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I'm not sure if epidemic is the correct word to use here, because it seems to infer some sort of contagious bacteria is at the root; but the fact that 1 in every 150 children are currently being diagnosed with autism certainly means there is quite an increase...something like an explosion, one might say.

Some professionals are arguing that the reason that the numbers have increased is because the diagnostic criteria has changed in the past 10-15 years. In other words, children that might have once been diagnosed with a learning disability or some form of retardation are now being labeled as autistic. However, if that were the reality, as the number of cases of autism go up, we should concurrently see the numbers of cases of retardation and learning disabilities go down. Unfortunately, that is just not happening. Just as many children, if not more, are being diagnosed with learning disabilites as in the past, at the same time that autism numbers go up as well. Ask any classroom teacher who has been in the field for the past 15 years to describe her experience. She will tell you that never before has she seen so many children with autistic issues.

I am a teacher and also a parent of a child with autism. From a professional perspective I will tell you that my son's behaviors and deficits would never have been confused with a simple learning disability or mental retardation in the past. I find it hard to believe that doctors were only wise enough in the last few years to start properly labeling these kids. There are simply too many of these affected children to have just slipped through the cracks for all these years.

In my opinion, it is irresponsible to not take this insane increase in autism seriously. The government needs to be alarmed enough to put big bucks into finding out the cause and preventing another generation from living this nightmare. We owe it to these children.

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