Is Autism on the Rise?
Is There an Autism Epidemic?: When many of us were growing up, autism was rarely heard of. Today, everyone seems to be or know someone with an autistic child. Certainly, the numbers of children diagnosed with autism has surged in the past decade. But there’s tremendous disagreement about whether the increase in diagnoses is truly reflective of more autism — or just reflective of more diagnoses.A Brief History of Autism Statistics: Autism was first described as a unique disorder in the 1940s. In the early 1990s, autism diagnoses began to soar. In the 10 years between 1993 and 2003, the number of American schoolchildren with autism diagnoses increased by over 800%. In 2006, the CDC noted a slight decrease in the number of new cases diagnosed. Changes in the Diagnostic Criteria: In 1991, the Autism Diagnostic Interview was published. This was the first generally recognized tool for diagnosing autism. In 1992, the American Psychiatric Association released the Diagnostic and Statistical Ma
Related Questions
- Can you show that the increase in autism in California is not attributable to increased surveillance, increased reporting, or changing diagnostic criteria?
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