Reply to CDC autism rates 1 in 68 kids..... 1 in 42 boys!

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]These numbers the CDC throws out are always faulty. First, they are looking at records. Second, they use school labels as well and states vary widely on what they consider autism. That's why you see the wide swing in numbers. Not all these children have actual diagnoses from doctors.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/27/health/cdc-autism/

However, [b]experts [/b]such as Wiznitzer and Goldstein [b]are concerned that the new CDC report is not describing the same autism that was present and diagnosed 20 years ago, when the numbers first shot up.[/b]

"Twenty years ago we thought of autism with intellectual disability. We never looked at children who had normal intelligence" -- doctors never considered that high-functioning children had autism too, says Goldstein.
[b]
Wiznitzer believes written reports can't definitively determine whether a child has autism. You need to see the child to complete a diagnosis, which the CDC experts did not have the opportunity to do.[/b]
[b]
"This report tells us that there's a significant number of children in the states where they were assessed that have social differences and a pattern of behaviors that can be represented by ASD, but may also be due to other conditions that superficially can have similar features, such as [b]social anxiety, ADHD with social immaturity and intelligence problems,"[/b] he says.[/b][/quote]

Thanks for this. Diagnosing high functioning autism correctly must be a really hands on, subjective thing - how else can you diagnose a disorder that has to do with social functioning? I have never understood why the CDC approach has any validity whatsoever since all it does it look at paper records and non-clinical labels, and no quality controls on the diagnoses at all.[/quote][/quote]

Well, having just social anxiety, social immaturity, etc. does not qualify for an Asperger's diagnosis.  Even in the DSM-5, to get ASD/Asperger's type you need besides having at least normal intelligence and no speech delay other than pragmatics:

1.  social communication disorder
2.  repetitive behaviors
3.  obsessive interests.

ALL THREE.  It's a rigid criteria and I doubt there is an epidemic of overdiagnosis of Asperger's like some posters are saying.[/quote]

There are many clinicians who report a rash of overdiagnosis.  For example: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/opinion/aspergers-history-of-over-diagnosis.html?_r=0

The point about the CDC study is that it does NOT use clinical diagnoses.  It uses a variety of records to find "autism symptoms":

"ADDM does not rely on professional or family reporting of an existing ASD diagnosis or classification to ascertain case status. Instead, information is obtained from children's evaluation records to determine the presence of ASD symptoms at any time from birth through the end of the year when the child reaches age 8 years."

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6103a1.htm?s_cid=ss6103a1_w

It's a paper diagnosis based on clinical records of unknown integrity.  The CDC researchers never see the child at all, much less evaluate the quality of the underlying records.  In some cases it sounds like all it would take to be counted as autistic would be several school records noting that a child seems shy or to enjoy playing along. I am really wondering how in the world it can be considered a valid scientific method.  [/quote]

For better or worse, Autism Spectrum Disorder encompasses a range from Kanner autism (the paper you are quoting) and Aspergers/PDD-NOS (mainly problems related to social communication).  Your first article if you look at the date is an op-ed against including Asperger's into ASD b/c of the "stigma of Autism" and was among a slew of articles and debates even among people with Asperger's prior to the DSM-5.  The matter has been settled with the DSM-5:  Asperger's is a part of ASD.

You can talk about a "paper diagnosis" when talking about studies and argue about it abstractly.  Personally, I don't care what you think.

My child with Asperger's has been evaluated by a developmental pediatrician and three child neuropsychologists who all diagnosed ASD/Asperger's type and don't take kindly to people like you questioning the diagnosis of people you never met.

The first article is hilarious in some ways:  So Warren Buffet learned his social skills from Dale Carnegie and another guy with Asperger's from Emily Post?!?  So did my Aspie DH! +  plus some courses as a foreign service officer:   I prefer my child with Asperger's to learn those skills at school while young through his IEP, thank you.[/quote]

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