Cooking the books: Now 1 in 45 said to have autism in the U.S.

[Anonymous]

So, they reworded the survey to make it sound like more children have autism.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/new-survey-finds-1-45-kids-has-autism-n462596

Telling graphs:

"Money follows diagnosis. And there's a lot more money that's attached to a diagnosis of autism than there would be to a diagnosis of developmental language disorder or ... a learning disability to give you an example," said Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a child neurologist at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland. "And with more money, you can provide more services."

Wiznitzer agrees that kids now diagnosed with autism would have had "another label" in the past.

"We're just changing a child's diagnosis from, let's say, intellectual disability and mental retardation to autism spectrum disorder," he said.

"Certainly one reason for the increase over time is that parents do come seeking the diagnosis," Shulman added.

[Anonymous]

Surprise, surprise, when you have insurance companies slashing coverage for treatments for other developmental issues, people will try to reframe them to fit into a covered diagnosis so that they can afford to get their children the treatment they need. Perhaps if we had a more functional health care system, this wouldn't have to happen.

[Anonymous]

Here we go again...

My child has Asperger's and ADHD and I am glad that he has a diagnosis and gets help and supports including an IEP for social communication issues. He does not need supports for academics. The "label" has only been a win-win for us.

He gets all his services, speech/social skills and OT, at school where he needs it for free so no insurance issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here we go again...

My child has Asperger's and ADHD and I am glad that he has a diagnosis and gets help and supports including an IEP for social communication issues. He does not need supports for academics. The "label" has only been a win-win for us.

He gets all his services, speech/social skills and OT, at school where he needs it for free so no insurance issues.

And he sees a psychiatrist for the ADHD who we pay out of pocket.

[Anonymous]

My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

Your child can always get a developmental delay label for an IEP when young. My DS who already had an Asperger's diagnosis got his IEP under "developmental delays" until he was in K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

Your child can always get a developmental delay label for an IEP when young. My DS who already had an Asperger's diagnosis got his IEP under "developmental delays" until he was in K.

Ok, but we don't have an IEP, so that doesn't work for us. We are doing all services privately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

Your child can always get a developmental delay label for an IEP when young. My DS who already had an Asperger's diagnosis got his IEP under "developmental delays" until he was in K.

Ok, but we don't have an IEP, so that doesn't work for us. We are doing all services privately.

But the point is that young children usually get an IEP under "developmental delay" not "autism" so a diagnosis of autism is not necessary to get free services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

Your child can always get a developmental delay label for an IEP when young. My DS who already had an Asperger's diagnosis got his IEP under "developmental delays" until he was in K.

Ok, but we don't have an IEP, so that doesn't work for us. We are doing all services privately.

But the point is that young children usually get an IEP under "developmental delay" not "autism" so a diagnosis of autism is not necessary to get free services.

That used to be the case, but there has been a sea change since many states passed laws mandating autism coverage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

Your child can always get a developmental delay label for an IEP when young. My DS who already had an Asperger's diagnosis got his IEP under "developmental delays" until he was in K.

Ok, but we don't have an IEP, so that doesn't work for us. We are doing all services privately.

But the point is that young children usually get an IEP under "developmental delay" not "autism" so a diagnosis of autism is not necessary to get free services.

But, you are missing the point. Not everyone gets "free" services or wants them through the school system. Our insurance will pay for a variety of diagnosis but we are stuck with a developmental ped who says it is autism (now autism by history as there are no signs). We cannot get rid of the label. Other regular docs have tried as they disagree with how he is using the diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

Another take on this:



'No epidemic' -

Some experts agree that these surveys do not suggest there is a worsening epidemic of autism in the United States.

A study out earlier this year led by Santhosh Girirajan, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and of anthropology at Penn State, found that the rising rate of autism seen in recent years resulted from reclassifying individuals with related neurological disorders.
His study analyzed 11 years of special-education enrollment data on an average of 6.2 million children per year, and found "no overall increase in the number of students enrolled in special education."



Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/49769686.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

Your child can always get a developmental delay label for an IEP when young. My DS who already had an Asperger's diagnosis got his IEP under "developmental delays" until he was in K.

Ok, but we don't have an IEP, so that doesn't work for us. We are doing all services privately.

But the point is that young children usually get an IEP under "developmental delay" not "autism" so a diagnosis of autism is not necessary to get free services.

That used to be the case, but there has been a sea change since many states passed laws mandating autism coverage.

It is still the case in DC where I live. Don't know about Fairfax and MoCo but from reading this board it still appears that most preschool aged kids get IEPs under "developmental delays". Correct me if wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

Your child can always get a developmental delay label for an IEP when young. My DS who already had an Asperger's diagnosis got his IEP under "developmental delays" until he was in K.

Ok, but we don't have an IEP, so that doesn't work for us. We are doing all services privately.

But the point is that young children usually get an IEP under "developmental delay" not "autism" so a diagnosis of autism is not necessary to get free services.

But, you are missing the point. Not everyone gets "free" services or wants them through the school system. Our insurance will pay for a variety of diagnosis but we are stuck with a developmental ped who says it is autism (now autism by history as there are no signs). We cannot get rid of the label. Other regular docs have tried as they disagree with how he is using the diagnosis.

Why don't you change doctors? We did. I fired our dev ped over something a lot less than a wrong diagnosis. It's easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

Your child can always get a developmental delay label for an IEP when young. My DS who already had an Asperger's diagnosis got his IEP under "developmental delays" until he was in K.

Ok, but we don't have an IEP, so that doesn't work for us. We are doing all services privately.

But the point is that young children usually get an IEP under "developmental delay" not "autism" so a diagnosis of autism is not necessary to get free services.

That used to be the case, but there has been a sea change since many states passed laws mandating autism coverage.

It is still the case in DC where I live. Don't know about Fairfax and MoCo but from reading this board it still appears that most preschool aged kids get IEPs under "developmental delays". Correct me if wrong.

These numbers are from a parent survey. In my experience, even when they list developmental delay, the also talk about ASD even if they give a child another official label. The way the question is worded, and moving autism up to the first choice, is skewing the answers, IMO.

[Anonymous]

^this new survey corrected this confusion that you mention.