Adult Autism Prevalence

I was reading an article yesterday published by the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK about the prevalence of autism amongst adults.

The reserach found that 1 in 10 adults were affected by the condition - the same as children. The report seemed to imply that this was a major finding!

I am always sceptical of these type of surveys. The sample is always small and I am not sure that they are of sufficient size to be statistically robust.

What I am convinced of though is that there are more people afflicted by the condition that was once thought. What I find more convincing is the assertion that I read in a new book yesterday about Asperger syndrome (AS) that there are grey areas where it crosses over with other developmental disorders like ADD.

I am going to review the book for more next newsletter. Already it has thrown up some interesting points about the last point, something which I have always thought to be the case.

According to a teacher friend of mine, a few years back everything was being put down to Dxyslexia; today it is Asperger syndrome.

I think that there is some merit in that. There is a danger that AS is a label that is too widely applied.

What I do think is correct, and which the report also pointed out, is that there are too few services for adults on the autistic spectrum and this is a situation that needs to be urgently rectified.