To think more people do have autism nowadays?

Latest US stats are ~3% of children diagnosed (4% of boys and 1% of girls - but almost certainly under diagnosis of girls). It's not 1% of population.

https://www.autismspeaks.org/autism-statistics-asd

According to the DSM it's ASD.

Scientists are studying environmental influence , they're looking at plastics and other things in the food chain. It's not just about genetics now.

Sorry- I think it's ASC now?

How can that figure possibly be accurate? That would mean out of, say, my whole dcs primary school there would be approx 4 kids with autism. It's more like 4 in each class. And that's not counting ADHD diagnosis or waiting on one. I know from speaking to other parents and teaching staff that it's similar in other schools. There doesn't seem to be any slowing down of diagnosis, indeed the opposite, despite the 'catching up' theory.

I heard a programme on Radio 4 which said that, as more people with high-functioning ASD now live mainstream lives, going to university and having careers, they meet others with ASD, form relationships and have children who, in turn, are more likely to have ASD, so the cycle continues.

It may be that these men are also autistic and have not reproduced in their 20s etc due to finding a partner later in life. So many variables.

You make a really good point about more autistic people meeting and marrying other autistic people, @maybenormal. In my younger days, the train-spotting men would rarely have met the solitary knitting women. If they married - and a lot of them didn't - they'd be encouraged to find a more 'normal' partner to help them keep functioning in daily life.

Or alternatively, DD is autistic because I formula fed her. Must find a way to blame the mother. Unfortunately my mum breast fed me, so we'll need to find a different way to blame her.

Autism is quite strongly linked to having an older father and sperm quality. Parents are older now than in previous generations, so it makes sense if fathers are older we see more autism

You think so many people will end up having autism it don't be a divergence from the norm?! I disagree - I'd be shocked if it got above 5% of the population, most likely much lower.

Personally I think there are three things happening: (1) improvements in diagnosis/awareness which means more people are getting diagnosed (this mainly impacts teens/adults), (2) more autistic people meeting and marrying other autistic people and going on to have autistic children, and (3) something leading to an increase in 'severe' autism. Not sure what's causing the latter but I suspect there's no one cause.

Not really only 1 in 100 have it. That is hardly excessive.

There does seem to be an excessive number of people being diagnosed with autism of late. I am pretty sure I am autistic. Very shy and self conscious, odd accent etc. I also think it's in my family. I believe my grandad, mum, aunt and sister are all undiagnosed as well as myself.

It used to be really very common for men to be obsessed with trains or the canal network. Many women preferred solitary knitting and gardening (or, in my Gran's generation, re-reading the Bible over and over) to social activities. None of those train-spotting, plant-cataloguing people were interested in popular culture, they found "pointless" gatherings stressful and didn't understand most jokes.

There were LOADS of them! So many that they were well-recognised stereotypes, everybody knew several.

During my childhood (1950s-60s) there were also a lot of people who'd been traumatised by WW2 experiences and serious illnesses. Altogether, everyday society was full of people who were strange or hypersensitive in some way. You were expected to work around them. Meanwhile, children with disabilities were deemed ineducable 😢 and taken into residential care. Hundreds are still there.

Society was far less diagnosed and, in a way, more compassionate. But the support structures we've come to expect - flawed as they may still be - didn't exist, so it was very much sink or swim. Many sank, of course.

You have two things going on.

1. more of us are being diagnosed. Especially women who just flew under the radar and managed to struggle along.
2. the world now has many jobs that are very friendly to a certain type of person with ASD. We come together in university programs and at work, we date, we get married, and we make wonderful ASD children. Those children will likely follow the same pattern. It’s easier for us to be functional, successful members of society in a science and tech focused economy.

Out of dd primary yeargroup now age 13 of 60 there are 6+ asd or awaiting asd diagnosis so upwards of 10%.

