Autism Epidemic

>From Slate:
http://www.slate.com/id/2157496/

the article discusses (and dismisses) the idea of an Autism Epidemic
and discusses the book, Unstrange Minds.

A quote from the article:
"I am incredibly disciplined in the diagnostic classifications in my
research," Judy Rapoport, a senior child psychiatrist at the National
Institutes of Health, tells Grinker, "but in my private practice, I'll
call a kid a zebra if it will get him the educational services I think
he needs."

The article basically points out that chances are, the rates of Autism
aren't really growing as much as they seem to be. Autism wasn't even a
term until the 40s. According to the the article, "Psychiatrists made
no real effort to systematically diagnose childhood mental illness,
Grinker writes, until 1980, when the American Psychiatric Association
published the third edition of its diagnostic manual."

Autism isn't like a newly discovered disease that is caused by a virus
that wasn't in our country before it was diagnosed, but the media sure
treats it like it is.

And I'm not a parent of a high functioning child, I'm the parent of a
low functioning child. It would be nice to think that there could be a
cause that can be reversed and prevented but I just don't swallow it.
It's not realistic. I could agree that environmental causes could be
factors that may increase the likelyhood of occurrence when there is
already a genetic predisposition. I also agree that environmental
factors could make symptoms worse. While I don't prescribe to some of
the diet solutions, and I don't really feel they would help my son (we
significantly reduced dairy intake, for example, with no noticeable
improvement, though schooling has left a noticeable improvement,
though since he doesn't need 6 cups of milk a day, we haven't
increased the dairy, since he's just as happy with water, most of the
time), I can see where they'd be helpful to someone that's sensitive.
I've also noticed Tristan seems better with whole wheat products. They
still have gluten in them, but they're healthier, and therefore he
feels better.

Now that I've gone off on a tangent, back to the article. It closes
with the following:
There's one more thing to be said for the cries of "epidemic"—they get
the research money flowing.

I have to agree with that notion. I'm just concerned that the cries of
epidemic are steering research money in the wrong direction.