Autism-World

Ask:Can any one give me information why the cases of autism has increased so rapidly in 10 years? And why hasn’t there been more news coverage of this terrible rise in statistics? Is the federal government doing any thing to find out why?

Answer:There is a lot of research being done on why these numbers are increasing so dramatically. Most everyone who answered so far seem to quote misdiagnosis as a major reason for the increase… True, some children are misdiagnosed but that does not account for the dramatic increase. We are looking at nearly 60 million children under age 14 living in the United States. It is unimaginable to think that 360,000 children are misdiagnosed as having autism…

More children are being diagnosed partly because of better understanding of autism and children with less severe cases are being diagnosed now when before they would not have been. Asperger’s syndrome was not added to the DSM-IV (a diagnostic criterion-based tool) until 1994 and was not even recognized as a diagnosis until 1980. Again, I do not think that this explains in full the increase in cases of diagnosis.

I am currently reading Stanley Greenspan’s “Engaging Autism” — a facinating book. It suggests that “much confusion still surrounds the causes of autism, especially as more children are being diagnosed with it now than in the past. While some attribute this increase to more accurate diagnoses, broader diagnostic categories, and improved early case finding, others believe it results from autoimmune reactions; environmental stressors (such as lead, PCBs, or dioxins) that are more prevalent than in the past; overexposure to TV, computers, and other technology early in life; and so forth.”

There are many reasons why the incidence of autism is on the rise, and you are right–It is terrifying. But there are national initiatives underway to not only find the causes of autism (most likely a combination of several factors) but to find the best ways to treat the children and adults with this condition.

I hope this answers your question!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 26th, 2007 at 3:19 pm and is filed under What is Autism.