Are there really more autistic children now?

Question

Are there also more schizophrenic adolescents?

Thanks Apak!

Thanks lexdexs

Answer 1

I believe after bing an active participant in the autism community for the past 10 years that yes, there is an increase in the number of diagnosed children and adults on the autistic spectrum. I tend to think this is do mostly to improvement in the testing and the increased awareness of autism. For many years, children who were in fact autistic were often diagnosed as "retarded" or "emotionally damaged" if they were at the more severe end of the spectrum or as being "weird", "slow", "loners" or "behavior issues" if they were at the higher functioning end. We probably all remember that one kid in school who was a bit off...didn't look you in the face when he spoke, didn't really do what the class was doing, spoke in an odd tone or said the same thing over and over about one subject. These kids didn't get any special help and just sort of slipped through the grades. Now we know that more often than not, these were the kids that nowadays would be diagnoed with Asperger's or PDD (both forms of high functioning autism).

Schizophrenia is another disease we have seen on the rise and again, it is due to being able to diagnosis it at early ages and with greater accuracy. There are several other factors that can account for this increase, the main being that children now are maturing, physically, at a much faster rate than they had in the past. Many girls, for example, are getting their period before the age of 12. Schizophrenia, typically, emerged and was diagnosed in late adolescence/early adulthood. Since children are developing at an accelerated rate, diseases and issues triggered by certain developmental landmarks are occuring earlier as well.

Answer 2

There is definately an increase in the labelling of autism and while i agree with many of the reasons as to why that have been posted, either:

1) that there IS an actual increase in the disorder or
2) there is an increase in our knowledge therefore we are able to diagnose more acurately

However i think an important point to consider is that sometimes children are more easily LABELLED as autisic as this brings in funding for schools (UK perspective).

I know this sounds very cynical but having worked in a school some adults push for the diagnosis as there is help from the government available to help a child which would not be offered otherwise. The child may have learning diffculities but not neccessarily Autism.

For shizophrenia, i think its mainly a broadening of the definition and people being more aware of it. But again there is a willingness to label and catergorise people.

Answer 3

Good question! I've taken a class on Austism. We learned about a theory that the mercury in the thymerisol that was added to vaccinations bind with something (I forget now) in the brain of the infant child (who is "predisposed" to autism). The effect is neurotoxic. It is known that in the Amish community there are not very many reports of autism...and autism did not begin to be diagnosed until the 1960's...which is when it vaccinations became a law or whatever. Anyway...autism is not rare these days and it comes in many forms...otherwise known to fall across a "spectrum". Some people may not even be diagnosed, but have characteristics...these people may be the ones that have offspring who develop the characteristics to the point of being diagnosed. My answer is based off of the loose pieces of info I have from studying speech language pathology.

Answer 4

It is believed that autism affects 1 out of 166 children. There is no know cause of autism, but with early detection (usually around 2 yrs), the students can be easily mainstreamed into a classroom.

Go to www.autismspeaks.org

Answer 5

Twelve years ago, there was one autistic child for every 10,000.

The most recent data out of UK shows one autistic child for every 133.

That cannot just be through broadening identification parameters. Especially since those data sheets do not take into account adults who still have autism, or higher spectrum disorders (such as aspergers) or genetic disorders that mimic autism (such as Rett's Syndrome).


I have no idea on schizophrenia, sorry.

Answer 6

YES!!! by very large numbers.

currently I think the number is 1 in 166.

See the below recent article in Time magazine for some interesting reading on this topic

Answer 7

Many studies have shown that the increase in number of children with autism matches the decrease of cases in mental impairment, language disorders, and emotional impairments.

Answer 8

YES!!
it's either that or we are just more informed about the subject now and we are able to diagnose the problems better than we did in the past. i think that since we do know more people aren't as quick to just label you as dumb, stupid, or slow we know there's a reason for this kind of behavior.

Answer 9

I don't really think so, I think it is more that behaviors are more understood as autism or schizophrenia. Then a again, more people are using drugs, etc. so babies are being born with major health & mental problems.
HUH!! Good question....

Answer 10

yes there are, altho some children are terribly misdiagnosed. not sure about more schizo adolescents.