General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Guess the number of comments @ NJ.COM on "Autism continues to climb, with NJ rates now the highest" [View all]hollysmom
(5,946 posts)But on the other hand, some say it could have to do with the diagnosis. More may be diagnosed with autism rather than other things, before I heard that word long ago as a child , I knew a family with "retarded" children, there was not specific diagnosis. I asked as I got older what was specifically wrong with these children. The parents could not tell me. We were brought over to play with these children, but they would not look at us or talk to us or even acknowledge we were there. This ended after several tries.
Fast forward to when I physically collapse at work from extreme stress (the job from hell, turns out everyone in the same job was either put on tranquilizers or was treated from severe stress - not just me)) . The doctors would not approve me going back to work until a psychiatrist approved that I could cope, so I had several sessions which culminated in the doctor declaring she thought I had either an extreme cases of ADHD or a mild case of Aspergers - she wanted me to be tested to find out which, she thought it was more likely to be Aspergers. My attitude is I was 56, too late. Not interested in a diagnosis or medication at that point. So I just wonder if the diagnosis is more common in NJ.