To think more people do have autism nowadays?

Years ago lots of families had a member they considered odd or was shoved into a home and forgotten about.

I got asked about the birth at my duaghters diagnosis and wasn't sure why that was. Whether to rule out other considtions or if they're seeing a link?

I think this is true. There is a long list of reasons why people were locked up in 'institutions' in 18th/19th centuries, which include a lot of what we now recognise as ND behaviour. As well as things like pmt 😔

I think this applies at the higher functioning end.
The world is more stimulating; "bigger" louder, brighter, more expectations. There is an increase in triggers beyond coping capacity. I think this exposes people around the diagnosis threshold who previously coped with life.

The younger generation of DS's paternal family (inc DS) are getting diagnosed, but traits run deep through the family. Fortunately they have a tendency towards being very mathematical/ technically minded and tend to find sucessful careers in computing or engineering and find interesting jobs and have peaceful, routine calm home lives with little external socialising. DH has a disproportionately high number of batchelor cousins for their age range
The great-uncle still on the family farm has many traits, but a quiet, solo rural life on the family farm has dodged many triggers.

It was the pressure cooker of y2 SATS that exceeded DS's coping abilities and triggered the assessment then diagnosis. Plus me being aware of the possibility and concerned that something wasn't right.

It is also easier for higher functioning people to meet and connect than 20+ years ago.

We're catching up on diagnoses not made in childhood. In my later years of secondary school when classes mixed more, I ended up hanging out with the quirky "alternatives" A few friends are getting assessed/ diagnosed in our 40s, and with hindsight, there were quite a few with strong traits.

At the lower functioning end, there didn't tend to be too many questions asked about learning/ cognitive disability. For my 1960s relative, it was simply "brain damaged at birth, do you want to put him in an institution and get on with your life?" He stayed in the family home until early adulthood before moving to a community residential setting for the rest of his life. He wasn't "hidden", his care needs just meant that he wasn't very "visible" in public spaces. He actually hit a sweet spot in the resource provision where community based care was becoming favourable, respite was there for families and there were decently resourced day centres with transport.
With his level of care need, as long as that support was avaliable, the diagnosis was a bit of a moot point anyway in terms of quality of life.

There are generally more children with severe disabilities because of surviving premature or difficult labours and children survive with complex health and care needs for longer because of medical advances. This means more resourcing in an era of "cost savings" and there are more children being pushed into mainstream settings that don't meet their needs.

YANBU. I think there's an increase in incidence not diagnoses. I suspect it's environmental as well as genetic. No evidence but hope I grow old enough to find out more over the next few decades.

I read on here recently (was shocked, never heard of it before) that a correlation has been found between overweight mothers and autism in their children. I won’t link any studies as I’m no scientist and don’t know which one would support this idea the best, but if you Google “autism linked to maternal weight” a lot of different ones come up.

Obviously as a population we are getting fatter, so it seems that this could be a significant factor in it.

My mother would have rather died than have anybody think there was something 'wrong' with my brother.

Another one (and me) were regularly screamed and hit with 'WHY CAN'T YOU BE NORMAL', 'YOU'LL BE PUT IN A HOME IF PEOPLE KNOW WHAT YOU'RE LIKE', 'WHY CAN'T I HAVE ALL NORMAL CHILDREN LIKE YOUR SISTER AND BROTHER' screamed at us.

I think she was pretty ashamed. Especially when she refused any assessment.

I agree with that. My colleague does research in a very specific aspect of autism and she was at a conference recently where it was quoted that 1 in 25 children have ASD in NI.

It is all over my family in the previous generation, all undiagnosed but very obviously there, and there are loads of kids in my family in this generation too but even still the numbers in my son’s schools (my son is diagnosed with ASD) are way higher.

If you read older books, e.g. Dickens, you get descriptions of people who are "eccentric". Viewing those people through modern eyes, at least some of them are autistic. I know that's fiction but presumably he's drawing on really life people he knew.

