To just remind you that autism is genetic?

👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻

Both of us have ND parents who would/will never be diagnosed.

My dad is the same. It's a shame more of that generation won't cooperate. It would make things so much clearer.

Can you say what drug?

Y

Surely another factor in the perceived increase is that until recently the diagnostic criteria was based solely on the way autism typically presents in males (because of course it did), so it seemed that autistic females barely existed.

Could you PM me and tell me what it is?

Yes you’re right, and usually mothers!

Amongst the community though there seems to be a real problem with even suggesting things that may ease the symptoms (not the right word but I can’t think of the right one) and equate it to some sort of autism genocide, which is ridiculous. People seem very defensive.

For example - if I eat a very low carb diet my sensory issues basically go away. I don’t get overwhelmed by noise, I’m better at dealing with normal everyday stress. If I say that in certain places I’m shot down and told I’m irresponsible for saying that as they think I’m suggesting there’s a cure for autism, that it’s pseudoscience, that I’m basically Hitler etc. All I’ve done is say how low carb affects me positively, and maybe that can help others live easier lives. I know others who eat a similar diet for the same reasons, but now we tend to keep it to ourselves which is a shame.

The definition of AUTISM is wide open, it really depends on context.
NHS broadly says:
Autism, also called autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a lifelong, developmental condition. It affects the way a person communicates, interacts and processes information.

Given that definition … most people with a syndrome, learning difficulty, etc can be defined as Autistic if the have communication & “processing” difficulties.

Consider the child w ehcp who was at Autism special school in our area, he was there, doing well, for 4 years. Yup, autism. He then got a Geneticist diagnosis of a rare chromosome Syndrome. The parents included this new info in the ehcp and the school said “he doesn’t have autism” and he needed to leave. He had the exact same communication and processing probs but paper pushers said Buh-bye this is Autism-only school. Parents said wished they had kept mouths shut.

Autism is a huge bucket that many many are put into.
IMO - in time, there will be many many subtypes of Autism with chromosomal causes. They are not all the same, rarely even similar.

Those with Asperger syndrome or “pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified,” endured some of the same social struggles as those with autism but now no longer meet the definition. The proposed change consolidated all three diagnoses under one category, autism spectrum disorder, eliminating Asperger syndrome and P.D.D.-N.O.S. from the manual. Under the old criteria, a person would qualify for the diagnosis by exhibiting 6 or more of 12 behaviours; now the person has to exhibit 3 deficits in social interaction and communication and at least 2 repetitive behaviours, a much narrower menu.

There is debate as to whether the definitions were changed simply to appease those who associated Asperger with eugenics or to actually bring down the number of diagnoses in the U.S. at the time (which was increasing). Now the UK has the most number globally.

No neurodivergence isn’tlinked to trauma but neurodiverse individuals may be at increased risk to trauma.Trauma symptoms can exacerbate neurodiverse traits.

Where are your links re misdiagnosed children having trauma not autism?

I don’t think being a mental health professional
means anything to be honest.Some of the most ignorant as regards neurodiversity have been those we’ve had the misfortune to meet in the mental health field.

Also neurodiversity can skip generations.

Little sperms with their walking sticks and flat caps

Part of that is lots of DC being put in mainstream when they need a special school.

Yeah I know. I just think autism is one of the rare ones that from what I've seen a mother's age doesn't influence - which I welcome because tbh they seem to blame everything on a mother's age rather than the father's age

I don't think this study has tracked fathers ages - or has it? They're finding now that a lot of disorders they linked to higher maternal age are actually due to father paternal age, and once you account for that the mother's age has no impact.

It's just sexism in research. But the rigorous studies have found only a link with autism and fathers age afaik - happy to be proven wrong if there's evidence to the contrary

I spoke to a scientist about this. There are three main ‘causes’ of autism - two which cause intellectual disability, and one which doesn’t.

