicals. They don’t decide to treat the now former atypicals as mental retards … like they have been historically?
So in the 1900’S it was called, depression, hyper, etc. Now they just sum it up as autism. For the kids who go on rampages and scream in the middle of Walmart, they aren’t autistic, they just have a lack of not being slapped. It worked in the 1900’s and it still will. Except you people want to find new ways to do things. If it works, the leave it alone.
Parent’s attitudes have changed, that’s all. They treat their kids like subordinates at work, who must do or else the company will lose profit and they are fired. A child who feels bad about being bossed, goes into the corner and hides his head and moves back and forward as long as he pleases. There you have the rainman.
This irritates me, like yes, it’s good if your kid needs help that they get it. Some people just think differently, it doesn’t need to be placed anywhere like they are defective. Autism is one thing and calling someone sort of autistic is stupid. That’s like telling someone that they sort of have schizophrenia, either you have it or you don’t. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help when you need it, but to label things as loosely as we have autism, it skews the data. We need to know if there’s an actual increase or decrease to know if there’s another cause that’s effecting rates. (Like pollution or something in our food.) You don’t get that by changing the goal post. I’m fine if they just say non-neurotypical, but you can’t compare apples to oranges.
I’m going to say this once, there is NEVER enough resources for your child, so dig deep – take a huge breath and go ALL IN on your child before they turn 12-15. You can do it and will get help along the way as you ask for it. Do not let this overwhelm you but take it one day at a time and ask for help from on High. Please try dropping all casien and gluten from your menu.
I’m so happy we live in the day and age what diagnosis like these are not a stigma any more. My 43 year old brother was born with autism but back then they did not fully understand autism so unfortunately he did not develop to his full potential. either way I could not see a life without having my brother even if he has the mentality of a five year old.
People/kids with autism are gifted in my opinion. I wish I had autism, because it gives you some abilities that still need to be fully researched in some cases: You are freaking smart, etc. Not being able to fit in is not a bad thing. It shows that you’re different from the others and they are too ignorant to accept people that think differently. Autism is not a disease. My god. People with autism probably are the more advanced kind of human that we’ll probably all going to be at some point, by that I mean the people of the future. Autism is good and should not have a bad reputation at all. You don’t need to “heal” it, because there’s nothing to be healed, it’s just how many people are or became to be.
I have finally found out why it’s happening: 1. When child is born if there are any mirrors including cameras and how they are angled determines mirroring later on in a child. 2. Autism in nature is saying I don’t wanna participate, strangely, or the pre-birth state just didn’t have a variety of collected info or lack of dna memory of ancestors. Either way, autism people are on a cosmic level of adventure. Electromagnetic wave sensing is for everyone, depends on what you have tuned to. Or maybe 3. Truly repressed memories might combine to a child later on, and the child collapses when there’s a neuron combo that summarises into heartbeat of not there.
Asperger’s does NOT have a “B”. Anyway. – First of all, DSM has changed its criteria so much. – And it is true that a lot of doctors do not think of ASD and back in when Leo Kanner was diagnosing children he was making it nearly impossible for children to get diagnosed because he pictured Autism as a type of hybrid disorder; schizophrenia with psychotic disorder, and was happy when a kid did not fit into his categories. – Also, Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and PDD-NOS was grouped into one, Autism Spectrum Disorder, category very recently. So, OF COURSE there would be a lot more diagnoses.
Which is more profitable for pharmaceutical companies – diagnosing children as ‘intellectually challenged’ or ‘autistic’? Hmm. This general trend also links with the increases in diagnoses of depression etc. Big money is at stake, and unfortunately, pharmaceutical companies (emphasis on ‘companies’) care more about profit than your well-being.
But just because a while ago the babies weren’t identified as autistic doesn’t change the fact that those babies alive as adults now could be identified and the fact that autism is way less prominent in every generation before this generation it’s not natural for about 1 in 50 kids to have a serious neurological disorder as burgers or not and the fact that almost every school in the country has a class or two full of autistic kids is not normal
last summer.. Oxford University hosted a seminar regarding psychiatry and philosophy.. and one of their discussions was very much related to this issue.. specifically.. one of the talks was about the history and evolution of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-3.. DSM-4.. and DSM-5..) I know.. real riveting topic.. but it really was! the important point is that they also talked about the strange philosophical phenomenon of completely changing how one disorder may be redefined over night.. “yesterday I had Aspergers.. today I have autism..?” they also talked about how difficult it is to change a definition of a disorder.. even if it means to clarity and write a more truthful definition that reflects what we now know about the disorder.. why? many reasons.. if one changes the definition.. then all previous studies on that disorder may be worthless.. then government funding that helps citizens may completely stop until everyone is rediagnosed with the disorder using the new definition.. even pharmaceutical companies could put pressure on definitional changes.. basically.. there are dozens of forces that are applying pressure from all directions to prevent reasonable changes to DSM-5.. I remember all the experts in the room were talking about the DSM-5 having a kind of philosophical crisis..
