Is Autism Really Still on the Rise?

Debate has surrounded the dialogue for criteria for diagnosing autism spectrum disorder, largely because the criteria has changed over time. The American Psychiatric Association has changed the age at which doctors are able to diagnose autism spectrum disorder many times, making the diagnostic criteria increasingly broad. Also, certain disorders were not previously included in autism spectrum disorder, such as Asperger’s syndrome, whereas eventually they became included. Therefore, many argue that the number of people on the autism spectrum have not increased, but simply the number with diagnoses.

To prove this increase is potentially only in the diagnosis, a study was done on children where 59 percent of children who were originally not diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder would have been diagnosed under the 2012 diagnostic guidelines.