Jackson Jambalaya

And I'm remembering your comment KF, that parents who let their children play games on their iPhones are causing ADHD and ADD.

So which is it?

Autism is an entirely different thing. If you had a family member with this maybe you'd be less testy.

I'm talking about computer programs used to help disabled communicate. Not letting a kid spend all of his time on video games that affect the way his brain works.

I can pull the actual stats if needed but autism was rare per births in 1968. 1 in over a 1000. Now it is 1 in just over a hundred.

Those average vary dramatically from state to state.

Mississippi is one of the lower state rates with 1 in just over 350

The statistics beg the question of why we are not trying to determine what factors exist in a state with a high incidence in a state with a low incidence.

Neither population growth nor genetic probabilities explain the dramatic increase.

While finding ways to help autistic children is not unimportant, we have an epidemic we aren't adequately addressing.

Are we going to wait until the number is 1 in 50 births or 1 in 25 births to consider this a priority?

10:45; serious question; How is it possible that autism at birth respects state lines? I haven't done any research, but do you have other stats, such as the incidence among border states saturated with anchor births or whether the numbers might be affected by pre-natal meds or does the incidence of alcohol consumption among fathers contribute? From the numbers, it looks as if your suggestion of 1 in 50 might not be far off in our future.

IIRC I saw some data years ago that showed a strong correlation between the rates of diagnosed autism (or "autism spectrum disorder") and the then-recent availability of special-ed funds available solely for the treatment of autism. Most of the diagnoses were made by school districts at that time.

If the definition of autism changed that may explain the "epidemic".

The low incidence of diagnosed autism in Mississippi may be due to decreased availability of specialized medical care, or a decreased interest in, or ability to, getting to Jackson for a diagnosis. I saw a family once that just could not understand that it was not normal that their five-year-old could not put two words together to make a phrase. Apparently that was not unusual in their family, and they saw nothing amiss.

Shadow, you need to look at the incident rates.

The state with the highest rate per capita is Minnesota. Do you actually believe they have more resources including special ed funds than New York or California or Arizona or Texas?

You are assuming there are no parents in denial in other states.

Our incident rate may indeed be higher than stated in MS, but if ignorance and denial is the reason state rates are different, we should know that.

If autism is genetic, we have the ability to know that as well.

However, since autism has always been symptomatically dramatic, the increase is not thought to be explained by improved diagnosis. Parents may not have reported but teachers and doctors did in early research.

Also, I know of autism in two families where the families have generations of medical history and no incidence of autism recorded. Every male and female is documented to have married and functioned via family records. Those with an autistic child and the access to family history care enough to look. But, that doesn't mean autistic children weren't among the ones that died of measles etc!

We need to know what the hell is going on! Our anecdotal knowledge...yours or mine...isn't good enough.