The cause is ugliness. Thanks to social media beauty standards have increased and less kids are making the social cut. If you are ugly you wont develop social skills because kids wont want to talk to you. Autistic children dont know how to interpret social cues. There is a cure to autism, but you would have to teach the kid true human nature that men only want sex from women, that women love masculine, rich, and famous men only, and that friendship is a transaction for selfish benefit. You would also have to aware the kid he didnt meet society beauty standards and thus has been eugenically outcast. But then you get what is known as a psychopath.
I think it’s on the rise due to the horrific lack of care of our environment. Perhaps the use of nuclear power, bombs and nuclear meltdowns such as Chernobyl, Japan in 2011 not to mention the testing of nuclear weapons. Also the bombs dropped on Japan. Or maybe all the toxins in our food or gmo’s. Or another theory is vaccines. These are huge issues that for the most part didn’t exist prior to 1940.
Autistic Disorder, Aspergers and PDD-NOS are all under the Autism Spectrum Criteria. According to the DSM-5 Rett Syndrome and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder is NOT under the Autism Spectrum Criteria and have their own diagnoses. Anyhow, because of 3 diagnoses becoming one diagnosis under the Autism Spectrum Criteria of the DSM-5 stands to reason there is a greater awareness of the Autism Spectrum Disorder with all 3 combined into one. So the lady in the article is spot on. At least some one knows what the hell she is talking about when it comes to Autism.
As someone who had gotten an aspergers diagnosis quite a while back i find this shift in diagnosis a bit odd. Surely there is a spectrum of autism disorders and people who’d formerly diagnosed with aspergers are on it but i do think it makes it a more difficult for people with aspergers to talk about the condition. At least where I live people without much knowledge about the condition assume one has intellectual difficulties whenever they hear the term autism. Simply because mentally handicaped people enjoy a good amount of integration and acceptance here (which is great!). So if i had to explain someone that i am on the autism spectrum, i am somewhat forced to add that my intellectual capacities aren’t affected or even tell them about my IQ scores – which is, let’s face it, weird, uncomfortable and i cannot help but feel that it’s degrading to people who do struggle with reduced intelligence on some level. Which is why i usually just explain that i’ve been diagnosed with aspergers. Another rater odd thing is, that recent pop culture has made the term aspergers more known and there is a bit of a craze about it. I remeber quite well the first time someone was over the moon to learn that i am “one of them” and instantly wanted to be my friend because it became fashionable to have a mate that is “like Sheldon”. Err, right. It’s fine with me and actually quite funny to see people happily fussing over traits they’d previously deemed annoying. Anyways, have an awesome day 🙂
My grandson was born having severe seizures,we were told his sugar was extremely high. Then when he got a bit older he was diagnosed with Autism. They used a drug called Pertocin ( I believe it was called ) while she was in labor. My question is could this be what is causing it? I know alot of women are getting this drug during labor and I was just wondering???
It’s also girls, autistic girls never really got studied way back in the day, which caused autistic girls to not be reconized and get diagnosed much later than boys.. Autism in girls has started being more studied not so long ago, because of that, Cuz its more recognized in girls… many girls are getting diagnosed more and more because it’s finally starting to be a bit more recognized. So a lot of the rising cases of autism is due to the more recognition of girls. Autism in girls is different than boys. There are many resources you can look into. Many of these comments are so ignorant
My 4 year old nephew was just diagnosed with slight autism. He talks but the most words he can say in a sentence is like 3 or 4. He doesn’t behave well and almost never listens when we tell him no. He pulls other children’s hair at the park, runs off, and doesn’t listen even after telling him no. Will his speach get better, will he be in special ed classes?
Kids test boundaries if you show none they become terribly stubborn and once its out of control not even doctors can not help they will yell refuse to listen ramble act out if you react they throw a tantrum and then if you dont break them and you learn the triggers they want you to learn they lead your house in a passive aggresive way.usually one spouse says no spanking and it goes from there
Me I have a form of autism, but I think it is more likely to be persistent depressive disorder which is also called Dysthymia which seems like what king David had on this mental health disorder website: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0957154X04044512?journalCode=hpya | but it said he had depression… which is weird…
Are people being over diagnosed with ADHD, and Autism, YES, are we excusing difficult behaviour YES, i think my generation was the last of the Adult generation, we had the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to deal with and were more concerned with stray 5.56 rounds and getting blown up, this new generation it seems 99 out of a 100 wouldn’t be able to serve because they are all Autistic or ADHD or have DID all of a sudden, i knew maybe 1 person when i was 16-20 with Autism, now if you ask 20 young people 17 of them will say they are Autistic. We are also not talking about a slight increase of like 1% either, in the last 10 years Autism diagnosis has tripled in number.
