From the Associated Press, on CNBC:

Many experts believe that unsocial behaviors among children today are just about as common as they were years ago, but say that the recent explosion of autism diagnoses appear to be caused by a surge in special education services for autistic children.

“The truth is there’s a powerful incentive for physicians and schools to classify children in a way that gets services,” said Dr. Edwin Trevathan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

… Even in the early 1980s, some parents were more comfortable with a diagnosis of mental retardation than autism, said Trevathan, director of the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.

Today, parents are more likely to cringe at a diagnosis of mental retardation, which is sometimes equated to a feeble-mindedness and may obscure a child’s potential.

And increasingly, professionals frown at the term: The special education journal Mental Retardation this year changed its name to Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities.
The editor said that “mentally retarded” is becoming passe and demeaning, much like the terms idiot, imbecile and moron _ once used by doctors to describe varying degrees of mental retardation.

In contrast, autism has become culturally acceptable _ and a ticket to a larger range of school services and accommodations.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 3rd, 2007 at 4:26 pm and is filed under autism, intellectual/developmental disabilities, public attitudes, special education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post