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U.S. autism rate surges, CDC reports (1 in 68)

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Re: U.S. autism rate surges, CDC reports (1 in 68)

#31

Post by krenoten »

Wohui wrote: post #14
userbinator wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having seen a lot of very successful, but somewhat autistic people working in tech (probably Asperger's), it seems a little strange to be classifying it as a "disorder"...

It's asperger's. You'll know if you meet someone with full-blown autism. They would never get into employment.

The S in ASD stands for spectrum, as there is a diverse range of symptoms that may lead to an autism diagnosis. Many of these are not at odds with analytical or creative capacity. There's a gap between where aspergers tends to stopped being diagnosed and being unemployable, and it's not unidimensional.

Re: U.S. autism rate surges, CDC reports (1 in 68)

#32

Post by thezach »

As someone who comes from the "gifted side" of the Autism Spectrum, its not that great. Having a brilliant mind is a great gift - but to be honest I would rather be of normal intelligence and be able to better understand how to be social than anything. Whats a brilliant mind going to do for you if your alone? Humans, even autistic ones are social creatures and require social interaction.

I do also agree with other posters that Autism diagnosis are on the rise due to a higher push for screenings of children, and awareness of autism. However I do think it still is possibly on the rise.

Aspergers is now Autism. I'm mixed on this, as even Aspergers has a spectrum. I've seen people with Aspergers that are near normal functioning, and those that are completley fixated on Star Trek to the point thats all they care about. I've also seen non verbal classic autistics hold down employment in a competitive employment atmosphere. The aspergers vs classic autistic has nothing to do with functioning level, it has to do with verbal delay (or it used to - its now the same).

Re: U.S. autism rate surges, CDC reports (1 in 68)

#33

Post by fecak »

Wohui wrote: post #14
userbinator wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having seen a lot of very successful, but somewhat autistic people working in tech (probably Asperger's), it seems a little strange to be classifying it as a "disorder"...

It's asperger's. You'll know if you meet someone with full-blown autism. They would never get into employment.

That is incorrect. While many who are significantly impaired will be unemployable beyond the most menial jobs, many with autism can be employed even in high level positions that may not require skills the person may lack due to autism. QA testing may be a good example.

Autism is a spectrum. It's not just Asperger's and wholly unemployable. There is lots of room in the middle.

Re: U.S. autism rate surges, CDC reports (1 in 68)

#34

Post by fecak »

kylebgorman wrote: post #24
ausjke wrote: post #15

I read somewhere Silicon Valley has the highest Autism rate, it's likely high IQ gene made a difference too? Speaking from experience, early intervention is extremely effective.

What makes you think higher average IQ is associated with autism? (Rain Man doesn't count.) The state with the highest reported rate of autism spectrum disorder is Utah, followed by New Jersey. The states with the lowest reported rates are in the Deep South (which is probably more about access to healthcare than actual prevalence). Edit: added "average"

The rates you are quoting (assuming you are using the study the 1:68 came from) are from a single study that didn't account for all 50 states. It was less than 20 states.

Re: U.S. autism rate surges, CDC reports (1 in 68)

#35

Post by lawtguy »

insuffi wrote: post #7

Well, how about not diagnosing your kid with autism just because he's an uncontrollable little bastard, just to justify your bad parenting?(This includes ADD, ADHD, ASD). That should bring the stat down. Qualifier: not all obviously, but it has certainly become a way to remove personal responsibility as a parent.

This is the classic "blame the parents" explanation (see refrigerator mothers: http://www.autism-watch.org/causes/rm.shtml). It frequently gets the causality backwards: the kids don't act that way because of their parents, rather the parents act that way because of the kids.

The vast majority of parents don't want a diagnosis so they can blame it on the disease and ignore their responsibility. They want a diagnosis because they desperate for something, anything to help their child.

Re: U.S. autism rate surges, CDC reports (1 in 68)

#36

Post by kenster07 »

mason240 wrote: post #25
cbhl wrote: post #2

> “It could be that doctors are getting better at identifying these children, there could be a growing number of children with high intelligence [who are autistic], or it could be both,” she said. The article doesn't mention that the DSM-5 went into force last year. The criteria for diagnosing Autism has changed since the DSM-IV, and this could also explain the jump in diagnoses. (This is alluded to with the line "Mi…

You comment hit on something that has been bothering me lately. If in order to be informed I have to trawl through multiple news aggregators to find comments with primary sources and information closer to the source, weigh the potential bias of those commentors, analyze their citations, then what roles does journalism even serve? To me they seem to be nothing more than conversation starters, leaving individuals to sp…

I think it is worth pointing out that for the vast majority of people, there still a level of 'belief' required for the modern science, not unlike the religions of old. There are very few laypeople equipped to think critically about, let alone verify, most scientific theories. As a result, they have to take it on faith that the "priests" (in today's world, scientists) are correct.

