The interviewer asks, “Today we're discussing autism prevalence and children. recent findings from the CDC has Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report suggests approximately 1 in 36 us children aged 8 years were identified with autism spectrum disorder in 2020, higher than the 2018 estimated average. First, what trends are you observing regarding prevalence of autism and children, and are there any associations with early detection disruptions potentially resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise that may be contributing to an increase?”
The response from the Center’s J. Thomas Megerian, MD, PhD, FAAP, “Yes, thanks, Joshua. It's a great question. You know, it's really hard to say if we're getting, say, a bolus of more kids that just weren't being diagnosed in the last two plus years, because of reluctance to come in to tertiary care centers like ours to receive the diagnosis, we know that there was a drop off in the number of kids that were being seen and referred. We've seen that in terms of vaccinations, that number dropped. We've seen it in terms of I think, well, health care visits, and so that's definitely a possibility. The counter argument to that, though, would be that this trend, increasing trend has been going on that we see every 2 to 4 years that we monitor that's been going on for a while. And if you look at the numbers, like over the last 5 years, it was one in 56, then one in 44. Now one in 36. And so those numbers, that trend of increasing, you know, by about 10, one in 10, every two to four years that's been going on. So it's a tough question to answer. Are we seeing this increase right now? That would have maybe flattened off from the 144, because we just didn't see a number of kids early? Or is this just a continuation of the trend we saw before? Hard to answer, and I think time will tell,” reveals this “article” to be a native ad.
The Center’s mission statement notes that it “[serves] families affected by autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders with expert diagnostics, evidence-based clinical care, groundbreaking research, and compassionate support.” Thus, ignoring the Text Revision and continuing to push the “increasing trend” of autism diagnoses obviously helps their bottom line.
If he can convince the system to allow general practitioners to diagnose autism, that would be a good thing. But, as the article demonstrates, he not doing it for the autistic people. He’s doing it so that his group, and the others like them, can sell “treatments” to families. In the world view of these types, there’s No Place for Autism.
Recent interview about rise in autism prevalence ignores the Text Revision to the DSM
Recent interview about rise in autism prevalence ignores the Text Revision to the DSM
Recent interview about rise in autism prevalence ignores the Text Revision to the DSM
A recent interview with the Clinical Director of the Thompson Autism and Neurodevelopmental Center, Children's Hospital of Orange County, completely ignores the recent Text Revision to the DSM.
The interviewer asks, “Today we're discussing autism prevalence and children. recent findings from the CDC has Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report suggests approximately 1 in 36 us children aged 8 years were identified with autism spectrum disorder in 2020, higher than the 2018 estimated average. First, what trends are you observing regarding prevalence of autism and children, and are there any associations with early detection disruptions potentially resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic or otherwise that may be contributing to an increase?”
The response from the Center’s J. Thomas Megerian, MD, PhD, FAAP, “Yes, thanks, Joshua. It's a great question. You know, it's really hard to say if we're getting, say, a bolus of more kids that just weren't being diagnosed in the last two plus years, because of reluctance to come in to tertiary care centers like ours to receive the diagnosis, we know that there was a drop off in the number of kids that were being seen and referred. We've seen that in terms of vaccinations, that number dropped. We've seen it in terms of I think, well, health care visits, and so that's definitely a possibility. The counter argument to that, though, would be that this trend, increasing trend has been going on that we see every 2 to 4 years that we monitor that's been going on for a while. And if you look at the numbers, like over the last 5 years, it was one in 56, then one in 44. Now one in 36. And so those numbers, that trend of increasing, you know, by about 10, one in 10, every two to four years that's been going on. So it's a tough question to answer. Are we seeing this increase right now? That would have maybe flattened off from the 144, because we just didn't see a number of kids early? Or is this just a continuation of the trend we saw before? Hard to answer, and I think time will tell,” reveals this “article” to be a native ad.
The Center’s mission statement notes that it “[serves] families affected by autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders with expert diagnostics, evidence-based clinical care, groundbreaking research, and compassionate support.” Thus, ignoring the Text Revision and continuing to push the “increasing trend” of autism diagnoses obviously helps their bottom line.
If he can convince the system to allow general practitioners to diagnose autism, that would be a good thing. But, as the article demonstrates, he not doing it for the autistic people. He’s doing it so that his group, and the others like them, can sell “treatments” to families. In the world view of these types, there’s No Place for Autism.