Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network report. This report estimates how many autistic 8-year-olds there are in certain areas of the country. The report shows that better recognition of autism and continued efforts to reduce disparities in diagnosis among different groups have caused rates of diagnosis to continue to rise. This report comes at a time when the Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has portrayed the increase in the recognized number of autistic people as an “epidemic” and a “cataclysm.” This is a fundamental misrepresentation of everything we know about autism, including this report. This report is clear that the changes in diagnosis rate are explained by better access to screening and improved understanding of autism.
The report released today uses data gathered in 2022. This research reviewed records of 8-year-old children in 16 communities across the United States. The report released today shows that the rate of autism diagnosis has increased to 1 in 31 children or 3.2 percent of the children surveyed. This is an increase from earlier reports, which estimated that 1 in 36 children were diagnosed with autism.
ASAN is not surprised to see the diagnosis rate increase. We believe, as the report explains, this increase reflects better recognition and diagnosis of autism across the U.S. We know that many disparities in diagnosis have become...
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