By Stephanie Stahl

The number of people diagnosed with autism has skyrocketed, especially in New Jersey which has one of the highest rates in the country. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is home to the regional autism center.

Thousands of young patients are treated there and now there’s a new building at CHOP that’s more welcoming to children with autism. And that has made a great difference for the children who go there for treatment and therapy....

The group collaborates to teach skills and strategies and seek new solutions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. They helped create autism-friendly spaces at the new Buerger Center....

Nearly 18 thousand children with autism are treated at CHOP every year. Many of those children have big variations in what they’re able to accept.

VIDEO:

Anchor: "The number of children diagnosed with autism has skyrocketed...."

"This has been so successful, they're talking about this being a national model."

"Wow!"

Seven years ago I wrote about Paul Offit's opinion of the increase in autism. 

According to Offit, there really aren't more children with autism: 'People that we once called quirky or geeky or nerdy are now called autistic.' 

So autism is nothing to really worry about according to Offit, and since he is the nationally known spokesman for CHOP, it's fitting that CBS Philly covers their new autism center in such a positive manner.

Notice the difference in the start of the video coverage and the text, a slight but significant faux pas that attempts to spin the truth.

In the video the anchor said, "The number of children diagnosed with autism has skyrocketed."

In the printed story, it starts, "The number of people diagnosed with autism has skyrocketed ."

That difference is significant and it is imperative to downplay the epidemic by saying, "people diagnosed with autism."

In truth, no one has ever been able to show us a comparable rate among adults, so the printed version is completely false. No one is diagnosing autism in adults like they do in kids everywhere. No one is even attempting to find the hand-flapping, head-banging, nonverbal 30, 50, and 70 year olds. There's a good reason for that, of course. Instead, they pretend that middle aged and elderly folks who shun social situations and have eccentric habits are proof that autism has always been here.

Regressive autism? There's no time for that either. Children who instantly disappear into autism and chronic illness following routine vaccinations are quietly ignored.

Will CHOP's autism center become "a national model"? It better. Every place will have to be "autism friendly." We have no choice, since we're doing nothing to stop this nightmare.

To quote CBS Philly, all I can say is "Wow!"