Re: U.S. autism rate surges, CDC reports (1 in 68)

#37

Post by fecak »

The scary part to me is how the CDC chose to frame the new data. They put up a "10 things to know" (1) list to distill the data for the media and readers uninterested in looking at the full study.

One item in the top 10 highlights that 46% of these kids have average or above average IQ. What the CDC doesn't highlight in the top 10 is the 31% that are below! and the 23% that are 'borderline'. The glass half full (not even half) optimism dismisses the large amount of these kids who have a very serious condition. Kids that cannot speak, that wander and die, that will require lifelong treatment. Why does the CDC choose to highlight the minority with a future and not the majority that face a rough road ahead?

The second issue with the Top 10 is that it only alludes to better diagnosis and awareness as a possibility for increases. It doesn't mention any other possibilities, although most in the community are aware of well-publicized studies pointing to environmental conditions that show connection. (2)

1 http://www.cdc.gov/features/dsautismdata/ 2 http://time.com/25424/growing-evidence-that-autism-is-linked...

Re: U.S. autism rate surges, CDC reports (1 in 68)

#38

Post by XorNot »

tdaltonc wrote: post #28
cbhl wrote: post #2

> “It could be that doctors are getting better at identifying these children, there could be a growing number of children with high intelligence [who are autistic], or it could be both,” she said. The article doesn't mention that the DSM-5 went into force last year. The criteria for diagnosing Autism has changed since the DSM-IV, and this could also explain the jump in diagnoses. (This is alluded to with the line "Mi…

Autism isn't my field. But the Autism epidemiologists I've spoken to all think that in addition to those two trends ((1) better coverage, and (2) Shifting diagnostic baseline) there is still a underlying increase in symptom frequency and severity.

This is something I'd really want to see numbers on though, and not just a feeling, because those two issues are two of the biggest ways that humans - being poor statisticians - draw incorrect conclusions.

Re: U.S. autism rate surges, CDC reports (1 in 68)

#39

Post by lettergram »

fecak wrote: post #20
userbinator wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having seen a lot of very successful, but somewhat autistic people working in tech (probably Asperger's), it seems a little strange to be classifying it as a "disorder"...

Having seen a lot of children, including my own, (10 years old and unable to speak), I think you should do a little more research on the entire spectrum the disorder covers. This is one of the major problems with the autism community and the diagnosis. Someone who doesn't make eye contact and perhaps fixates on certain topics (maybe comp Sci) has the same diagnosis as my child who will require lifelong care and never…

I agree, I have seen large differences in the disorder between people. For example, both may affect social behavior, but there is likely something else that triggers high vs low independence/IQ.

My girlfriends brother has autism and he is smart, but will watch "finding nemo" for two months on repeat (he's 8 btw). A classmate of mine (who is extremely intelligent) also has autism, but functions normally, besides running everywhere and not making eye contact. Clearly, there is a large difference between the two and they have drastically different traits and I would argue different disorders.

If this is the case, the autism spectrum should be split into different disorders. This would provide more information to parents, and teachers about what particular traits the child has.

Re: U.S. autism rate surges, CDC reports (1 in 68)

#40

Post by insuffi »

lawtguy wrote: post #35
insuffi wrote: post #7

Well, how about not diagnosing your kid with autism just because he's an uncontrollable little bastard, just to justify your bad parenting?(This includes ADD, ADHD, ASD). That should bring the stat down. Qualifier: not all obviously, but it has certainly become a way to remove personal responsibility as a parent.

This is the classic "blame the parents" explanation (see refrigerator mothers: http://www.autism-watch.org/causes/rm.shtml ). It frequently gets the causality backwards: the kids don't act that way because of their parents, rather the parents act that way because of the kids. The vast majority of parents don't want a diagnosis so they can blame it on the disease and ignore their responsibility. They want a diagnosis…

If it's so classic, care to explain why the autism rate has risen so much(long term)? If a disease that gets diagnosed based on a spectrum of behavioral cues is on the rise, could you maybe consider that people are just quicker to blame autism?(and cover a larger, milder range of behaviors)
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