Hospital admissions tied to autism spectrum disorder have nearly doubled in recent years, according to new data, and Centra Health leaders say the trend reflects both rising needs and better awareness of autism in children and adolescents.

Dr. Emily Bradshaw, a licensed clinical and school psychologist who serves as Centra’s training director for the psychology internship program, says the increase is not as sudden as it may appear.

“I think that it is important to understand, too, that the diagnosis is really a pretty broad diagnosis,” Bradshaw said. “There are lots of individuals with very different presenting symptoms, so no two people look alike. I would like to propose that our folks with autism have always been hospitalized. We just didn’t recognize that they had the autism traits

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