WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderRise in autism rates could be misleading

Rise in autism rates could be misleading

By Jeannie Hayes

The number of kids with autism could be much higher than doctors thought, but that doesn't necessarily mean the condition is more common than before.

For years, the standard number we've always heard is that autism affects one in every 150 kids.  However, two new studies put that number at one in 100.  Now the question is whether more children have it, or if more cases are just being diagnosed.

"You can do and accomplish a lot more, obviously, the earlier you start," said Jacque Ruch, who is now Program Manager at the Easter Seals Autism Therapeutic School in Rockford.  "My son, we started at 12 to 13 months, and got diagnosed at 6 years old."  That was eight years ago.  Now Ruch says she sees a huge improvement as doctors work to spot autism more quickly.

"It has come such a long way, especially if you look at early intervention and early childhood programs, and it's so important for these kids to be diagnosed early," she said.

Some say that improvement could account for the change in statistics.  Clinical Psychologist Dr. Erin Wade says it's pretty obvious that kids weren't always diagnosed in the past.  "We're finding that adults have rates very similar to the children that we're now diagnosing.  It's most likely the case that we just weren't seeing it before."

As doctors get better at seeing it, Dr. Wade says the treatment also improves.  "In the past decade or so, we've gotten much much better at recognizing specifically what autism looks like, and what's going to be helpful for kids with the disorder."

Even though experts at the Easter Seals school say it's most likely that more kids are just diagnosed, that is still up for debate. The National Institute of Mental Health still wants to try to figure out if there's a true increase in the numbers.