There's also the sort of people who sought out some level of seclusion or isolation, like monks or hermits. I would suspect some of them were autistic.

This suggests that it's certainly not a new phenomenon, just that diagnosing it is.

I think maybe though it's more likely now that ND people will form relationships and have children than it used to be - I suspect in the past a lot of ND people would have been considered "unmarriagable". So maybe that's one factor.

I think non verbal autism in particular is more prevalent now. I have 3 friends with non verbal children.

Well partly it’s merging diagnosis. Autism is now a catch all for several previously separate diagnosis, and of course there are a huge number who “self diagnose” which would have been unacceptable even a decade or so ago. Then there are the large numbers of people who wouldn’t have survived early birth or other medical challenges.
I think the key to understanding if autism is on the increase is to look at the most severe presentations and see if those individuals are on the increase. Anecdotally I would say that they are BUT if we adjust for the children who would not have survived in previous generations are there more cases?

(1) The definition of autism has changed over the years -- and I don't just mean the natural language definition, but the actual medical definition used by psychologists. It now covers a much broader range of conditions than it did forty years ago.
(2) People are now far too quick to diagnose autism based on very little and I don't think it's a healthy trend. You see it here on mumsnet frequently. One of my son's teachers felt my son may be autistic, partially based on a stupid face he would pull she thought it was some kind of episode -- to be fair, it was a pretty stupid face and one that he would pull when he couldn't think of something witty or funny to say. The teachers then began to see other signs and start treating his behaviour (which was in fact perfectly understandable if they had just stopped to ask him what was bothering or worrying him) as just his autism, without getting to the actual root of it.

Also is the finding that younger fathers are more likely to have children with severe autism not more likely to be that we are dealing with several different diseases with different causes here?

That is absolutely disgraceful. Your poor sister.

My ds has profound/ severe autism. He has a genetic mutation which probably happened at conception. Myself and my husband don't have it soalthough genetic, it hasn't been passed on.

I do think there is an increase in people with all types of severity but i also think that mental health problems are being dealt with under the autism dx rather than mental health. I think this is because it gives services an avenue to delay treatment (cost- put it down as to autism rather than true neef) and because autism isn't as stigmatised as mh.

I also think there is a high number of people now chasing a diagnosis in later life and others who self diagnose.

Hopefully there will be more research and with better genetic testing a true picture of what is happening can be seen and the different conditions all singled out and separated.

I disagree. It’s better diagnosed and recognised particularly in women now. I have it, my children do, my dad did and my grandad did. My children got diagnosed first and then I did. If it hadn’t been recognised in them ND within the family would have continued to have been just dismissed.

I can see it from both sides

my eldest would almost certainly have been referred for assessment as a toddler / pre schooler. Looking back he would have ticked many of the boxes, stimming, not sleeping, selective food, serious meltdowns, obsessions, total lack of concentration, a bolster with no self control. However, he isn’t autistic, he was just a really difficult child until he was about 8. From then on although sensitive he is totally neurotypical and as a young adult shows no signs of the early years. I really suspect he would have been diagnosed with something

on the other hand my quiet, well behaved, shy daughter who struggled socially was just seen as a bit rude and quirky and it angers me that even 12/15 years ago nobody picked up the obviously signs that there was something going on and she didn’t get a diagnosis until 6th form. I’m sure it is genetic though as I only have to look at my husbands family who are clearly on the spectrum, his dad, not even particularly high functioning

I was almost 4 when I had an intelligence test because my speech was disordered. They didn't call it that then. I just couldn't be understood. They concluded that I had the intelligence of an 8 year old (but couldn't tie my shoelaces) and was trying to learn both English and the native language of the country I was living in and getting confused. I was 7 when my primary school asked my Mum to take me to a psychologist because I had 'low self-esteem'. I wasn't allowed to do the times tables tests because I always got 100%, so I had to do other stuff. I taught other kids to read at reading time because I was a free reader. I was socially awkward and unable to cope with groups. Secondary school was disastrous and college didn't go well because I couldn't keep organised. I'm now on the ASD waiting list.

