Comments on: 2 Hypotheses: Autism Epidemic and Diagnostic Substitution

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:22:49 +0000

Interesting that the “reverse situation” of children with an autism code switching to another special education category was also studied.

By: Regan

Regan — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:27:59 +0000

Just more data... FYI: Coo H, Ouellette-Kuntz H, Lloyd JE, Kasmara L, Holden JJ, Lewis ME. (2008). Trends in autism prevalence: diagnostic substitution revisited. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38, 1036-1046. There has been little evidence to support the hypothesis that diagnostic substitution may contribute to increases in the administrative prevalence of autism. We examined trends in assignment of special education codes to British Columbia (BC) school children who had an autism code in at least 1 year between 1996 and 2004, inclusive. The proportion of children with an autism code increased from 12.3/10,000 in 1996 to 43.1/10,000 in 2004; 51.9% of this increase was attributable to children switching from another special education classification to autism (16.0/10,000). Taking into account the reverse situation (children with an autism code switching to another special education category (5.9/10.000)), diagnostic substitution accounted for at least one-third of the increase in autism prevalence over the study period. Linking to the Pubmed abstract because there are related articles in the sidebar--it's a body of evidence, not necessarily the citing of one particular paper.

By: Now Where Was It You Heard About the Autism Epidemic?

Now Where Was It You Heard About the Autism Epidemic? — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 05:08:14 +0000

[...] cites a small study in England in which it was found that adults who received a diagnosis of pragmatic language disorder in childhood might now have been diagnosed with autism (see also Translating Autism’s review). This study [...]

By: donald savitz

donald savitz — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:07:30 +0000

Could it be that there in not an epidemic bout look like an epidemic becaue the rules may haved changed over the years. Do think that the first DSM-1 may have been too norrow and how that we up to DSM-1V maybe they just loosened the diagnosis that may enclue other things like alcohol systrom, nitrate poison {from well water on farms} whitch would bring up the count. I am not sure how they tell the difference of if you can tell the difference between that and autism.

By: The Claim of the Autism Epidemic

The Claim of the Autism Epidemic — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:22:29 +0000

[...] autism. 38 adults (age 15 to 31) were included in the study, which has rekindled discussion about two hypotheses for the recent rise in the autism rate: Is there truly some epidemic of autism caused by some [...]

By: mayfly

mayfly — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:36:40 +0000

Laurentius, i totally agree that IQ levels for autistics are underestimated.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:28:13 +0000

Based on what studies are these test reliable forecasting tools on future potentials of the child taking them? Have there been any follow-up studies for comparison after 2003? I have heard little to nothing about the use, benefit, or administration of either of these tests in school systems or ASD populations in my geographic region.

By: Regan

Regan — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:20:25 +0000

Interesting discussion related to Kanner, etc.

GERNSBACHER, M. A., GEYE, H. M., & ELLIS WEISMER, S. (2005).
The role of language and communication impairments within autism.
In P. Fletcher & J. C. Miller (Eds.), Language disorders and developmental theory.
Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.
http://psych.wisc.edu/lang/pdf/gernsbacher_chapter.pdf

More discussion of intelligence, testing, and what is being measured.
DAWSON, M., SOULIÈRES, I., GERNSBACHER, M. A., & MOTTRON, L. (2007).
The level and nature of autistic intelligence. Psychological Science, 18, 657-662.
http://psych.wisc.edu/lang/pdf/Dawson_AutisticIntelligence_PS_2007.pdf

By: Regan

Regan — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:18:59 +0000

No statement.
Just thought these were relevant and might be of interest.

Edelson, M.G., (2006). Are the Majority of Children with Autism Mentally Retarded? A Systematic Evaluation of the Data.
Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, v21 n2 p66-83 Sum 2006

There are frequent claims in the literature that a majority of children with autism are mentally retarded (MR). The present study examined the evidence used as the basis for these claims, reviewing 215 articles published between 1937 and 2003. Results indicated 74% of the claims came from nonempirical sources, 53% of which never traced back to empirical data. Most empirical evidence for the claims was published 25 to 45 years ago and was often obtained utilizing developmental or adaptive scales rather than measures of intelligence. Furthermore, significantly higher prevalence rates of MR were reported when these measures were used. Overall, the findings indicate that more empirical evidence is needed before conclusions can be made about the percentages of children with autism who are mentally retarded.

http://www.willamette.edu/dept/comm/reprint/edelson/

By: mayfly

mayfly — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:15:32 +0000

Marcie, your right. Kanner argues against his patient being feeble-minded, to use his term. It and his advocacy of non-verbal IQ tests suggests that others did.