Why Are Autism Diagnoses On the Rise?

Bella Breakdown

With more knowledge than ever before on mental health and disease prevention, it appears that autism diagnoses are now more common. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) recently reported that the reported rates of autism are rising. The CDC has now released what they believe to be the answer to this question, though it is not entirely certain.

The number of eight-year-olds across the country, in diverse communities, who could have been diagnosed with autism in 2014 was around 1 in 59. That yields around about a .2% increase since the last estimate. But, the CDC says that it may simply be due to the fact that there is now better and more thorough identification and reporting. This means that the number of kids with autism may still be relatively the same, we just have better methods of diagnosing and recording now than we did in the past. But, some groups argue that autism prevalence is now higher among a broader age range of kids.