2 of my children are diagnosed with ASD. One is still waiting. All 3 are in specialist education.

I do think ASD is more prevalent but I also think mainstream education is pushing those kids who might have got through into 'needs help' territory. DD3 was flying under the radar until year 10, when the immense pressure destroyed her.

I was told by a nurse before that there is a link between c-sections and autism.

I do think that the way we live could be making a difference too.

So many schools now are uber strict. And kids that would have been accommodated by a kindly TA in the past now are overwhelmed and told they're naufgty/punished and the cycle continues with EBSA etc.

As an adult when we could manage in a lower paid jobs that are less overwhelming., with less constant information (writing letters instead of emails etc) there was less stimulation. Less stuff.

On communities where you have extended family or you know a lot of people in your area maybe people took car of/adjusted for those around them more.

Obvisoulg I'm all for being able to move for work and the Internet etc but I do wonder if perhaps this means that people who previously could have coped wouldn't now.

For example someone who went into a job at 16/18 and stayed there and worked their way up. Whereas now jobs come and go.

If I'd chosen a different profession I could imagine I'd have just even eccwnetric/clever/quirky.... But instead I've struggled so it's more obvious.

I have been teaching over 40 years. I notice when l am discussing traits of autism with parents one is often looking at the other saying; sure that's you!! And they usually agree but never had a diagnosis. I have a friend of 60 who has lots of traits, really struggles socially but has never seemed to have considered diagnosis. Now her gc are presenting with autism. She has few friends but in my head she has autism so l completely accept her as she is as l am quite accustomed to different traits due to school. It has made life so difficult for her while her gc are getting support. I wonder f the fact people led more routine lives, mixed with less people and there wasn't the same emphasis on school success that many difficulties weren't as pronounced. Eg living on a farm, could happily stay to yourself, leave school early, perform tasks alongside your dad with total acceptance so less overstimulation. I knew some guys like this growing up in the countryside.

My ds has been diagnosed in his 30s with ADHD and his dad has similar difficulties as do cousins and uncles on that side but absolutely no diagnosis although they would have all struggled with executive functioning while being extremely bright in school.

This is an oversimplification of research that needs more study, and is likely one of the many variables.

Age associated ASD risk is highest when a mother is in their 40’s and a father is in their 50’s, however maternal age is much less impactful - the biggest risk seems to be paternal age. And even then, it’s also very closely linked to genetics and socioeconomic factors. Study on impact of paternal age here actually found a higher association with poor ASD outcome in younger father and more positive ASD outcomes in older fathers, suggesting socioeconomic impact has a lot to do with ASD presentation.

This study from the Netherlands looks at the potential socioeconomic and demographical causes of increased ASD rates, and one of the theories is also that “One possibility is that mothers who have a higher number of autistic-like traits, including greater challenges performing mentalizing skills, are delayed in finding a partner.”

So effectively, is the widespread acceptance of autism meaning autistic adults are now societally permitted to have children meaning the rates are naturally increasing as genetics are the main cause? Is the older age simply correlation as opposed to causation? The advent of online dating over the last two decades likely linked autistic people who would have never would have met otherwise too.

The reality is we know the rates are increasing, and this is likely due to several compounding factors, not one cause. The research is in its infancy and far from conclusive.

@theresabluebirdinmyheart , I completely agree . My dd15 is at a special school , but she is at the very mild end of the pupils they take . The children in the younger years all seem to be very severe .

Thiis comment doesn’t reflect the lives of all autistic people of course but for some autistic people… we all tend to live in a more pressured way now that expects a level of social interaction and communication that hasn’t been in our social experience before, from kids to adults. Sensory issues are maybe more challenged by how busily and noisily we live. We have less time outdoors and with animals. And so on.

All these factors means autism is increasingly common to be recognised and labelled in the population and now doctors are aware that women and girls can be autistic too, as well as boys and men.