From Deseret News archives:
Is autism more common now, or does it just seem so?
There is a very important debate about autism. Is it more common today than before? This is critical, because if autism is growing in numbers, it implies a cause or causes are also multiplying. The thought that something is out there affecting our children and our children's children's brains is pretty frightening. It also implies a strategy for prevention. If a medical condition is static, this year there will be, let's say, 100, and 100 years ago there were also 100 in the same population. It is fixed, and the environment that has changed over time seems not to have any influence on whether a person gets it or not. Then the etiology, or what causes the disease, is also something stable, probably in our genes. But if a century ago there were 100 and today there are 100,000 in the same group, then it is easier to see that this something is not in our genes but perhaps our water or air or food or the way we treat children, or who knows what. Therefore, it is critical to understand if autism is more common or not.
The first problem is just knowing what is autism. It has a list of three domains where the brain seems to be broken. They are communications, socialization and use of objects and symbols. Yet unlike the absolute counting of dead or alive, there is a huge range of severity. What to count involves severity as recorded by different people, timing of diagnosis in light of normal developmental changes, interventions along the way, definitions of normal variations etc. It is never just a simple 1, 2, 3.
Recent comments
I'm autistic. I hear the word "autism" all the time. I've apparently...
Danechi | Nov. 26, 2007 at 10:31 p.m.
Julie,
While I commend you on your successes through the troubles...
Lynn | Nov. 24, 2007 at 11:23 p.m.
Well Julie, you may not consider autism to be a "soul piercing"...
Grace | Nov. 24, 2007 at 10:29 p.m.
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