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This is the most worst piece of a bad article: "Rates of autism in California have increased seven-fold since 1990, a recent study found. Because genetics do no

This is the most worst piece of a bad article: "Rates of autism in California have increased seven-fold since 1990, a recent study found. Because genetics do not change that quickly, scientists suspect that chemical pollutants are probably playing a role. But there have been few studies attempting to pinpoint which chemicals, or combination of chemicals." How could they not mention that the diagnostic criteria for autism changed over that time period? In addition to it getting slapped on shy kids, it's become a socially acceptable word for what used to be called mental retardation.

aasarava 16y ago
Agreed. I was surprised by this similar sentence in the article, stating that autism "has increased dramatically in children over the past 20 years." Such an important component of the article shouldn't be misstated like that. That really should be written as "the number of children diagnosed with autism has increase dramatically over the past 20 years."
Oxryly 16y ago
That's a crucial point. I wonder why that angle keeps getting overlooked when there are studies that support and explore it so well. Are the scientists dropping the ball? Are the writers?
- smallblacksun 16y ago
  The cynic in me says that they don't mention it because that won't generate as much funding for autism research.
mkramlich 16y ago
One danger in any quotes about autism statistics is that sometimes folks use autism as shorthand for "autism spectrum disorders", which includes much more mild things like Asperger's syndrome. Plus, one could argue that some of the things they classify as "bad" within that "range" are actually good things. For example, I've noticed that the rise in so called autism or ASD roughly correlates with the rise of the Internet and web usage. Perhaps something about the web and our increased use of it has brought out a much more nerdy aspect of many people's brains, a wider swath of people than previously had engaged in nerd/geek/Asperger's-like behaviors and thought processes. That could explain the "cause" rather than some dramatic increase in some biological/chemical factor. Maybe it's just a social/intellectual shift.

aasarava 16y ago

Agreed. I was surprised by this similar sentence in the article, stating that autism "has increased dramatically in children over the past 20 years." Such an important component of the article shouldn't be misstated like that. That really should be written as "the number of children diagnosed with autism has increase dramatically over the past 20 years."

Oxryly 16y ago

That's a crucial point. I wonder why that angle keeps getting overlooked when there are studies that support and explore it so well. Are the scientists dropping the ball? Are the writers?

smallblacksun 16y ago
The cynic in me says that they don't mention it because that won't generate as much funding for autism research.

mkramlich 16y ago

One danger in any quotes about autism statistics is that sometimes folks use autism as shorthand for "autism spectrum disorders", which includes much more mild things like Asperger's syndrome. Plus, one could argue that some of the things they classify as "bad" within that "range" are actually good things. For example, I've noticed that the rise in so called autism or ASD roughly correlates with the rise of the Internet and web usage. Perhaps something about the web and our increased use of it has brought out a much more nerdy aspect of many people's brains, a wider swath of people than previously had engaged in nerd/geek/Asperger's-like behaviors and thought processes. That could explain the "cause" rather than some dramatic increase in some biological/chemical factor. Maybe it's just a social/intellectual shift.