Autism-1 in 50. Better Diagnosis or something else?

Reports of autism cases per 1,000 children grew dramatically in the US from 1996 to 2007..and are still continuing to rise..1 in 50 now.

I’m sure you have heard the news by now, the Autism rates have skyrocketed to 1 in 50! Most of the reports and media outlets are saying there aren’t really more children with Autism, it’s that doctors are doing a better job diagnosing people. I have to say it, I just don’t buy that and neither do most of the people I know in the autism community. What I would LOVE to see is the statistics on how many more children are in special needs classes and therapy. If it’s better diagnosis then the numbers wouldn’t have changed much..but if it’s as I suspect, the numbers have skyrocketed right along with the autism rates. When I was in school there were VERY few children with special needs. I can’t even count how many are at my son’s school…but if they ever did run those statistics they’d just say more parents were taking their kids to therapy. Sigh.