1 in 45… that’s a hell of a lot of kids no matter how you look at it. You can attribute that to better knowledge and diagnosis, but um… is anyone woried about why it’s that high of a number, how long have we been at a 2% mental disability rate, how does that compare to other species. Seems like people shouldn’t be worried about why the number is rising, they should be worried about why it is so common period.
I have a child with autism. I am grateful for the availability from health insurance companies to help me find an answer and diagnoses. It has tremendously helped him and us, understand him and help him the way he needed help (therapies, etc). I’m also grateful for the “explosion” of diagnosis of ASD, because I have resources and outlets available to him, that might not of been available 10-20 years ago. I think the “boom” is due to better research and diagnostics. Heck, 60-70 years ago if you were depressed, let alone had a physical handicap, they’d lock you away forever. So this has come from the progressive movements and being more understanding and compassionate. If anything, autism kids are incredibly loving but maybe socially awkward (which is say with lots of love). ☺️ Edit: I forgot to mention that science has narrowed autism to about 10 genes, suggesting its genetic, which is why it can run in families. In fact, if one child is diagnosed with autism, the sibling has a 1/3 chance of it too.
If you can “math” then this doesn’t make sense. If 1 in 45 kids have autism, and that’s only because we are better at identifying it, and/or we “shifted” the diagnosis then where are all the adults who are affected? I mean if there is no increase in actual numbers there should be a great number of adults who are walking around with autism. There should be millions of people walking around with it. We would have grand parents, aunts and uncles, church members all over the place with it. We don’t. Why then? A youtube PSA doesn’t override the math.
Clearly some people are very “autistic”, and to the agree it impairs them from having a normal life. Since the “high-functioning” autistics are seemingly normal, with some anti-social behaviors, and a heavy enthusiasm for something in which they are usually very knowledgeable, it could be that a bunch of kids today are getting misdiagnosed, like with ADHD (because just maybe kids didn’t evolve to sit down and shut up for 8 hour spans with little or no physical or social activity.) How bout we all diagnose each other with something, take some prescribed psychotropic or behavior modifying drugs, and just claim SSDI? Also, things can change with age. Back when I was a kid, I used to test positive for dyslexia, and now I don’t, and I have a very high aptitude for a spatial awareness. I now test positive for other things, that I didn’t test positive before, and maybe that’s because I’m a car accident survivor, or maybe it’s just cause I’m older, and if you put anyone under a microscope for long enough, you’re bound to find something you can tweak with expensive therapies, or write a prescription for, even in what society for the whole of human history would have considered pretty normal people up till now. So yeah, is it really “rising awareness” or is that just a cover for the systematic “mind control” over ever an increasingly expansive populations of people who are being groomed to accept the Nanny-State as the Ultimate Authority?A long time ago, the base criteria of someone being mentally ill, was not whether or not they have demonstrably differing aptitudes in differing areas of learning, a place where we all would fit somewhere on a “spectrum” like in the age of “learning disabilities” and “standardized testing.
Wow: Did you get a large donation from Monsanto or Dupont to make this article? Even taking all the “shifts” into account, the statistics STILL don’t ad up to make up the difference in autism rates. You were clearly remiss ( or flunked journalism 101 ) to publish a report/news article without citing preponderance of evidence to the contrary of your conclusions……
pituatory disorders etc what about expansion of cobtinum.psychiatrists are expanding definitions to even calling toddler temper tantrum a psychiatric disorder. its not a disability.my sons head teacher called herself child psychologist never spotted asbergers.I was accused of emotional abuse,not guilty I was excellent with my son.
Why is it a disorder? I have Aspergers and/or high functioning Autism, and I’m fine. Sometimes I struggle socially but I like having ASD (Autistic spectrum disorder) because it gives a unique perspective on the world. I don’t mind being like this, and I would never call this a disability either because I have some abilities that ‘normal’ people don’t, like pattern recognising.
True antitheist2006 My 24 yr old has it. He’s amazing with or without it. He was dx with moderate to severe. Tons of therapy, school & Sports helped him. He graduated, 1st string linebacker for High school (despite his low muscle tone, he helped tremendously (won Championship)), joined the ARMY, kept his tank in tip top order (driver & gunner), and is now in College full time, living on his own.
