If so, then we won't have to worry about a prenatal test...

I don't think there are more. Professionals are just getting better at recognizing it, and the definition has expanded.

I'm curious why you don't think there would be a prenatal test otherwise.

My understanding is that more people on the spectrum have mating opportunities which couldn't have existed in times past.  With the advent of the internet and technology work environments, male Aspies are meeting female Aspies and falling in love.  From what I understand, in Silicon Valley there has been an autism epidemic in recent years which has strained public budgets.  In reality maybe it's a "spectrum baby boom" which warrents change or modifications to existing educational infrastructure.

No. There are just people out there who are mild on the spectrum so it seems like there are more kids with it. Back then they only diagnosed kids with it who had severe impairments. But once they started talking, they were seen as high functioning, even if they couldn't live a normal life and care for themselves.

Those were Baron Cohen`s thoughts also. On why there may be more Autists being born.

In the 1980`s and 1990`s, being a nerd / geek became hip. More women began taking notice of us quirky guys. And alot of those women were nerdy also. Similar people similar traits, breed and children with similar traits are born.

I believe I saw that in the July 29, 2011 publication of Time magazine, where Cohen had an interview.

In times past, female Aspies were probably more likely to pass on Asperger genes whereas most male Aspies never reproduced.  The paradigm was that male Aspies were generally unappealing to females and involuntary ended up living their adult lives solo and celibate.  On the other hand, Aspie females were easy for NT males to court; sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.  (Aspie females could easily be taken advantage of by unscroupolous males; and in relationships with NT males would be more vulnerable to abuse).  Simply put, Aspie males usually didn't have the chance to mix with Aspie females as the condition was unrecognized.  Instead Aspie males would work extra hard in order to look normal or be cool in order to impress females.  Coversely an Aspie female only had to be pretty to get the interest of men; but further on in relationships she might be considered a boor (not talkative; socially oriented) by some men; of course depending on the guy's disposition.  In my generation and before I think most Aspie guys missed opportunities in youth to mingle with more suitable potential partners.  My early 20's were spent really trying to meet a "special someone" while all my peers were getting married and I simply wasn't meeting anybody; or of the few bites I had when I liked somebody, I was not her type.

Why not?

Maybe the modern era is more conducive to geeky types finding each other and breeding, so there may be slightly more autistic babies being born.

But chances are that most of the "increase" in autism is due to a rise in awareness and a greater willingness to diagnose children and adults with autism. I've heard it said that autism these days is more of an umbrella than a spectrum, considering the variety of people considered to be autistic nowadays.

Not really, Autism is a wide sort of umbrella term, with different equally wide disorders, such as classic Autism and Asperger's, and professionals (as d_olson27 stated) are simply nowadays better at recognizing it, and the definition has expanded.

They've turned up evidence of diagnostic creep all across the spectrum.  They've looked at people who were evaluated under the DSM-III for autism and did not have it, but were otherwise disabled, according to then-current criteria, and evaluated them with DSM-IV-TR criteria, and found that more people fit the criteria and that it accounted for the gaps left by the people who might never have been diagnosed with anything at all before the fourth edition of the DSM.  

I thought the issue was settled before, but of course this'll never cinch it for the Autsqueaks religion.

I'm a diagnostic creep!  LOL

I was born Aspie, I've lived all my life Aspie, and I'll no doubt die Aspie.  But I wasn't diagnosed for a long time, and just got on with things as best I could.  You manage or you starve, so I managed.  
Alison

I don't think my Dad was nerdy... maybe my Mom was....

Not necessarily. Autistic Spectrum Disorders are simply being diagnosed more, as psychiatrists and psychologists are greater at detecting ASD in individuals than before, as well as criteria changes for the disorders over the years in the DSM, which caused more people to get diagnosed with the newer criteria add-ons. And the fact that there's a lot of over-diagnosis and misdiagnosis going on.

A lot of contributing factors, really.

I would say necessarily not.  I say we need at least another generation, maybe two, before we can begin wondering whether an increase in new diagnoses actually has to do with an increase in autism.

I think that really is no increase in the births of babies with autism. In my opinion, I believe that awareness of the signs of autism is much higher than it was thirty years ago that it seems magnified. Wasn't it the same way for Down's syndrome for a while in that when the pre-natal testing became available, it seemed a lot of babies had the disorder but in reality the number of cases remained the same?

Not to forget, either, that there are now more than 7 billion humans alive today.  With so many people, we've gotten more of all types.
Alison who wishes we could at least get rid of the bogans/chavs.

This post was last modified: 12-27-2012 02:15 PM by Alison.