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Only 45 percent of the highest functioning autistic people in the study would meet proposed criteria for diagnosis
Proposed changes in the definition of autism would sharply reduce the skyrocketing rate at which the disorder is diagnosed and may make it harder for many people who would no longer meet the criteria to get health, educational and social services, a new analysis suggests.
The definition is under review by an expert panel appointed by the American Psychiatric Association, which is completing work on the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The D.S.M, as the manual is known, is the standard reference for mental disorders, driving research, treatment and insurance decisions.
The study results, presented on Thursday at a meeting of the Icelandic Medical Association, are still preliminary, but they offer the latest and most dramatic estimate of how tightening the criteria for autism could affect the rate of diagnosis. Rates of autism and related disorders like Asperger syndrome have taken off since the early 1980s, to prevalence rates as high as one in 100 children in some places. Many researchers suspect that these numbers are inflated because of vagueness in the current criteria.
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Experts working on the new definition strongly questioned the new estimate. I dont know how theyre getting those numbers, said Catherine Lord, a member of the task force working on the diagnosis. ........
Disagreement about the effect of the new definition will almost certainly increase scrutiny of the finer points of the psychiatric associations changes to the manual The revisions are about 90 percent complete and will be final by December, according to Dr. David J. Kupfer, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh and chairman of the task force making the revisions.
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Mark Roithmayr, president of Autism Speaks, an advocacy organization, said that the proposed diagnosis should bring needed clarity but that the effect on services was not yet clear. We need to carefully monitor the impact of these diagnostic changes on access to services and ensure that no one is being denied the services they need, Mr. Roithmayr said by e-mail. Some treatments and services are driven solely by a persons diagnosis, while other services may depend on other criteria such as age, I.Q. level or medical history.
More at link....
Only 45 percent of the highest functioning autistic people in the study would meet proposed criteria for diagnosis
Proposed changes in the definition of autism would sharply reduce the skyrocketing rate at which the disorder is diagnosed and may make it harder for many people who would no longer meet the criteria to get health, educational and social services, a new analysis suggests.
The definition is under review by an expert panel appointed by the American Psychiatric Association, which is completing work on the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The D.S.M, as the manual is known, is the standard reference for mental disorders, driving research, treatment and insurance decisions.
The study results, presented on Thursday at a meeting of the Icelandic Medical Association, are still preliminary, but they offer the latest and most dramatic estimate of how tightening the criteria for autism could affect the rate of diagnosis. Rates of autism and related disorders like Asperger syndrome have taken off since the early 1980s, to prevalence rates as high as one in 100 children in some places. Many researchers suspect that these numbers are inflated because of vagueness in the current criteria.
-----
Experts working on the new definition strongly questioned the new estimate. I dont know how theyre getting those numbers, said Catherine Lord, a member of the task force working on the diagnosis. ........
Disagreement about the effect of the new definition will almost certainly increase scrutiny of the finer points of the psychiatric associations changes to the manual The revisions are about 90 percent complete and will be final by December, according to Dr. David J. Kupfer, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh and chairman of the task force making the revisions.
------
Mark Roithmayr, president of Autism Speaks, an advocacy organization, said that the proposed diagnosis should bring needed clarity but that the effect on services was not yet clear. We need to carefully monitor the impact of these diagnostic changes on access to services and ensure that no one is being denied the services they need, Mr. Roithmayr said by e-mail. Some treatments and services are driven solely by a persons diagnosis, while other services may depend on other criteria such as age, I.Q. level or medical history.
More at link....
