An excellent article in today’s Times explains why autism seems to be increasing. It’s the diagnosis that’s changed. Our daughter, who often works with autistic children, explained this to me years ago.
In the 1980 the 4th edition of the “bible of psychiatry,” the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, changed the definition of autism. Prior to that, to be autistic meant that before the age of three you had severe cognitive, interpersonal, emotional, and behavioral problems.
After 1980 if you had something called Asperger’s syndrome, which is more common and much milder, you were on the “Autism spectrum.”
In my high school graduating class we had a guy who doodled by drawing electrical circuits. For his science project, he made a synthesizer that played music. In 1959! He was socially inept, and I don’t think he went to the prom. We were sort of friends–I was also socially inept and didn’t go to the prom. I lost touch with him after graduation, and he died before our fifth reunion in a traffic accident. Was he autistic or just “on the spectrum?” You can bet that today he would definitely be diagnosed; back then we just thought he was a genius, which I still believe.
There are advantages to being “on the spectrum” in school. You can get special help. It can explain bad behavior. Unfortunately, guys like Robert Kennedy, Jr., are so dumb they think vaccines cause “autism.” They do their own research. And some of them are now in charge of our health care.
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