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 | The True Source of the Autism "Epidemic" Posted by Luke Setzer on 10/15, 2:55pm | |
| Change the yardstick and you change the measurement. From the article: Medscape: What are the significant changes in diagnostic criteria for autism between 1980 and 1994? Dr. Gernsbacher: Whereas the 1980 DSM-III entry required satisfying six mandatory criteria, the more recent 1994 DSM-IV offers 16 optional criteria, only half of which need to be met. Moreover, the severe phrasing of the 1980 mandatory criteria contrasts with the more inclusive phrasing of the 1994 optional criteria. For instance, to qualify for a diagnosis according to the 1980 criteria, an individual needed to exhibit ''a pervasive lack of responsiveness to other people." In contrast, according to 1994 criteria, an individual must demonstrate only ''a lack of spontaneous seeking to share.... achievements with other people'' and peer relationships less sophisticated than would be predicted by the individual's developmental level. The 1980 mandatory criteria of ''gross deficits in language development'' and ''if speech is present, peculiar speech patterns such as immediate and delayed echolalia, metaphorical language, pronominal reversal'' were replaced by the 1994 options of difficulty ''sustain[ing] a conversation'' or ''lack of varied ...social imitative play." ''Bizarre responses to various aspects of the environment'' became ''persistent preoccupation with parts of objects." Furthermore, whereas the earlier 1980 (DSM-III) entry comprised only two diagnostic categories (infantile autism and childhood onset pervasive developmental disorder), the more recent 1994 (DSM-IV) entry comprises five. Three of those five categories connote what is commonly called autism: Autistic Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDDNOS), and Asperger's Disorder. Autistic Disorder requires meeting half of the 16 criteria, but Asperger's Disorder, which did not enter the DSM until 1994, involves only two thirds of that half, and PDDNOS, which entered the DSM in 1987, is defined by subthreshold symptoms. Therefore, Asperger's Disorder and PDDNOS are often considered ''milder variants.'' These milder variants can account for nearly three fourths of current autism diagnoses, as shown by Chakrabarti and Fombonne in 2001. Would a practicing Objectivist quite self-satisfied with his own achievements by the judgment of his own mind be labeled "autistic" because of "a lack of spontaneous seeking to share.... achievements with other people"? | ||
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