Autism cluster in one New Jersey school? (WABC)

Post Reply New Topic

Autism cluster in one New Jersey school?

24 percent diagnosed with autism

(New Jersey - WABC, October 17, 2007) -- Researchers may have discovered an autism cluster at a Northvale, New Jersey school.

A task force found that children born to staffers who once worked at St. Anthony's on Walnut Street had a higher percentage of autism.
In fact:

57 percent were diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders
24 percent, or 1 in 4, were diagnosed with autism "We can't ignore this .. we have to consider they all worked at the school," said Dr. Lawrence Rosen.

more...

that's..........wow.

Even a random population will occasionally throw up clusters. Look for a pattern long enough and you'll find one. I'd guess that a large number of teachers are closer to the spectrum, with some autistic traits, just because of their focus on various subjects. Combined with more education, facilities, and therefore probably a higher diagnosis rate of the autists there are, I'm not surprised, and I doubt there's any common factor excepting blind luck.
It absolutely merits further study, just in case, but I don't know if I'd expect anything to be found from that study.

I agree with this--it could be unrelated to anything, but it's worth looking into.

I don't know about teachers being closer to the spectrum, though. Most K-12 teachers have to cover a broad range of topics, and it is a very social job. Anyway, the article refered to "staff", not just teachers, so this would include custodians, cafeteria workers, administration, etc.

It could be that the person responsible for the hiring of these workers was looking for certain traits which then were past to the children. I believe that autism isn't any more prevalent than in the past. It just diagnosed more. The parents may have had autistic traits.

I agree with your first assesment but not your second. It is most likely that people were hired in a process or by someone that was looking for people close to the spectrum. It is also possiable that it is a random anomoly in a large population.

I agree that recognition of AS is more likely, but I also believe that AS is a genetic trait that is being passed on in greater numbers than it is. I exclude myself from the norm of AS in this trait, but most AS people are better looking than the general population, and geeks are popular right now because science professionals and computer geeks are making some good money.

Best,

Idaho Aspie