Comments on: Autism is an epidemic, New Jersey is toxic, and other urban myths

By: Rochelle

Rochelle — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:17:46 +0000

Thanks for sharing this, Joseph. My father was tormented as a child and teenager, too, and still experiences a lot of social anxieties and difficulties. He doesn’t have any friends, just family members who, of course, love him and want to hang out with him. But, I can’t recall my father ever having any friends.

I “see” PDD and Asperger’s everywhere now. I don’t understand how people can say there aren’t adults with ASD or PDD. I hope your father and your cousin are doing well, though, and I appreciate your feedback.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:54:05 +0000

Rochelle, I saw your post about your father, and it made me think about my cousin. He was tormented as a child, preteen, and teenager. He never fit in, and when he tried to fit in, he wasn’t let in. He and I are 27 now. I have been teaching for 5 years and have a lot of experience with 6th-8th graders with PDD. It dawned on me last year: my cousin and his father on on this challenging spectrum.

I agree with this blog. We have been in Autismland. We’re just starting to notice. I agree with the theory that NJ’s numbers are so high due to the services and keen screening systems we have in NJ. Many many people struggle with PDD, and they grow up unaware.

By: Jay Edgar

Jay Edgar — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:18:10 +0000

Good article! I completely agree. Autism’s increased prevalence is because of increased diagnosis. Also the definition of autism has continually expanded now encompassing what is known as highly functional autism. In NJ we have high incomes (on average). This leads to more parents seeking diagnosis.

I run a special needs scout troop in NJ. If you feel that your child can benefit, visit my website (http://troop454bsa.org)

By: Owl

Owl — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:03:22 +0000

It can be an interesting exercise to look up the various psychological classifications that were in use a while back, say 50 to 100 years ago. Most of them are words like Cretin, idiot, moron, and imbecile. If I remember correctly the words primarily referred to what kinds of labor you would be capable of. So where did all the autistics go before Kanner mentioned them in 1943? Mental Institutions being referred to by names that we don’t even remember are scientific anymore… We would probably claim it wasn’t science if somebody tried doing it today. That’s why nobody seemed to notice they were around… when you have a relative in an Institution you pretend they don’t exist because they are embarrassing. Sure everybody noticed the handflapping and headbanging… but all handflapping meant back then was this is a person who might not be so good for doing dexterous things with his hands, therefore they are such and such subvarient of a retard. Handflapping just meant handflapping, putting a list of symptoms together doesn’t make it something different and 100 years from now calling someone autistic may be nothing more than a childish insult and somebody will be writing a post saying “now why don’t we see any of these people 100 years ago” and the real answer will be because we don’t have the uber brain scanners that will exist in the future etc… Not because the problems will be much different.

This kind of confusion is covered by neurolinguistics, you might call it a gestalt shift.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:20:14 +0000

All I know growing up I didn’t know or see one kid in our community displaying the behavious my autistic nephew has. All our cousins, friends and neighbors had pretty much normal kids.

And yet, they had to have been there. Cognitive disability has always been very common. At least 1% of the population is cognitively disabled in any culture at any point in time.

In 1920 California, about 60 in 10,000 persons resided in state hospitals for the insane. It can’t be nearly that high nowadays.

If you didn’t see any kids like that, it’s because they were hidden away and because institutionalization of youngsters was rampant.

By: Don’t Go Back to Northvale?

Don’t Go Back to Northvale? — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:21:08 +0000

[...] study about Northvale is carried out and what the results will be (and it might be well to keep this comment in mind). ASD, Aspergers, autism, autistic, children, deirdre imus, Education, environment, [...]

By: Chuck

Chuck — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:14:21 +0000

Prometheus,

You also continue to parrot the “talking points” because I am sure you know that USDE does not use clinical diagnosis as criteria for educational labels.

