Rate of Autism Diagnoses Has Climbed, Study Finds

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runawaybunny

Guest
Rate of Autism Diagnoses Has Climbed, Study Finds - New York Times

The frequency of autism spectrum diagnoses has been increasing for decades, but researchers cannot agree on whether the trend is a result of heightened awareness, an expanding definition of the spectrum, an actual increase in incidence or some combination of those factors. Diagnosing the condition is not an exact science. Children “on the spectrum” vary widely in their abilities and symptoms, from mute and intellectually limited at one extreme to socially awkward at the other.
 

keista

New Member
It's almost an hour long so I haven't watched it either. However, I have my own "environmental" experience (I think I've posted this before) 4 of us were pregnant at the same time. We all lived in the same region and worked in the same place. Two of us have kids with Asperger's (from that pregnancy) The third I don't know what is wrong with her child but he was the kind of baby that you loooked at an just knew he was "off" somehow. The fourth I have no idea how her baby turned out. (yeah, I wasn't very close with these women) So, however you want to look at my personal statistics, even assuming the other two boys are perfectly fine, 50% have high functioning Autism. It's shocking and in my opinion evidence there may be "something in the water" so to speak.
 

ready2run

New Member
There seems to be a high rate of autism in my area as well. our principle told me that the school has like 40 something kids on the spectrum and there are only like 200 and something kids in the school. it seems every other family i meet has a special needs child of one sort or another.
 

ready2run

New Member
I saw a good documentary on the Nature of Things a while back targetting stomach bacteria as the culprit behind the rise in autism that seemed like a pretty valid theory, i will have to check out the video sometime.
 
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