Autism: Real Epidemic or Trendy Diagnosis
Categories: Medical Conditions, Development, In The News
The number of children diagnosed with autism may change education. Credit: eyewire
More than one in every 100 American children has autism, according to a government report released Monday.
Or do they?
Their parents believe they do. And belief in autism is really what the study measures, Dr. Susan L. Hyman, a pediatrician at Golisano Children's Hospital in Rochester, N.Y., told The New York Times.
"This is an excellent study, but what it looks at is the prevalence of the diagnosis, not the disorder," she told the newspaper. "The next step scientifically is to see whether those diagnoses are being made accurately."
The study was overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The results were published in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Autism appears to be skyrocketing. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Education report a 657 percent increase in the number of children with autism between 1993 and 2003. The HHS study was based on a phone survey of 78,000 households. However, some 40 percent of the children reported as having autism or Asperger's syndrome later grew out of the symptoms or no longer qualified for the diagnosis -- leading some professional observers to ponder whether the condition is epidemic or merely trendy.
Paul Shattuck, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin, observed in 2006 that diagnoses of mental retardation and learning disabilities declined as autism diagnoses shot up. He suggested physicians and educators might be lumping all children with vaguely autism-related symptoms into the same pool. And, if one percent of the nation's children truly has autism, the news has major consequences for America's school system.
Universities are training educators to deal with autism, Ilene Schwartz, the department head of the University of Washington's special education department, told the Birth to Thrive Online, a child development Web site. The problem is there isn't enough money for treatment and therapy.
"It would be like saying you have the best trained surgeons, but you don't have an operating room," Schwartz told the Web site.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rheanna 10-07-2009 @ 1:08PM
In order to be diagnosed as autstic, children have to meet a certain criteria for the diagnosis as set forth by the DSM IV....the criteria is split up into 3 groups...
(A) (qualitative impairment in social interaction),
(B) (qualitative impairments in communication), and
(C) (restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities).
In order to be diagnosed, the child must exhibit a total of six (or more) items from (A), (B), and (C), with at least two from (A), and one each from (B) and (C).
In order for a doctor to even so much as contemplate diagnosing the child as autistic, they have to have several symptoms. Remember, Autism is NOT a disease like Cystic Fibrosis that has a specific cause and treatments that can be undergone to help alleviate the symptoms etc., No one knows for sure WHAT causes autism or HOW to cure it. The only help Autistic children can get, is therapy.
I dont think Autism is a "trendy" diagnosis. I, personally, think there is something in our environment that is causing these children to have these problems. Something that has only been introduced in the last several years. I believe it IS a real epidemic. my son doesnt meet the requirments for the Autism diagnosis because he is too social. But aside from that, he meets the other diagnostic criteria to an absolute T, ALL of it. We still a majority of the same obstacles that Autistic kids face. He has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS which is actually in the Autism spectrum. But my point in all of this is, is that there is SOMETHING out there that is causing kids to present symptoms classicly defined as autistic. And regardless of whether or not you actually diagnose the children as autistic or not, the symptoms are still there. And parents have to face this issue totally alone, and will probably never get any answers as to what is actually wrong with their child.
Reply
SKL 10-07-2009 @ 1:52PM
I don't know if I'd call it "trendy," but I do believe it is overdiagnosed and that some parents want the diagnosis because it gives them an excuse for not using tough love.
I also believe there may be something (or things) in the environment that increases the behaviors that are currently treated as autism symptoms (especially mild autism / aspergers). I think some kids are more sensitive to these things than most, and this leads to inconclusive studies performed on a cross-section of individuals. I think that if researchers are motivated to look for answers with an open mind, they will eventually refine their research and discover those links.
Thirdly, I believe that there are kids with quirks who have behaviors described in mild autism, but that doesn't necessarily mean they have a "problem" that needs that label. There is no perfect human being. Some of us have the gift of gab, while others of us can do complex math in our heads. Just because I might be much stronger in one ability than another doesn't mean I am a problem, statistic, outlier. I have a nephew who is surely on the "spectrum" (per current definitions), and there are things he needs to work on. He has challenges in school and with friends. But who doesn't? Thankfully, he is also able to focus deeply and memorize easily, and these gifts will no doubt benefit mankind as much as an extrovert's gift of gab.
There have always been quirky people, but I think this is the first generation that has tried to label them and thus exclude them from the "normal" crowd. That is sad on so many levels.
Reply
shiloh 10-09-2009 @ 10:27AM
As a Clinical Psychologist, I always get annoyed at this study and studies like them to be honest. I would love to see you guys write an article about what exactly is austism.
For example, there is no "Autism Spectrum Distorder" at the time. Psychologist go by the DSM-IV-TR. In the DSM-IV-TR there is nothing under that name and in a couple years in DSM-V makes an appericane, there might be due to the sudden epidemic where everyone thinks there kid has autism. Now, what really is autism? Does your kid talk? Do they voluntarily hug/kiss/or initiate contact? If there do, then your kid doesn't have Autism. I've seem a lot of these kids who have previously been diagnosed with the disorder and 9 out of 10 of them are alright.
I think more people need to look more into what EXACTLY is autism before thinking your child has suck a hard diagnosis. I recommend going to the source book of what we all use to diagnosis, DSM-IV-TR. Also, there are wonderful educational videos that depict autism around the internet.
Thank You.
Shiloh