Are autism spectrum conditions more prevalent in an information-technology region? A school-based study of three regions in the Netherlands.

The team asked every school in three Dutch regions how many children carried an autism label.

They compared the counts per 10,000 kids in tech-heavy Eindhoven with two other areas.

Eindhoven schools listed 229 children with autism for every 10,000 pupils.

The other regions reported only 84 and 57 per 10,000 — a four-fold gap.

Rates for asthma, ADHD, or dyslexia stayed the same across all three places.

Zahorodny et al. (2014) saw a similar jump in New Jersey schools between 2002 and 2006, showing the Dutch spike is not a one-off.

Smith et al. (2010) found the same uneven pattern for intellectual disability across Norway, hinting that how services record cases may matter more than true changes in biology.

Burrows et al. (2018) warn that parent mood and child language skills can inflate questionnaire scores — the Dutch numbers came from school records, not parent forms, so the gap is unlikely to be just rater bias.

If you practice in a tech city, expect more families to arrive with an autism label. Use the same intake screen you use elsewhere, but be ready for longer wait lists. When you see sudden regional jumps, first ask: are schools spotting milder traits, or are more clinicians available? Plan your staffing around the local count, not the national average.