No. SB 1652
Filed under Healthcare.
Terminology Associated with Autism; Revising the definition of the term “autism”, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDFlorida's own detailed definition of autism -- describing specific learning, communication, and behavior impairments -- is deleted and replaced with a reference to whatever the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders says.
'Autism spectrum disorder' is now defined for the first time in this section, sharing the identical DSM-based definition as 'autism' -- both terms mean the same thing under Chapter 393 going forward.
Because the definition points to the manual's 'most recent edition,' Florida's legal definition of autism will automatically update whenever the American Psychiatric Association revises it, without any further vote by the Legislature.
AIThe statute no longer spells out its own diagnostic criteria for autism; instead it adopts whatever definition appears in the current edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
AIFor the first time, this subsection gives 'autism spectrum disorder' its own defined meaning, identical to the new DSM-based definition of 'autism,' wherever Chapter 393 uses either term.