By: Regan

Regan — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:33:12 +0000

FWIW, and if this is accurate, from Pat Sullivan’s blog, Dr. Mark Geier’s CV
http://www.streamload.com/UIC/DrMarkGeierCV.doc
“1979-1982 Assistant Professor, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

1981-1984 Assistant Research Professor, Psychiatry Department, Uniformed School of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD”

So there might have been a stint at Johns Hopkins, but since there is a little overlap of the two appointments, these might not have been F/T or tenure-track positions. Usually if folks are granted tenure, based on research, publication and quality therein, you see at least “Associate” professor in the CV somewhere. Johns Hopkins is not a current faculty appointment, and judging from Dr. Geier’s recent rejections as an expert witness, I am not sure that past job descriptions bear especial relevance to current standing.

By: Regan

Regan — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:24:51 +0000

“If I were having children in this day and age, I’d be really scared”.
———————————-
Interesting, considering that the information in the ADDM survey, refers to data from 2000 and 2002 surveying those who were 8 years old at the time.

I think in discussing the report, which is where the numbers come from, it is worth reading all the tables and the full version found in MMWR Surveillance Summaries (Feb 9, 2007) for the cohort being counted, the method used for the prevalence count, the sample (because representative counties, and not entire states are being counted), and relative comparisons between states.

See chart p. 12: order-NJ>>GA (where the CDC is located and the source of past data)>other states in the ADDM system,>AL . So one might assume from reading the report without an additional point of comparison that NJ has the highest count. MN and OR are not in the ADDM report.

“What part of New Jersey is included in the ADDM ASD Study?
4 counties (Essex, Union, Hudson, and
Ocean) including metropolitan Newark
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Prevalence, 2000 Number of 8-year-old children identified with an ASD: 295
Total prevalence of ASDs: 9.9 per 1,000 (1/101)
Boys: 14.8 per 1,000 (1/68)
Girls: 4.3 per 1,000 (1/233)
White, non-Hispanic: 11.3 per 1,000 (1/88)
Black, non-Hispanic: 10.6 per 1,000 (1/94)
Median age of ASD diagnosis 4 years, 4 months”
(Which means cohort born in 1992 and diagnosed in 1996-1997. Range not specified)

“Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Prevalence, 2002 Number of 8-year-old children identified with an ASD: 316
Total prevalence of ASDs: 10.6 per 1,000 (1/94)
Boys: 16.8 per 1,000 (1/60)
Girls: 4.0 per 1,000 (1/250)
White, non-Hispanic: 12.5 per 1,000 (1/80)
Black, non-Hispanic: 7.7 per 1,000 (1/130)
Hispanic: 9.7 per 1,000 (1/103)
Median age of ASD diagnosis 4 years,7 months”
(Which means cohort born in 1994 and diagnosed in 1998 or 1999. Range not specified).
p.24
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/documents/AutismCommunityReport.pdf

So comparing this particular report to IDEA data, esp. if relating it to current data, looking for assortment among states might be comparing apples to pineapples. I think that better ideas on trends may come with the next set of data from ADDM.

As to what the IDEA data says and why there might be discrepancies, with OR and MN highlighted:
How “Educational Assessments” Skew Autism Prevalence Rates, James R. Laidler, M.D.
http://www.autism-watch.org/general/edu.shtml

By: Prometheus

Prometheus — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 04:10:20 +0000

All this talk about New Jersey having an especially high autism prevalence is interesting, if not particularly true.

As it turns out, USDE data from 2006 shows that New Jersey is number 12 (out of 50) in autism prevalence, at 49.5 per 10,000 (US average is 42.3 per 10,000 that year).

Minnesota is number one (must be all those lakes – and mosquitos) at 94.9 per 10,000 – almost twice the New Jersey prevalence.

Oregon – that toxic wasteland and industrial eyesore – is number two, at 92.6 per 10,000.

Indiana is number three, coming in at 69.2 per 10,000.

Again, New Jersey isn’t all that much above the national average, so if it’s true that “…in NJ you can literally go block to block and find a child [with autism]…”, then they must be all over the block in Minneapolis. Or Portland (Oregon) or Indianapolis.

This seems to be nothing more that simple parroting of autism-related “talking points” without any true understanding.

Prometheus