Autism on the rise?

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My mother has decided she is fascinated by autism all of a sudden and has been 'researching' and said in her job (she has worked with children under 5 for over 30 years) she has noticed a rise in the amount of children being diagnosed with autism. She believes there must be a cause for this and seems to dismiss my argument that it is merely a case of people being more aware and seeking assessment. She told me she heard about a study where a change in diet improved the signs of autism in some children and argues maybe vaccinations are the cause or exposure to chemicals.

I found myself feeling insulted by her stance, especially the bit about diet affecting severity of autism. It struck me as insinuating that autism could in some way be cured or fixed.

What are your views? Do you think there are more autistics or is it simply a case of more people actually being diagnosed?

To me it's the same as those who complain that there are more people with dyslexia or ADHD, I don't think it didn't exist years ago merely that people were told they were stupid or badly behaved instead.

I agree with your view though I don't tend to get political about it. It's simply my belief.

What I feel about it is:

* Yes, more assessments and official DXs.
* In decades gone by, LFA, I think, was very often simply listed as either "mental retardation" (a former official DX), "psychosis" or some other label.
* We actually "see" more autistic people now as families no longer simply institutionalize or hide, in the house, autistic family members.
* HFA may often have been overlooked in the past as a person "simply being quirky."

I think the rise is talked about in this video (but correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't watched it since it was uploaded so I may have linked the wrong one):

http://wrongplanet.net/video/steve-silb ... ry-autism/

Exactly.

What she has noticed is precisely that, a rise in diagnoses and not in existing cases, just as you say.

No doubt she did hear about those things. What she probably did not know is that those things have been thoroughly debunked.

the diet thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autistic_enterocolitis


Vaccines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy


so, to sum things up; f**k Andrew Wakefield!


Book suggestion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism's_False_Prophets

Do be careful, though. Your mother is ignorant, but that is not her fault. Until she develops a more informed view, she is likely to be susceptible to the multitude of false information from sources that make a living on looking superficially credible while peddling junk science.


Well, there are more autistics, because there are more people. What I think you mean is, are there proportionally more people on the spectrum than should be statistically expected, suggesting an external factor? And the answer is no. Knowledge about autism has increased tremendously over the last few decades, infomation is more disseminated and more people are likely to have heard about it, recognize the signs and to seek appropriate help. That is all there is to it. Also, we have the internet.




Pretty much the same thing, yes, although I do believe that, and I feel slightly dirty using the term, Big Pharma got wind of ADHD and vomited forth a pill that they could peddle to everyone and their dog. I'm not saying ADHD is not a real thing, but I do think there has been a push to get any kid that's a bit hyper diagnosed and pumped full of pills, and I for one question the long term benefits of giving children meth.

Widening of diagnostic criteria+more sensory stimulation and increase in preference in schools and the workplace for more group activities leading to autistics who would have more 'functional" 20 or 30 years ago to be less "functional" today.

Thank you all. It is nice to know there is somewhere where people have common sense