After several years of debate, the American Psychological Association has approved the new version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the guidelines used to diagnose psychiatric disorders.
Draft diagnostic guidelines are raising concerns that mild forms of the disorder may no longer be recognized.
A survey of health and education professionals finds that about half of them object to the proposed changes in the diagnostic criteria for autism.
We now know that people with autism have a much broader range of language ability than previously thought. How can we measure subtle language deficits in this group?
We are on the verge of a seismic shift in the definition of autism spectrum disorders, says David Skuse. Under proposed guidelines for autism diagnosis, the canard that most people with the disorder cannot speak, or have such disordered language that they cannot sustain a conversation, has been abandoned.
About 30 percent of children with autism have symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but under current diagnostic guidelines they can only be diagnosed with one or the other. That’s about to change.
Which test a clinician uses to diagnose a child with autism may determine whether that child meets the criteria proposed in the newest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
The proposed changes to the diagnostic criteria for autism are unlikely to exclude many people currently diagnosed with Asperger syndrome or pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified, according to a large analysis published today in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
About one in three children with autism abruptly lose language, social or other developmental skills in their second year of life, according to a meta-analysis published 2 August in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
New analysis of an in-depth study of autism rates in Utah in the 1980s highlights how changing diagnostic guidelines may be contributing to the rise in prevalence.