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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)

#41

Post by XorNot »

Nitramp wrote: post #13

I'm weary of diagnosing behaviour that used to be considered within the norm, though maybe at the edge, as a medical condition. Asperger's has no clear measurable part to diagnose, it is not treatable per se, and its symptoms are all within the normal spectrum of human behaviour. There's nothing wrong with saying that a particular kid might need more support, but I wonder where it leads society if all not entirely wi…

Studying academic outcomes would be a worthwhile goal here. But that's a 20 year goal - i.e. does the jump in diagnoses correlate with serious conditions, or are we looking at problems which might simply blur out had they not been diagnosed (perhaps with the offset that academic performance improves because we focus our efforts for people who are diagnosed vs not).

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

#42

Post by fecak »

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.

It has gone from 1:150 to 1:68 over about 10 years, and another study from last year (1) had the rate at 1:50. Saying that an increase this dramatic is based on changing diagnostic criteria and awareness seems disingenuous, and intended not to alarm the public.

1 http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/April-2013/CDC-Reports...

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

#43

Post by kylebgorman »

fecak wrote: post #34
kylebgorman wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I was quoting from earlier CDC reports. No study has looked at all 50 states to my knowledge (though tell me if you know of one), and even between participating states there are irregularities due to what kinds of records the CDC has access to.

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

#44

Post by kylebgorman »

middleclick wrote: post #17

Oh boy. My fear is how anti-vaxxers will use this news.

Were anti-vaxxers bound by the rules of valid inference, this would be a problem for anti-vax. Thimerosal, the compound supposedly responsible for the vaccine/autism link, has been phased out in the west but incidence rates continue to increase.

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

#45

Post by ds9 »

userbinator wrote: post #9
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…

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"...

Many Asperger's people themselves have rejected the "disorder" label and ask to be thought of as different in a neutral, not necessarily bad way. For this reason they refer to non-Aspergers people as "neurotypical".

This is reasonable in regard to high-functioning Aspies, but remember that ASD covers a wide range. I think it would be better to retain the separate label for Asperger's, because it is distinguished by normal or better intelligence and language ability (while sharing other traits with classic autism) -- however, even within the Asperger's category there is a wide range.

Another aspect that is often underappreciated is that the HF aspie, if smart enough, can learn to adjust to normal society to such a degree that he/she can often pass for normal, so that a diagnostician would place him/her at a different point on the spectrum at different stages of life.

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

#46

Post by rogert »

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…

As another parent of a child with autism who is barely verbal, I have to agree, this is not the same as Aspergers. In fact, I think you'll agree, we hope our kids will one day only be diagnosed with Aspergers!

The problem with classifying autistic as "intelligent" and "obsessive" and "introverted" hides the truth that there are the other half of autistic people on the low-functioning end of the spectrum cannot live independently. And no, they're not exceptional at counting cards at Blackjack table either.

Young autistic children require many hours of direct speech and behavior therapy everyday just to get them to basic level of communicating what they want. This is the only known effective treatment for autistic children, but it has to happen every day for years, and it is extremely expensive. Trivializing autism causes insurance companies to put caps and limits on covering direct therapy because they don't see it as essential, but parents of autistic kids know that direct intense therapy is essential and makes a big difference.

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

#47

Post by Wohui »

krenoten wrote: post #31
Wohui wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I understand the spectrum to be honest, but I think in trying to get the rest of the world to understand ASD, you can't start off too deep. In the article it seems autism is now interchangeable with ASD, so we're losing even a binary terminology.

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

#48

Post by rogert »

fecak wrote: post #33
Wohui wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes, but there's a significant percentage of people on the autism literally can not follow instructions, or cannot the focus to listen when spoken to, or cannot comprehend language. They require life long care, employable for small tasks perhaps, but not independent.

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

#49

Post by rogert »

md2be wrote: post #6

There is no "test" for autism, no blood market, no brain scan. What is the false positive number? This sounds like the diagnosis for "hysteria" in women 50 years ago .

Perhaps at high-functioning end of the spectrum you can get plenty of misdiagnosis, but certainly for the bulk of autistic people you can tell that by the age of 3 when a child simply ignores everyone around them as if people around them don't exist, can't answer simple questions, can't express needs, that something is really wrong.

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

#50

Post by fecak »

lettergram wrote: post #39
fecak wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 runni…

Leaders in the autism community are lobbying for a change in the terminology or diagnosis. You have charities trying to provide support for the most negatively impacted, and then you have the highest functioning members of the community saying "stop trying to change us". It's like using the term paraplegic to apply to true paraplegics and people with a sprained ankle. Both may struggle to walk, but the underlying issue is entirely different.

Using the example above, my kid is closer to paraplegic. But being in the community, I know kids with the sprained ankle too. Based on the comments in this thread, it seems many here think that most in the community have a sprained ankle. From this one study 54% are below or average IQ, with 31% definitely below. These 31% are the ones that will require lifelong care.

We need to change terminology to differentiate, so the debates about whether an increase is actually an increase don't happen. The CDC provides stats on several diseases in real time - autism numbers came out this week for kids born in 2002 and diagnosed before 2010. Doesn't anyone question why this is?

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