ABSTRACT - Diagnoses of autism among children in California rise to 20,377 in December 2002 from 10,360 in December 1998; and officials cannot explain increase; rise is not accompanied by rise in other development disorders, like mental retardation, and percentrage of autistic children with little or no mental retardation has risen to 56 percent in 2002 from 19 percent in 1987; whether California figures reflect nationwide trend is not clear because reporting practices vary from state to state (M) Diagnoses of autism have nearly doubled in the last four years among children in California, state officials reported yesterday. They said they could not explain the increase.

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