The backward bending, all inclusive nature of a once clearly defined diagnosis.  Even the spectrum of a rainbow has limits.  Autism should not be a catch all.  It is definable and we need to get back to basic DSM1V Criteria for the label of autism.  Just because Jonny does not want to play with Billy does not mean that Jonny is autistic.  Maybe Billy is just not that interesting.  http://www.healthkicker.com/714429676/if-it-isnt-broken-dont-diagnose-it/

I'm also wondering about how wide the diagnosis is. Nine years ago I kept taking my son to the doctor for unusual development. I had a normally developing seven year old son. My infant/toddler wasn't talking and we couldn't potty train him and he had a ton of sensory issues and played in a world to himself oblivious to everything else around him. The doctor kept telling me nothing was wrong with him. After two and a half years I finally got a doctor who listened. My son had all the early signs of autism. So I think the pendulum might have swung too far the other way. Eventually it will settle into realistic numbers.

@P1AutismMom - i agree. changing standards for diagnoses and more parents screening their children skew statistics. and billy's probably a dud.

There is no clear autistic vs. normal dichotomy. If you could picture normality (yeah, define that, heh) and the autism range, they'd look more like extremely enmeshed 3D objects with many fuzzy projections that deeply penetrate the other, and one range nestles within the other. So, while picturing linear left to right ranges is a start, doing so isn't very helpful when you start getting into the topic more in depth or in the long run.

What we now call autism has and will undergo further generations of differentiations that uber normalization and its flip side marginalization (always abusive, always heavily politicized) cannot do justice.  Before further differentiation and discovery increase at even more exponential rates, the rate of autism diagnosis will continue to climb.  That is a very predictable and natural progression.

Initially, it was possible to diagnose the more disadvantaged autistics and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) stated that 75% of autistics were mentally retarded.  The rate of autism diagnosis was much lower.  Between 1993 and 2003, however, the rate of autism diagnosis climbed over 800%.  That increase was greatly due to the fact that, in 1992, the American Psychiatric Association released the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV), which refined diagnostic criteria and made Autism a spectrum disorder so that mild to severe autism could be diagnosed.  In 2009, it's estimated that one percent of children, one out of 100 adults are autistic, and both of those numbers are expected to climb, not surprising since most adults were not diagnosed as children and many still don't have official diagnosis.

Of course the monumental increase of autism diagnosis rates increases some people's panic regarding this supposed epidemic of disease and that is incredibly problematic.

Additionally, the thousand and one possible causes, many (not all but many) of them really ridiculous, distract from better work, do take up valuable resources.

But healthier awareness will prevail.  It's just going to take longer than it has and it will cost a lot more than need be..

P.S get your dumb ass off the hypnosis boob tube and read the comics you would be more educated and informed! 

If autism on the rise it's competing with a number of other issues and couldnt possibly be anything to do with everything you eat being poisoned or genetically modified and the air and water being full of crap honestly.

This message sponsored by the same people bringing you genetically modified grain , swine flu vaccines and jet fuel additives.

autism epidemic? what autism epidemic?

*buries head in sand*