Of those
1 was severe - boy nappies at 5. Moved to special school at 5. Older parents 35-40+
1 child who struggled behaviourally from nursery. Presents more adhd (diagnosed age 10). Moved to sen secondary. Very young parents
1 girl private diagnosis age 12 again presents more adhd has several close friends. Late 30s parents.
1 boy private diagnosis asd/adhd hes shy but popular. Under 30 parents.
1 boy on waitlist over 2 yrs. Mainly anxious. Some rigidity. Not socially motivated. Late 30s parents.
1 girl struggled from nursery behaviour issues, great early speech, lots of sensory issues. Again issues more adhd related at school. But also worst affected socially aside from the most severe child. Waitlist 18m. Early 30s parents but icsi.
Siblings i know in other local school possibly medication related.

4/6 more high functioning/aspergers presentation.
My youngest in y3
2 children with more severe sen i assume asd. Boy and girl. The girl left to sen school. Both were largely out of class.
There are also 1-2 girls with sen /severe anxiety. Plus my dc2 with is likely asd and adhd. And possibly 1 boy.

I dont think the school raised any issues re any of these kids so it is all parents observing issues.
Mostly its all pretty mild at school so imo if the school were better most of these issues wouldnt have arisen.

So reception was pretty strict re sitting still. And doing the activity laid out for jyst turned 4 year olds.
no supervision of 60 kids roaming free half of the day in reception so no help with socialising. And through the rest of the school playtime lack of supervision.
Not school fault but parents become increasingly cliquey so kids friends with kids selected by parents who then meet at weekends.

Previously private school was more in reach for parents who may have sent the bright but quirky kids. Where it was more strict and a closer eye kept on behaviour.

When i was at school there was skipping or cats cradle etc at breaks so something to do other than talking.

Secondary has been a nightmare as jusr several disruotive kids per class and not great with adhd

The number of other sen or disruptive kids is making my dc behaviour worse. Some of that would hae beeb controlled by kids being worried about getting in trouble or excluded etc.

Yeah same. Maybe you misunderstood what I put.

My dd is verbal and has GCSE’s,she is very much disabled by it hence her enhanced PIP and being under services for several years. My dd can’t work through her emotions.

I have heard an interesting theory that it's partly that more people with autism are meeting one another and having kids in the past. For example, in the distant past, a son with mildly autistic features might have been packed off to the monastery and not had kids. In the 21st century said son might work in the tech industry and meet a woman on the autism spectrum.

@HeBeaverandSheBeaver i wish they’d kept the Asperger’s distinction too. I have a diagnosis of ASD but do not consider myself a disabled by it, I just need longer to process social situations and work through my emotions.

My son also has ASD and doesn’t speak at all, needs 2:1 trained carers or nurses just to keep him and others safe. As an adult he will never have legal capacity or live independently.

I know it’s a spectrum disorder but I think Asperger’s was useful to differentiate the type and level of need and care required.

I am waiiting for my assessment ,

Think logically here, you are an adult who would count into the 'stats' for 2024/5 diagnosis. You should have been diagnosed in XXXX year or there about. XXXX has less people diagnosed than 2024. You were however still autistic in XXXX year.

Ophelia wasn’t autistic, she was driven to severe depression by the desertion and rejection of her (probable) future husband. Rebecca was sexually voracious and selfish, but not autistic in any recognised sense. Dorrit is selfish, misguided and not as clever as he thinks he is, but he is not autistic in any recognised sense. Heracles was poisoned by a shirt and was driven ‘mad’ by pain.

Of all the characters in Shakespeare, I think Iago is the most classically ‘autistic’, in that he sees the world in a very different way from most characters, and most of the audience. His motivations are baffling to the rest of the cast. But I’m not sure that myth and classical literature are the best place to look for examples of a condition which would have been discerned rather differently.

IT?

Most people I know with autism were desperate for a proper diagnosis procedure.

No one is a "little bit Autistic". You either have it or you don't