New Study: High Autism Rates Due To Over-Diagnosis

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According to This CNN Article, 13% of children who were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders lose their diagnosis after later tests.

No analysis of whether the "later tests" were any more rigorous than the earlier ones. If you want your kid to have a diagnosis, you can find a profession to give it to him/her. If you don't want it, you can find one to take it away.

Here's a counter study. 60% of the increase in diagnosis is due to broader criteria. Not misdiagnosis, just different diagnosis.

http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article ... id=1919642

I just think we should be less hung up on who's a "real autistic" and spend more effort on making the world a better, more inclusive place for all of us to live.

Kind of interesting but not a game-changer. If the child has issues that significantly disrupt life, I think the label put on it is of less consequence than the problem itself. I have 3 kids with 3 different diagnoses--one dyslexia, one Tourette's Syndrome, one high functioning autism. All of them have somewhat overlapping symptoms. I think my dyslexia kiddo could also be reasonably diagnosed with ADD as well, although it was not brought up at the time the dyslexia diagnosis was reached--we were more focused on his extreme difficulty with reading at the time. He also has some aspie-like traits but probably not enough to put him on the spectrum. My Tourette's kiddo has major sensory issues at times and the uneven skills of an aspergers child. But these things can be part of Tourette's too.

I myself am not officially diagnosed but have many traits of aspergers which get worse as I get older. If my children's diagnoses were changed, I would not be jumping for joy or anything--the issues remain the same. The fact that i do not have an official aspergers diagnosis does not change the fact that i have great difficulty socially (though i compensate better than some), meltdowns when my plans change unexpectedly or I have too many stresses on me at once, panic attacks as a regular thing...etc. etc. The label is not so important.

On pediatricians and other non-specialist diagnostics--I can see how this would be an issue. Our pediatrician's office were pretty good with this--they did not attempt to diagnose the more complicated disorders themselves but referred to specialists. But someone who does not specialize in these disorders could get them mixed up since they do overlap.

13% is nothing compared to the increase that has taken place and clearly suggests more attention should be paid to interventions and less to trying to find ways to lower the rate of diagnosis which is hurtful to many children and adults in need.

I don't see how this implies an over diagnosis. It doesn't even mention how many people have autism but aren't diagnosed.

This doesn't say anything about over-diagnosis, as it makes explicitly clear:

My daughter has ASD but hasn't been diagnosed. It's not even something that comes up in our house as it's not an issue.

I know how to look after her so that she is happy and secure and she knows that I allow her to live her life at the rate she wishes.

For her, she sees there is very little point in her having a diagnosis because there would be no help anyway.

For me it is really hard work because it is me who has to do everything and really push past my own limits in order to cater for her needs.

maybe more should be done for people like us. Rather than putting resources into misdiagnosing children on the basis that they aren't quite "perfect". I would expect that it does happen a lot.

The article says that some percent of children diagnosed with autism may have some other disorder, this is not surprising as dsm iv criteria were very broad

I see a psychiatrist who specialises in ADHD and Aspergers and he told me that it is very likely she has it.

She hasn't been officially diagnosed he said it one of my appointments.

My therapist believes it's under-diagnosed, and I feel inclined to agree with him. I believe it's very easy for those at the higher end of the spectrum to go unnoticed because they can function very well in society. My father, for example, has never been officially diagnosed but there are many indications that he may well be autistic. His interests - cricket, horse-racing and gambling - have never changed; he's always been extremely placid and to me, he struggles socially but masks his difficulties with alcohol.

Very telling that for all the reasons given as possible explanations for diagnostic reversal there was no mention of people learning coping mechanisms or people maturing.

I am 58 years old and 90 percent or more of toddlers I have ever known like to repeat things over and over and over, flap there hands on occasion, have meltdowns when overwhelmed, or things change. This massive overwhelming consensenses for diagnosing people younger and younger into infancy is probably leading to autism diagnosis for typical infants and toddlers. They mature typically because they are typical and either "lose" thier diagnosis or are claimed to be "recovered" by whatever treatment or diet they were on at the time they matured. Which leads to articles like this about the mystery of diagnostic reversal.

All of the first paragraph is immaterial to most posters here. The CNN article is just another one where autistic adults do not exist. That will not prevent people from using this article to further cast suspicion on every adult who thinks or claims they are autistic professionally diagnosed or not. I would not be surprised if this article is already printed up and posted on the walls of psychologists who never agreed with the idea that autistics can be verbal or able to find coping mechanisms. Which will lead to autistics continuing to be told they are typical but lazy or attention whores or both or more. It is proper advice to tell people to get a second opinion. Some people because of autism or other reasons are incapable of doing this. If a person has the misfortune of choosing several incompetent clinicians before finding one that gets it right they will often be accused of diagnosis shopping or having a fictitious disorder.