The first (Group 1) is a massive genetic mutation (or major congenital damage), which leads to children with major intellectual disability, epilepsy, etc. etc These are children who get diagnosed very early, end up in special school, and have very high support needs into adulthood. They are largely in families with no history of autism.

The second (Group 2) are ‘copy number’ genetic variations. These cause mild intellectual disability, but - again - largely aren’t uncomplicated inherited from parents. Again, the kids usually end up in special school and often have co-associated conditions.

The third (Group 3) is where the kids have inherited autistic traits from one, or more, family members. Increasingly, these kids get diagnosed in childhood and you’ll find whole families where every child, or almost every child, has a diagnosis of ADHD, autism or both. These children are healthy, of average, or above average, intelligence, and they usually have an autistic parent or grandparent. They don’t have any co-associated conditions that aren’t shared with a family member (i.e. if you get arthritis or migraines, your kids probably will).

It turns out there’s vastly more Group 3 than Groups 1 & 2, probably 10x more, but most adults in Group 3 were never diagnosed. About a third of diagnosed-autistic adults aged 30-50 registered with GPs in the UK have a learning disability. Only 10% of autistic children diagnosed under 10 do (90% don’t).

As such, there’s now a huge fight within the autism community between parents of kids in Groups 1 & 2, who view autism as a disaster that needs curing, and families of people where literally everyone is autistic (or ‘broader autistic phenotype’), who see themselves as ‘neurodivergent’, and simply requiring some adjustments to live a happy, productive life.

Most research was done on people who are now adults and, as such, most autism resources assume the vast majority of autistic people have learning disabilities. This isn’t the situation on the ground and it’s obvious that researchers haven’t yet caught up. Some of the increased diagnosis is due to changing classroom settings (e.g. talking in class for group work) along with powerful noisy new technologies, such as Dyson hand driers, which many autistic kids struggle with.

My son is diagnosed asd my husband is exploring this now and seems to be struggling later in life, my mother in law and husbands grandad also both undiagnosed but very clearly asd.
Husbands grandad is 98 mother in law 70 they were never tested but their autisim is plain to see there isn't more autism just more awareness 🙌 I understand what you meant.

What is SSRI?

Interesting.

As a mental health professional, I can safely say my parents are not autistic and do not show any neurodivergent traits. My parents were 19/20 when they had my sibling and 21 when they had me.

My eldest sibling is severely autistic.
I have ADHD.

We both have childhood trauma (physical and mental) which I can safely say triggered OCD (diagnosed) and I believe neurodivergence is closely linked to trauma.

Likewise there are a lot of misdiagnosed children, who aren't autistic- they're traumatised.

And lots of undiagnosed children/adults.

More research is needed and less finger pointing.

There isn't "more" neurodivergence. Looking back to childhood, there were a lot of kids in my class who I bet were neurodivergent but not diagnosed.

We have more testing and more awareness. Not more autism.

I'm involved with a children's disability charity and have a DC of my own with SEN (although not ASD). Genetics plays a huge part and many of our families can trace ASD back through their family tree although it's often only once a child has been diagnosed that everything slots into place. I had no idea that my DF probably has undiagnosed SEN until my DS was struggling as he'd learned to mask. Most of us will remember the 'weird' kid at school who may well have had SEN.

Other factors likely to contribute are increase in parental age (generally thought to be DF's age as opposed to DM's age although the two are often linked). Premature and disabled DC surviving that wouldn't have survived previously. There are also social factors like more women going into previously 'male' STEM jobs or university courses. Some of those women will have ASD, meet men also with ASD and go on to have DC with ASD. The internet has also provided a way for people with ASD who might struggle socially or have niche interest etc to meet online then get together and have DC.

Perhaps you're not reading the same threads as the OP.

I see it regularly and I'm not on here daily.

I'm pretty certain it's only fathers ages that makes a difference to autism. Not mother's age
There's loads of reputable studies on this - I can't be bothered to post them but have posted them on other similad threads