One in 50 School-Aged Children in U.S. Has Autism: CDC
Significant increase in the prevalence of the condition over the past five years, researchers say
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2013/03/20/one-in-50-school-aged-children-in-us-has-autism-cdc
Personally I find this report totally bogus on a number of fronts. That the once great CDC is now reporting things like this, to me, shows that it has totally been taken over by non-scientists, likely health care executives traveling through the public/private revolving door (see here for another of my complaints on the CDC). Much like the new DSM-V seems to be medicalizing normal conditions, this vastly increased rate of incidence may be nothing more than doctors groping around to assign a label to ordinary kids. There is no doubt in my mind that had I grown up today I would be diagnosed with autism, ADD, ADHD, etc. and, presuming my parents were credulous enough to buy it (I hope not, but one never knows), I would be hopped up on drugs and would absolutely grow up a different person. This is not to say that there aren’t real cases of autism, just to say that too many ordinary children are being diagnosed with it.
