3 ms·
In short: This is an 'epidemic' of diagnosis, caused by expanding the definition, not an actual increase of cases. From requiring full set of signs and diagno
by toss1 4y ago
In short: This is an 'epidemic' of diagnosis, caused by expanding the definition, not an actual increase of cases. From requiring full set of signs and diagnosis before age 3 to allowing anything on the spectrum and any age, that immediately qualifies many cases who wouldn't begin to qualify in the '80s, and of course awareness by physicians and parents also increases diagnosis.
It's good to see a team really examine a good and huge dataset and apply some proper science.
- Jensson 4y agoYeah, I've seen some people here say things like "adhd and autism is the same thing", which is ridiculous if you are used to what qualified as autism and adhd in the 80's. Nowadays it seems like all you need for an autism diagnosis is that you struggle in social situations. But I've seen a class of autism/asperger cases in the 80's, they started speaking very late as kids, have strange walking styles, don't run smoothly so run way slower than you'd expect for their size, are bad at sports for the previous reasons, have strange/unnatural sounding speech/voice etc. Many of them still do very well in school however. Compare that to adhd, who have none of those problems but can't direct their attention properly and therefore have problems in many social situations where you need to be patient, class at school being the major one, there is no way you'd mistake one for the other.