Are Developmental Disabilities Just a Standard Deviation from the Norm?

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Are Developmental Disabilities Just a " Standard Deviation from the Norm? "

Thursday November 11, 2010

According to various sources, one in six children in the United States has some

form of developmental disability (ADHD, Autism, dyslexia, etc.). Some people

say that this number represents an " epidemic " in pediatric neurological issues

or even neurological damage. Others, like commenter " Autism News Beat, " say it

represents nothing of the sort. For one thing, of course, we have no idea

whether the 1:6 number is larger, smaller or the same as the number we would

have found 100 years ago if we'd been searching in the same way. For another

thing, says Autism News Beat on one of my recent blog posts:

What we call " different " is merely something that is not normal. If 2/3 of

the world population becomes autistic in the next five years, then autism will

be the new normal. ...Developmental disabilities, as opposed to neurological

damage, are assessed, usually with tests. A score of 20 out of 100 may place a

child in the developmental disability category. Or maybe not - what if the

average score was 25? Then the child might test normal.

I'll say it again - 1:6 refers to children whose assessment scores place

them more than one standard deviation to the left of the mean. And it has

nothing to do with neurological damage, which I understands sound scarier than

development disability, and thus better serves vaccine rejectionism.

This is a pretty intriguing subject, and one that certainly invites debate.