Mm-hmm

... or very brief things that are, people are experimenting with.

So in terms of like showing a kid an iPad and seeing if they look at two children playing together or they look at a tree, you know.

Um, but there isn't yet-- So there's beginning evidence that those might provide you useful information, um, but it's very, very new, and I think you're right.

How people are gonna use that information is not clear.

I think if people use it like one source of information, you know, it's just like one thing, uh, then, then that's fine.

I mean, it gives them an idea of like, "Wait a minute, I need to stop and worry about this." Um, so that's, that's good.

Uh, that was released in 2022, I believe, and, um, just seeing how that goes or how that's going.

them.She felt like that the self-advocate did not understand that this is for people who have the most severe needs, who do need round-the-clock care, who cannot live independently.

But I think the idea that they were representing autism as if they were experts on all forms of autism, that was certainly something that I had a hard time with that I won't forget.

[gentle music]

The parents of kids with profound autism maybe will be satisfied by having a distinct diagnosis, but that still leaves a lot of people with wide range of needs Cathy is also worried about.

I mean, I th- I don't know what to do [laughs], you know, how, how to solve this because I think the solution is not linear.

It's not going to be you're in this group, you're in that group.

There, I mean, there, there aren't two groups [laughs].

I don't think we could agree on three groups or four groups.

Like, Catherine remembers this one kid.

Oh, I saw this little boy who had all kinds of language, um, that just poured out of him.

And in those days, we had the parents sit in a n- another room and watch us, um, and so he was not happy about that at all.

He was about four.

And he had a lot of repetitive language, and his nose was running-

If we are labeling more people today with this label, how much does that really matter when it comes to explaining why it looks like autism has gone up?

Uh, I mean, I think it accounts for most of it.

Um, and, uh, I think all of us worry that we're consuming plastics and things that we, you know, that we wouldn't choose to eat or, or breathe (laughs), but that can't account for m- most of what's gone on.