Why are SOO many kids on spectrum now???

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The reason is because there's a lot more awareness these days, than there was, many years ago.

I should also add I don't entirely see this as a bad thing. The kids nearby are great people. We love having them in our lives. It's more that I just wonder at the prevalence.

I'm guessing more awareness - I've seen a few articles where many adults are being diagnosed with Asperger's because it's been overlooked before when they were growing up.

Another thing to consider is genetics, as time goes on, well, with... "breeding", we'd multiply. Basically...

Hehe... An Aspie invasion! Where do you live. Imma move there.

Seriously though, everyone else is right: Back in my youth, there was no such word ever issued in my presence. I started hearing little bits and pieces about Autism only about five or ten years ago, in any context other than [insert image of drooling child]. [Add image of Rain-Man].

What make anyone think that autism/asperger's is being over-diagnosed? I've never known a person to have it, not counting the one's that have it and don't say anything about it.

On my street in Depew, New York right around the corner from my street they blocked off a large portion of the street between these two streets because of lead. They have also found lead and other toxic wastes two miles from us down the road.. They also had to strip off a foot of top soil from a several acre block of land due to toxic wastes that leeched into the soil. I also live very close to a water treatment plant that is conected to a creek on the street behind us. There was three other kids on my street that were in special education with me. My teachers did not find that odd.

I honestly wish the Dx existed well before 2000. In the mid-80s, I had autistic tendencies, but not the normal Dx criteria at the time for it, so they thought I just had childhood depression . . . which also didn't fit. I agree that it's not so much that more are getting diagnosed with it, but more like our awareness of the "spectrum" has improved so that people are getting the right kind of help. Given that Autism can range from mild to severe (like many forms of syndromes /disorders), it's good to know that the guidelines have become more blurred and encompassing rather than overly rigid. Now it's more like if you meet 50% of the criteria, chances are you have a mild condition and can therefore get the help needed. Chances are, the 1/150 ration they have been talking about lately has always been there, we're just now realizing how common it really is.

Perhaps the social demanding are higher today, then the social strangeness becomes more visible.

You may have something there, actually. My son seemed slightly odd when younger but nothing major when interacting with adults. That is why many didn't see it. If he had been working on a farm or something growing up and/or in a small school, he might have been able to hide more. It's in overwhelming social situations - malls, crowded libraries, busy school lunchrooms, recess situations with lots of kids that these behaviors became apparent.

The only thing an adult would see is that he was a "close-talker" and when he was younger tended to go on and on about things. Oh and the fact that he tended to see a 2-year old as not being much different from an adult in his interactions.

Why are SOO many kids on spectrum now???[Quote]
3 reasons
#1 Doctors and parents have gotten smarter
#2 Autism awareness by books, internet, media, etc.
#3 Ever since they first used the term Asperger Syndrome in the 1980's and classed it as an ASD in 1994, slowly but surely more people are starting to identify their kids on the spectrum.

I think the mindset that it's been this way all along and it's just now being diagnosed is a bit dangerous. I had to cut a friend out of my life who believed that there was truly nothing wrong with my daughter that good old fashioned discipline wouldn't correct. I just find it very hard to believe that kids were displaying the level of differences that they are now back then and everyone was ignoring it. My brother, who has AS was diagnosed by the school as mentally ret*d and put in special ed in 1978 and they said he would never read. Now he is very high functioning with a good job, doing what he is good at (industrial design) with a family. It didn't come easily and he still struggles but he has proven all of them wrong.

It's the ADHD phenomenon that has led us to think that there can't actually be this true increase in the numbers. But something is truly going on. My daughter licks and chews everything (at 7 years old) and it's hard for me to believe that would have been "ignored" 30 years ago. Not to mention her social anxiety and how severe it is, and there's no conditioning that will change that.

30 years ago we didn't have microwaves, computers or cell phones or as much tv usage, not to mention the food additives we have today and genetically engineered foods. I think we are going to find out one or all of these in combination with a genetic predisposition is at fault for the massive increases in numbers.