“As awareness has grown, what we also see is a greater understanding of autism, both by parents and the medical profession, and considerable public and private dollars are spent to educate that first-line medical staff…to better screen and identify those children earlier so that we can start working with those children before they’re five years old,” Finkler said.
While not sufficient, an increase in autism funding, as well as increases in autism awareness and education, have led to more children receiving autism diagnoses, and at a younger age.
Finkler said that the number of children with “classic autism” has likely remained relatively steady, and that increased diagnoses estimates include many children with Asperger’s or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS)—both of which fall under the autism umbrella.
With these increased diagnoses comes a bigger push for public school programs to effectively educate students with autism, whether they are able to remain in a general education classroom or require more specialized instruction.
A move to reclassify and redefine autism in the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) recommends “a new category called autism spectrum disorder which would incorporate several previously separate diagnoses, including autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified,” according to an APA statement.
The DSM guides diagnoses all APA-recognized disorders, and the fifth version, set for release in mid-May 2013, would reduce the number of autism-related categories and pulls previously separate disorders, such as Asperger’s, under a more general autism spectrum disorder umbrella, which would be considered a global diagnosis with varying stages of severity, interventions, and support.
The DSM-5 also shows a significant change in diagnostic criteria, which is meant to better describe the areas of deficit that are associated with an autism diagnosis, Finkler said.
(Next page: The new DSM-5 guidelines)
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