Autism Diagnosis Is Expanding — At a Cost

Autism may be overdiagnosed — and, Liao and Fombonne argue, that children with the greatest needs may be paying the price.

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The rise in autism prevalence includes overdiagnosis due to diagnostic substitution and stretched boundaries by clinicians.
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Nearly half of children diagnosed with autism in the community do not meet criteria upon reevaluation by research teams.
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The prevalence of concurrent intellectual disability in autism has decreased from 70% to 30% over four decades.
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Widening autism diagnostic boundaries may divert resources from children with significant challenges to those with milder presentations.
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The diagnostic process needs to better distinguish autism from co-occurring conditions and nonspecific behavioral features.

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