Is Autism Rising

A question of some debate is whether autism is on the rise. Autism was first described by Leo Kanner in 1943, when he wrote about 11 children born in the 1930's who were “markedly and uniquely different from anything described so far.” Since then autism diagnoses have constantly risen through the years, reaching to the point where 1 in 150 children born develop some form of ASD.

Is autism really on the rise or is the constant rise in autism diagnoses due solely to awareness and broadening the defintion of autism? Did Kanner write about something that was common, yet nobody had bothered to describe, or did he really describe a new disease? Were autistics alweays there, but just called by another name before? You can find opinions on both sides of the fence.

Prevalence of Autism

The CDC estimates that 1 in every 150 children has autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The CDC based this figure on a study released in 2007 . The study looked at eight year old children across 14 study sites. At six sites the children were born in 1992 and evaluated in 2000, at the other eight sites the children were born in 1994 and evaluated in 2002.

Another US study published in 2003 estimated autism prevalence at 3.4 per 1000 (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.2-3.6), which is about 1 in 294.

What is Autism?

Let's try figure out what we are talking about...

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, text revision 2000 (DSM IV-TR) is a publication of the American Psychiatric Association and contains the most widely used definition of autism. It defines autism entirely in terms of behaviors and abilities. Here is the full definition courtesy of the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

Diagnostic Criteria for 299.00 Autistic Disorder

What a mouthful!

Wikipedia

When researching a topic one of the first things I like to do is take a look at Wikipedia. There is a lot of stuff there and lots of links. When a topic is riddled with controversy, like autism is, Wikipedia provides differing points of view. Going deeper in the "discussion" page one can see further opinions, discussions, arguments. Then I follow the links and related topics.

All this is useful even when I am quite familiar with the topic, like with autism. I frequently find things I am not aware of, but also, more importantly, I find well documented arguments pro and con and get to challenge my own prejudice and preconception.

So here it is...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism

Autism

Everyone with even marginal experience knows that facing autism can be quite frustrating. There are some daily challenges when caring for a loved one whose primary interests appear to be focused on discovering novel methods to stir trouble. Spilling oil on the carpet, flooding the kitchen, breaking glass and furniture, tearing books and documents, screaming and kicking the walls in ungodly hours... Are you keeping your cool? Where is your sense of humor?

This may seem like plenty, but there is a much bigger mess that needs to be sorted out, a mess bigger than anything our beloved can create, one that extends well beyond our human understanding. Yes, I am talking about autism research. Thousands of frustrated parents each with their own theory about autism etiology and threatment, high profile government researchers proclaiming autism an idiopathy and refusing to listen to anyone who claims to know anything, chelation, genetic links, vaccinations, swimming with dolphins, mercury, applied behavioral analysis (ABA), gluten free/casein free/specific carbohydrate diet, enzymes, supplements, speech therapy, special masters, expert witnesses, water filters, safe rooms, B-12 shots, calcium, tetrahydrofurfuryl disulfide (TTFD), mitochondria, 2,3-Dimercapto-1-propanesulfonic acid (DMPS)...

So where do we start?