Is autism overdiagnosed?

It can be: I have several kids in my practice that carried the ASD (autism spectrum disorder) label while young were really just late talkers and have gone on to function well. Part of the difficulty is created by the lack of a definitive test (like a broken leg on x ray) and the need schools have to label a child in some way to justify the special tutoring or instruction they receive.

Not at all: Most recent published data 1/88 kids 1/254 girls 1/54 boys.

In the middle: By definition, symptoms of autism appear before age 3. Some toddlers with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders or with mood/behavior problems & strong family history of bipolar disorder exhibit autistic behaviors at that age that do not persist.I've also seen older children previously diagnosed with asperger's syndrome who actually have primary mental illness. Monitoring development over time is key.

ILL vs error?: The facts are that autism diagnosis is up 78 percent from 2002 and 23 percent from 2006 - a very big deal. However, lets think about whether this is because we can detect more kids with autism or whether more illness exists today. Highly recommend the article below on this question. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/2012/autism-prevalence-more-affected-or-more-detected.shtml.

Yes and no: We are better able to recognize it earlier on and so the numbers are on the rise. Here is an overview of one version of the spectrum. http://youtu.be/xg1ngp1ngds.

Autism: No! it's underdiagnosed. Find a psychologist who knows the ados and can complete a thorough developmental evaluation. Here is dr. Barcott who does these early evals. http://youtu.be/yclcpo-siis.