Autism and ADHD Diagnosis
Autism and ADHD are two very different childhood diagnoses, but some overall questions in common: are they over diagnosed, and are there truly epidemics of these two conditions?
It’s instructive to first say that no one study, including these two new studies in the journal pediatrics will give the final answer to these questions.
But they do give us some more perspective that numbers are easily spun, or are at least misinterpreted, to affect a perspective.
So, what’s in a name?
Is it M.R.--mental retardation, or L.D.--learning disability?
Or, is autism?
The question is, is the diagnosis of autism simply a new label for a child who would have been given a different diagnosis 15 years ago?
It’s called diagnostic substitution, and many experts believe it is, if not the factor, at very least one important factor in what is seen as the growing numbers of children diagnosed with autism.
According to new research released by the American academy of pediatrics, the rise in autism cases lately directly coincides, in most states, with a decrease in the number of children diagnosed with mental retardation and learning disabilities.
Dr. Eric Hollander, Chair of the Department of “Psychiatry at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, says, “However I think it is important to recognize that the study is really not a definitive study, it really does not suggest that the reason for this autism epidemic is just an increase in the number of people given the diagnosis because of the changes of diagnosis for example.”
Still, there’s also the question of whether there is a true epidemic of autism cases.
In 1993, the national average was only one-fifth of what the centers for disease control and prevention estimated to be the lower end of expected cases…and since then, the significant growth in autism numbers only appear to be catching up with what would be expected for the population, and still not reaching that number.
In another study, it was found that a diagnosis of ADHD--attention deficit hyperactivity disorder--is likely influenced by both a child’s home environment as well as the school and school district.
There is reason for concern, in some instances, that pressures for school performance are associated with an increase in ADHD diagnosis.
54 percent of diagnoses are first suggested by teachers or other school personnel, while only 30 percent are by parent and only 14 percent by health professionals.
Connecticut and Illinois have already enacted legislation that prohibits teachers in public schools from recommending a student be evaluated for the diagnosis.
“We know that ADHD is a real brain based disorder so it is not a fictitious disorder and we know that there are strong genetic factors and alterations in brain circuitry that are associated with this diagnosis of ADHD, however we also know that there could be school based issues, or social or economic or demographic factors that influence who come into the health care setting to get that particular diagnosis,” says Dr. Hollander.
ADHD and autism: two hot topic diagnoses with the way they’re diagnosed and labeled in question.
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