When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the government’s new autism findings, he painted a grim and highly controversial picture: Not only was autism becoming more prevalent, he said, but “most cases now are severe.”
The notion that severe symptoms are becoming more common isn’t substantiated by scientific evidence. Rather, new research being announced this week at the annual meeting of the International Society for Autism Research in Seattle suggests that the share of autism cases with moderate or significant symptoms remained relatively consistent from 2000 to 2016.
The new research … found that only mild cases rose from 2000 to 2016. … Researchers largely attribute the rise in autism diagnoses to more widespread screening and the inclusion of a wider range of behaviors to describe the condition. Historically, the definition of autism included moderate to severe intellectual disabilities. Today doctors recognize that the most severe forms account for only about 25% of cases.
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