The changing faces of autism: The fluctuating international diagnostic criteria and the resulting inclusion and exclusion—A Norwegian perspective

Abstract

The common understanding of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has gone through a number of permutations since the first description in 1943. Throughout these shifting understandings, there have been a number of behaviors and diagnostic criteria associated with the condition, many of which are missing in the most recent classifications. The rates of diagnoses of autism have increased greatly. However, there is no reason to think there has been any change in occurrence over the last 70 years, suggesting rather an increase in our knowledge and awareness. Autism has been the subject of several misapprehensions and misrepresentations throughout history. This might be due to heterogeneity of the cases. In addition, the diagnosing of autism spectrum disorders is mainly based on observation and behavioral interpretation, and thus dependent on subjective perceptions of the clinicians themselves. This current scoping review article intends to provide a view on the evolution of the concept of autism and the current stance within Norwegian scholarship, and how it is shaped by international discourses and cultural diversities Such changing concepts especially impacts people with the diagnosis, as it can affect their access to social services, as well as their self-identification as people with ASD.

Psychometric evaluation of the Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory (CATI) in autistic and non-autistic adults

“…Trait-based studies of this kind can serve as accessible prior studies to those exploring clinical populations. Second, autistic-trait scales can efficiently capture the diverse presentation of autism with specific autistic domains or dimensions reflected in scale items that describe both current diagnostic criteria (e.g., communication difficulties) and emerging traits (e.g., social camouflaging) (Adkin, 2023;Brosnan, 2020;Chahboun et al, 2022;Miller et al, 2021;Murray et al, 2005;Pearson & Rose, 2021;Sucksmith et al, 2011). Third, there is an increased need for the assessment of autistic traits in the general population.…”