Oregon ASD rate 1-in-98

So, I was talking with a friend about the fact that Oregon has one of the highest ASD rates in the nation. I did a little online research... and found some very interesting information...

Since 1992, schools have been able to assess children for autism as provided by a federal law called Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This assessment, though labeled the same as a medical diagnosis, is not a diagnosis. Apparently, the criteria for eligibility under this law is pretty flimsy and not as stringent as the DSM-IV's medical diagnostic criteria. Which, in itself is not a problem... The idea behind the IDEA is to identify children in trouble and address the situation (hahahaha, right). (For a better understanding, check out this article by Autism Watch)


Where this causes an issue is that for some reason when gathering state-wide statistics on autism, Oregon's school assessments are counted right in with the medical diagnoses, from what I gather, making it appear that Oregon has double or triple the average amount of ASD cases than other states. According to the Oregon Dept of Edu, 1 in 98 students suffer from ASD.(not a link to the ODE, but an article I got the info from.)

My question is, why are they gathering this information from the schools, shouldn't they be getting it from the physicians who SHOULD be doing the diagnosing?