Autism, and Detecting Symptoms on the "Spectrum"

The prevalence of young kids with symptoms on the "Spectrum",
depends heavily on whether an area has medical services (and especially
medical insurance) that allows parents to test their kids for one of the many
symptoms of autism.

"Research has not demonstrated that living in certain communities puts children at greater risk for developing ASD. Differences in the prevalence of children identified with ASD across communities might be due to differences in availability of services for early detection and evaluation and diagnostic practices. For example, California has had the highest prevalence among children aged 4 years and 8 years since joining the ADDM Network in 2018 (6,10,11,13) and has a local initiative (the Get SET Early model). As part of the initiative, hundreds of local pediatricians have been trained to screen and refer children for assessment as early as possible, which could result in higher identification of ASD, especially at early ages (17). In addition, California has regional centers throughout the state that provide evaluations and service coordination for persons with disabilities and their families (https://www.dds.ca.gov). Another reason for differences in prevalence could be whether children have insurance coverage or meet eligibility criteria for access to early intervention services. Pennsylvania, the site with second highest prevalence among children aged 8 years, has state Medicaid policy that includes children with physical, developmental, mental health, or intellectual disabilities regardless of parents’ income (18)."

(The Spectrum" of symptoms is referred to as ASD, by medical professionals.)

"Despite the variability in ASD prevalence across sites, a consistent pattern was observed of higher estimated ASD prevalence among A/PI, Black, Hispanic, and multiracial children than among White children across sites in 2022. This pattern was first observed among children aged 8 years in 2020 (6) and among children aged 4 years in 2018 (10) and contrasts with earlier ADDM findings that indicated the highest ASD prevalence was among White children compared with other groups (7).

Similarly, a previously reported pattern of higher ASD prevalence among children in higher SES neighborhoods from 2002 through 2010 (7) was last observed for one ADDM site in 2018 (13). The opposite pattern, higher ASD prevalence associated with low MHI, or no association of ASD prevalence with MHI, has been reported for other sites and overall from 2018 through 2022 (6,13). Use of SVI adds additional socioeconomic and community information (15) and similarly to MHI, higher ASD prevalence has not been associated with lower vulnerability at the site level and overall in 2020 (22) and 2022. Similar findings have been reported from the National Health Interview Survey, California Department of Developmental Services, and the England Spring School Census in recent years (23–25).

The reversal of these patterns in prevalence by race and ethnicity and SES is consistent with increased access to and provision of identification services among previously underserved groups. However, in a report examining ADDM Network data from 2020, higher MHI was still associated with higher ASD prevalence among A/PI, Black, and Hispanic children but not White children when stratified by both race and MHI, suggesting continued need for more equitable ASD identification (22). The low ASD prevalence observed in 2022 for both Texas sites, which included primarily Hispanic and lower MHI communities, could reflect this finding and suggest lack of access or barriers to accessing identification services."

Lest some people may grab onto the conspiracy theory that non-whites are
somehow, inferior, and THAT is the reason for higher rates of "autism", the
studies show that this prevalence is due to the lack of access to higher
quality health care.

"ASD prevalence was consistently higher among boys than among girls across sites in 2022. Male-to-female prevalence ratios among children aged 8 years have narrowed in recent years from 4.2 in 2018 to 3.8 in 2020 to 3.4 in 2022 (6,13), but the decreasing prevalence ratio could be deceiving if interpreted as improvement in identification of girls with ASD. The difference in prevalence between boys and girls widened per 1,000 children from 27.7 in 2018 to 31.7 in 2020 to 34.9 in 2022."

*** NOTE THAT the ASD "Spectrum" is NOT the only measure of behavior, or difficulty in
communication. The list of common behaviors among PSYCHOPATHS, is fascinating,
and involves males MUCH MORE THAN FEMALES. (Besides reading this article carefully,
TRY READING THE CAREFULLY RESEARCHED BOOK "Columbine", about the shooters
who carried out the school shooting at Columbine High School.

---------- ----------

The carefully controlled studies referred to in this article, do not fit the
ridiculous conspiracy theory stories that vaccinations CAUSE autism.

