Current Events

Over many  decades, the rates of diagnoses of autism have been rapidly increasing. In just two years (2006-2008), they increased by over 20 percent. On March 22, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report on this topic, presenting the increasing rates of these diagnoses. However, researchers were unable to decide whether the numbers are because of the different "definitions" of the disorder, a natural spike in the number of children with autism, or other factors. It is even considered that the rise in numbers could be a result of state support packages for children with a diagnosis of autism. Therefore, because of the many variations and differences in cases of it, doctors have created changes to the "autism spectrum" in order to make rates decrease. If the symptoms and factors to a diagnosis were not as broad, rates of children with a type of this disorder would decrease. Researchers have been collecting information to solve the issue of increasing rates.
Autism has often been known as a common disorder in children. If a child has it, they should definitely be given proper treatment and care for it. However, it is possible that symptons are either too broad or the complete opposite. There are many variations of autism, and it is mostly different in each child with the diagnosis. Different types are often diagnosed when all symptoms of one type are not fully met. Also, cases may range from mild to severe. I do see a possibility that another disorder could be mistaken for a mild case of autism. In the article, it was also mentioned that this disorder is not very difficult to diagnose, for it is "not an exact science." This leads me to believe that cases may not always be fully examined before diagnosis of autism. If doctors looked deeper into these types of cases, they could possibly find another, more accurate diagnosis for the patient, and they could be treated for that. I believe that the changes to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders will be helpful in figuring out cases that appear to be of autism and will impact the rates of diagnoses. It will allow them to increase accuracy of diagnoses and make the "definition of autism" more specific.


                                                
http://www.apa.org/education/k12/brain-function.aspx


http://www.futurity.org/health-medicine/brain-scan-detects-autism-in-adults/


Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/health/rate-of-autism-diagnoses-has-climbed-study-finds.html?_r=1&ref=science#