Another putting the cart first and pretending we’re going somewhere…there is greater awareness because there are greater numbers of those with autism (or environmentally induced symptoms that look like autism), period. There is greater demand for “services” because there are greater numbers. There was tightening of diagnostic criteria and addition of classification categories because there was increasing demand to have a better tailored diagnosis (not that the “services” could keep up) that would attempt to help accommodate the child’s needs. globalresearch.ca/is-the-autism-epidemic-real/5519112 All during the 1990s and into the early 2000s, as the numbers were sky-rocketing, parents were fighting to get someone to explain and/or test and diagnose why their children were not developing well, why they were showing the symptoms that were not spelled out in general pregnancy education? Some parents knew it was autism from a lot personal research but it still often took them years to get a diagnosis from the system. They almost could never get a diagnosis and insurance “coverage” within the tiny window that ABA therapy was supposed to help (around age 3). Pediatricians weren’t suddenly recognizing autism. They were saying things like, “boys develop later than girls,” “let’s wait and see”, etc. Parents were dealing with something few around them knew about and few systems were in place to accommodate. And there aren’t accommodations in place for adults to meet their needs now and the demand is only now just growing.
Autism is NOT a condition or a disorder it’s a just a label they put on kids who aren’t quote on quote “normal’ by government standards. (Don’t get me wrong they’re are people with it who can’t talk and act strange but that’s just how they are, it’s not a condition. A good movie that explains it is “The Accountant”)
My theory is we have more knowledge on the spectrum even including aspergers, and that the spectrum is expanding. Not that more people are developing it, just more are being properly diagnosed. Professionals have done studies on Albert Einstein and others and they have come up with theories they could have been on the spectrum, but were they actually diagnosed? No. Aspergers now known as high functioning autism wasn’t really well understood until the 1980\\s I believe. In fact most at that time had the condition but went undiagnosed even after being seen by doctors and psychologists. As for the whole argument of cure and do we need one. I can’t speak for parents of children who are severe on the spectrum, or people who are severely autistic, but as a person who is on the spectrum no there does NOT need to be a cure. Just because we don’t fit into your perfect fucking society of normality does not need we need to be fixed. A cure all is your child or said person with autism severe or not just want quality of life and be happy. Quality of life and happiness has nothing to do with whether you hold a full time job, drive a BMW or have friends/boyfriend/girlfriend. Quality of life and happiness is different for EVERYONE. Being happy is all that should matter. So I am against a cure, but I again cannot imagine how frustrating it is for those parents who’s kids are severely autistic. But people who are severe on the spectrum we are talking no verbal communication, have actually shared they would like to be able to talk/communicate but they still want to be autistic.
This was completely useless information, so the “truth” about autism is we acknowledge it more????? That’s ludacris. At least half of the kids I know personally that have been born in the last 12 years have been diagnosed with autism, to suggest that it’s always been a thing we just never acknowledged it until now and dismiss the epidemic it’s become is irresponsible and just ridiculous. Also in the intro…. Some people blame the parents????? Nobody, let me repeat this, NOBODY is blaming the parents. It’s really weird that was even said. Terrible article, not sure why it exists.
My parents were too busy working to put food on the table to check if I was lining my toys up. I was a highly sensitive child with a hyper critical Mother and suffered from anxiety. These days I’d have a label stuck on me for life. I worked through it and came out stronger for it. No therapists required.
There is a rise because of a lack of diagnosis prior. More awareness means we can diagnose earlier, especially with girls, who had greatly fallen behind the cracks before due to not fully understanding how it presented in them. And while i do agree that children are getting more resources, many adults are not getting any, especially if not diagnosed as a child and many insurances do not cover mental health, which is where many insurance providers catagorize the disorder.
It’s important to realize that it may be more than just awareness, but also fear of the implications of being diagnosed as well as the difficulty in getting a diagnosis. One example is that 80% of people with intellectual disabilities (this study lumped autism into this category) have their children taken away. Many parents that are on the spectrum do not seek diagnosis because we know that that will jeopardize our custody because of an ignorant judge and better lawyer opposing us.
It wouldn’t surprise me if autism is related to lifestyles. Life in the west has become more and more individualistic, after all. It is easier for people to make their own anti-social cocoons today than it was 200 years ago. Social skills are something we learn. We’re not born with fully fledged skills. This is why children who are isolated tend to develop poorer social skills. The brain is highly malleable, and it wouldn’t surprise me if our nurture was responsible for a large case of cases of autism.