I work in the field of developmental disabilities and, unfortunately, the rise in Autism diagnosis is really influenced by people who do not do a thorough enough job in the evaluation process. it is a great thing to be more aware of a "potential" condition, however, a better approach would be a consistent regimen of evaluations that should be done prior to even making the diagnosis (evaluate the child at home, school, public). Society is too ready to label someone with a condition when, just maybe, that is not the condition. I have seen kids diagnosed with Autism by a 10 minute observation with no empirical evidence. There are many conditions out there that have symptoms similar to some, and I emphasize some, of the symptoms of Autism. There are no specific medical test for Autism, so most diagnoses are based upon subjective viewpoints. I truly believe symptom substitution is a major source of the increase in Autism diagnosis (interestingly the prevalence of intellectual disability and developmental language disorders appear to have decreased). I have seen many a case where a child was diagnosed with Autism early on and now shows no signs of Autism, but still carries the classification in school! Was it cured? No, it was probably the wrong diagnosis. Labeling a child with Autism is also more palatable than diagnosing a child with intellectual disability due to the linkage of the prior label of mental retardation. This is just my two cents after over 36 years in the field.
This post was edited on 3/26 9:20 AM by rudedude