The tendency of some people, including some Christians, to believe the
simplistic conspiracy theory that "vaccines cause autism, is due to mental
laziness. (Try reading theough the thread on Conspiracy Theories and
Wikipedia.)

Just as the internet hothouse discussion groups that discuss the Columbine
High School shooters' motivations, GOT ALMOST ALL OF THEM WRONG,
so too, the conspiracy theories about the cause of autism GET ALMOST
EVERYTHING WRONG.
---------- ----------


While Christians may think that they have the "right" to believe whatever
they want (this is just a result of free will), they should NEVER confuse that
ability to choose, with their own MORAL-ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY for
what they choose to believe.

We are all MORALLY-ETHICALLY RESPONSIBLE for what we choose to
believe.

This article documents that the conspiracy theory that vaccines
cause autism, are accompanied by decades-long controlled scientific
studies that show no causation.

So, why are more Americans believing this conspiracy theory, that vaccines
cause autism?

johansen said:

Because there are so many people who see marked changes in their children immediatly after vaccines administered.

Without a control group, such as several thousand children not given vaccinations until age 6 and under careful observation, we are not going to have an answer.

Bad news travels faster than good news.

Click to expand...

"Controlled scientific studies" involve double-blind groups.

That is both the vaccine OR a placebo are given to all participants.
Then, all participants are "observed" by those show are medically trained
to observe for specific symptoms.

Your formulation of a "control group" is not double-blind.
And parents who are observing their children, rarely qualify as
medically trained observers.

Your example does not meet the scientific requirements of a controlled
study.
---------- ----------

Although talking about scientifically controlled studies, and professional
"observation" is a narrow subject, the larger context is HOW a supposition
should be tested, by Christians, to establish if it is TRUE, or demonstrably FALSE,
or still unknowable (in a specific situation, with a given group of data).

This question of how a supposition or opinion may be verified as being
TRUE or FALSE, lies squarely in the philosophical discipline of Epistemology.
SO, it is proper to connect Christians who do NOT know how to test a
proposition, to see if it is TRUE, to a group of people who do not have the
ability to do complex problem-solving. (I assert that THIS is the core question
in the current debte over what "causes" autism.)

** As I have mentioned, there is a great difference between correlation,
and causation. This is a topic which, unfortunately, is not given enough
emphasis by those who are teaching courses in formal (deductive) logic.

For 2PhiloVoid...

Your latest post includes multiple topics.

Regarding your comments on a philosophical worldview (you were clear that
you did not want anyone to push THEIR worldview on you), I have always held
the position that Christians SHOULD get involved in debating the "philosophical
primitives". AND, I have rejected philosophical worldviews that were logically
incoherent, and openly said that Christians should not hold these worldviews.

BUT, when I argue moral-ethical ought, (which DOES impact our individual
worldview), I argue this from the overall picture of "our shared reality" that the
Scriptures present to us. What the Scriptures present, IS morally-ethically
binding on all the worldviews that ALL Christians may happen to hold.

I have no wish to push a specific worldview on any other Christian. And I
do not build my "philosophical worldview" on my personal preferences.

As this article brings out, there are a lot of strong beliefs about
autism, and some of them are not politely presented, publicly.

BUT, for Christians, parents should know that the "spectrum" of symptoms
associated with autism are complex, and need a lot more research. And this,
at a time when the current administration is bent on slashing research funds,
and heavily de-emphasizing the careful research that American medical
research institutions HAVE DONE.

Much of the resaerch that anti-vaccine parents point to is either
word-of-mouth, or does not meet the rigor of double-blind medical
studies. These types of arguments, do not seem to basically
understand what the modern scientific methodology is (I would
describe this lack of understanding a different way, but my association
of this lack of modern science, and the way I associate it with a dysfunctional
form of Epistemology has been deemed by monitors on this site as being
unacceptable).

We DO need more research on autism. But pursuing poorly designed studies
that do not follow the rigorous medical methodology of double-blind studies,
is NOT the answer.