A recent report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has the shocking headline statistic; 1 in 88 children has an autism spectrum disorder. What has changed, gone wrong, with the newest generation of Americans? Is it all about semantics? Has the definition of autism changed and now so broad as to capture behavior just a little outside the norm? Are there ubiquitous environmental factors making our kids crazy? Too much screen time? Fluorine in the water? CO2 vehicle emissions? Is it easier for doctors to tell parents there is a disease rather than talk about bad parenting?
Autism Spectrum Disorder – CDC Report
The CDC report has become the focal point for those are skeptical about the diagnoses of autism that are twice as common at this time as they were just five years ago. Is autism the new ADHD? Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was all the rage in the 90s. The list of symptoms by which autistic behavior is defined was greatly increased in the 90s. Not just the obviously severely challenged children were now diagnosed as autistic.
These children are intellectually deficient, unable to communicate verbally or perhaps incapable of keeping themselves safe. The new autism criteria share a basic inability to function socially. The new diagnostics mean that the autistic population is a lot bigger and very different to what it was even five years ago.
The director of research at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Autism, argues that a broader definition that includes people with ‘milder’ symptoms is appropriate, because any social impairment is a genuine and difficult problem in the modern world. Difficulty’s fitting in at work or marital problems stemming from behavioral factors are shaky foundations for a whole life.
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