One in 68 boys and one in 189 girls are diagnosed with autism in America. This means that in our school, potentially 28 boys and 10 girls have autism. As a junior in high school I was able to read many articles about Autism and over diagnosing. There could be many people at your school who have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and you would not know. I will be talking about what Autism is, if there is an issue of over diagnosing ASD, and the reasons why people believe there is over diagnosing.
Autism, also known as ASD, is a mental condition that is acknowledged in early childhood to adult years. In the article called What is Autism it says that ASD is characterized in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors. People touched by autism may excel in visual skills, music, math, and art while they will have troubles with motor coordination, being able to pay attention, and physical health issues. ASD causes some drawbacks in a …show more content…
With more education brought change to the criteria for diagnosing autism. According the article Diagnostic Substitution Drives Autism Spike by Jo Craven McGinty, it says that the change of criteria increased the ASD rate by 60%. Also, children who may have been diagnosed for something in the past are actually autistic. This shows that with new education on the disability we are able to accurately notice the signs of autism. Lastly, now we have a better idea of what causes autism. In the article Nature or Nurture by David Templeton, it explains how scientists have discovered that gene mutations play a large role in the development of ASD. In addition to genes, the environment the baby is in before or during birth can affect their chances of the disease. Between genes and environment, we are closer to discovering the true cause of