06/24/2026
Over Diagnosis or Increased Toxic Load?
This article published by Children's Health Defense discusses studies suggesting that our current rate of Autism, currently 1:38 children, are being over diagnosed, while other studies suggest it is a marked increase in toxic load that may correlate to the increased vaccination schedule as well as other environmental toxins that we are exposed to.
In my practice as an Autism Specialist, consulting with school personnel and families, providing trainings and performing educational evaluations, I can draw some light on these things.
When I first began consulting in 2018, I was working for an educational service district in Oregon. That particular year, the state had changed the eligibility requirements for Autism. I recall there being a large concern over the criteria excluding, NOT including, more students with Autism. The fear was that many of the students with what used to be known as Aspergers Disorder would no longer qualify. This is interesting to me because the article discusses the notion that increased diagnosis may be a contributor to our rise of Autism. This is based on the notion that the requirements have become more broad. However, the criteria we began using in 2018 for our educational eligibility requirements were closely tied to that of the requirements in the DSM-V. These requirements are actually not broad at all, and are very specific. In the educational world, we also have the ability to make a child eligibility for Autism without a medical diagnosis, if they fit the eligibility criteria. The broadness-comes from lack of understanding and ability to differentiate diagnosis.
It gets tricky as each state has different educational eligibility criteria. Some regularly update the criteria to match the DSM; however others, like Florida, continue to have very outdated criteria (I believe last update was in 2011, but documentation on the DOE site is hard to find-which should be easily accessible to everyone, including parents, but I digress). The struggle with this is that in Florida, School Psychologists can actually diagnose. Generally, in the school setting they are supposed to only educational make eligible, however, when doctors are given evaluation results indicating a child has Autism from a school psychologist, they generally agree and a formal medical diagnosis is possible. This is scary. I have experienced it as a parent and as an evaluator. The doctor literally asked me what I thought. I told him what I thought. The doctor gave the diagnosis. A pediatrician, diagnosed a psychiatric disorder. Scary. If a school eligibility criteria is incredibly broad, like Florida's, children can be diagnosed with Autism despite not actually meeting the DSM diagnostic criteria. And now, we have students diagnosed with Autism who really do not have Autism. Its happening all over Florida.
Why? How?
-Educational eligibility criteria doesn't match diagnostic criteria, and is very outdated, making educational eligibility requirements too broad.
-Training regarding Autism is limited and the training that is provided is significantly out of date. Especially for those evaluating.
-Evaluation tools are also inaccurately used and often misinterpret a students true diagnosis. Differentiated diagnosis is not considered. I have had clients come to me with 20+ diagnosis. To me, this is a clear indicator that the evaluator(s) have not ability to differentiate diagnosis and training in this is desperately needed. (Discussion for another time)
So now that we can understand a reason or cause of over diagnosis, we can address the second concept of, and possible contributor, toxic overload.
Again, in my practice as both a Special Educator and an Autism Specialist, I have heard stories and been privy to information about clients from birth to their present age. I have conducted tons of parent interviews on the pregnancies, births and development of my clients. Patterns exist. As a person who works in an industry of collecting frequent behavior data and finding behavioral patterns, interview information also presents patterns. As you begin to see these patterns, you get better at that differentiated diagnosis and are better able to tease out Autism characteristics vs other things that might be going on. Family histories play a part in this and are critical in this evaluation process-whether educational or medical.
Here are some patterns I have found in my clients with Autism based on parent interview data:
-Mothers indicate a marked difference in their baby between 2-4 months of age-no longer cooing, blankness in their eyes, no more smiling, increased fussiness or crying, colic to name a few
-Mother's indicate dietary changes required between 4-6 months of age-mother's who are breastfeeding must radically change their diet; or infants on formula have to have a special formula; I have also seen increased doctor advise to begin feeding solids starting around 4-6 months of age (I definitely have opinions on this-Discussion for a later time)
-Other marked patterns include: No babbling; no crawling (often rolling, army crawling, or moving straight to walking); delayed walking (more than 14 months of age); increased interests in unusual things or perseveration on specific things; sensory sensitivities
Many of these things can be attributed to disintegration of primitive reflexes and/or brain inflammation. What causes brain inflammation? Disruptions to the blood brain barrier. How does this happen? Gut issues. Gut issues equal brain issues equals psychiatric, neurologic, musculoskeletal and other issues. It becomes a cyclical pattern if not disrupted. Symptoms worsen, inflammation increases, more issues arise-primitive reflexes become disintegrated and the cycle continues.
Our food, our vaccinations, our environment all play an impact on the toxins entering our bodies and affect our organs, our gut, and eventually our brain. This is why we see regressive Autism. This is also why we see vaccine injuries that occur over time and not always immediately. Our bodies can handle a little toxicity. It is the overload that gets us. Our genetics help with this process. I have heard a lot about the MTHFR gene in recent years. I'm sure you have too. I really had limited understanding of this gene until more recently. This gene is responsible for our bodies detoxification. If our bodies are unable to detox because of mutations of this gene, we can be more susceptible to toxic overload sooner than others, including our own siblings.
So genetics, environment, toxins through vaccinations, food, drink, etc-they all likely play a role and more than likely contribute to the worsening of symptoms whether Autism specific or things like ADHD, depression, anxiety, and other cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer's, etc.
Over diagnosis or Increased toxic load?
I vote for a combination of both. What's your vote?
A new study in JAMA Psychiatry suggests rising rates of autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses are likely driven by broadening diagnostic criteria. But scientists at Children’s Health Defense said better diagnostics can’t on their own explain the steep increases in ...
