Autism increase may be due to
past mis-diagnosis

(April 3, 2006)
       If statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of
Education are to be believed, in 1992 the state of
Illinois had only 322 diagnosed cases of autism
among school children.
       Eleven years later, in 2003, according to the same
statistical source, Illinois had more than 6,000 children
diagnosed as autistic.
       National special education statistics, which
showed a 657 percent increase in autism over the
decade from 1993 to 2003, are routinely used to
suggest the country is experiencing an epidemic of
autism, a developmental disorder of children
characterized by impaired social and communication
skills as well as repetitive behaviors and obsessive
interests.
       Many children who were once diagnosed with
mental retardation in the past are now being
diagnosed with autism instead.
       "My research indicates that the increase in the
number of kids with an autism label in special
education is strongly associated with a declining
usage of the mental retardation and learning
disabilities labels in special education during the
same period," says Paul Shattuck, a researcher at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison's Waisman Center,
writing in Pediatrics.
       "Many of the children now being counted in the
autism category would probably have been counted in
the mental retardation or learning disabilities
categories if they were being labeled 10 years ago
instead of today," he says.

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This is  an edited reprint of a press release from the University
of Winconsin-Madison.
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