to ask this without expecting a backlash?

My dermatologist used to stand balanced on the outside of his feet and stare at the floor while he talked to mum and I (I was a child). He’d definitely be diagnosed if he were growing up now! I hope his life wasn’t too difficult. He would have been in mainstream school and academic to end up as a dermatologist.

Our secondary school is set up exactly as you describe. Most are. We have too many kids for any other seating configuration even if we wanted to.

Just a thought.

Schools used to have desks facing the teacher at the front. There may be a single display of work in the room or the corridor.

Rules were strict and ridged.

Now classrooms have loads of colour, displays, pictures, possibly maps and timelines.

Children seem to sit around a table so half are facing away from the teacher, if the teacher is at the front.

I'm not saying this has caused a rise in autism / ASD, but the old fashioned classroom suited some people better.

This really resonates.

I went to a village school, open fields outside, very orderly and quiet inside. The classrooms were fairly bare, the odd alphabet on the wall here and there, but not much in the way of decorations, etc. Work was done in silence, at single desks.

Now it's over stimulation, all the time.

Typo in my post - it was 2019-2020. So only 6 years ago

I'm 50 and still in touch on social media with a few kids I was at school with. One of them recently shared his ADHD diagnosis. At primary school, he was the classic 'bright naughty kid' - clearly clever, but under-performed and constantly in trouble. He would have benefited massively, I'm sure, from some support and understanding at school. He's successful now and works as a business coach and consultant, but he'd be the first to admit that it was only really through luck that he found his niche in his 20s after going through his entire education being told he was lazy, naughty, disorganised etc.

I'm dyspraxic, and didn't find out until my 30s. I was such a high achiever academically that my clumsiness, messiness, lateness etc was kind of treated as 'absent-minded professor' behaviour; I'd get told off for being disorganised and scatty and constantly told I was a lazy and 'not trying' in PE lessons etc but because I was doing well in terms of academic work it got glossed over. If anyone had acknowledged dyspraxia in those days (my school 'didn't believe in' dyslexia, even, so there's no way anyone was going to know what dyspraxia was, still less spot it) it would have made a huge positive difference to me.

High-functioning neurodiversity has always existed. There were definitely ND kids in your school year. They just weren't acknowledged or supported as such.

When my son was still non verbal at 5 in 1990 I mentioned the possibility of autism to the paediatrician. She told me that she had only ever seen 2 incidences in her 40 year career.
When I became a teaching assistant in 1996 I had to explain what exactly autism was to teaching staff and assistants.

My DS has autism, I'm fairly certain I do, and when I think of some of my relatives it's obvious they have it too. I work in a care home and some of my residents are clearly on the spectrum, but were never diagnosed.

High functioning auties were called 'quirky' or 'unique'. Profound auties were chained to a radiator in an institution. That's how it was hidden. It's not that they didn't exist.

A more inclusive society and people with autism having children, because funnily enough we don't practice eugenics. And there being lots of different types recognised and diagnosed.

It's also worth keeping in mind that it might not be obvious whether something is affecting someone's life. I have a full time job, reasonably decent pay, I mask well. You wouldn't know that I structure my life to have enough down time to decompress, sometimes after talking to people all day I honestly have to sit and stare in silence on my own for a while. I have deliberately avoided going for promotions because I know I wouldn't cope despite performing well and often being expected to achieve. I am child free by choice, but again that choice is knowing I could not cope with the noise and unpredictability of children. I will go without food if I means avoiding a situation such as having to visit a new restaurant or shop where I'm unfamiliar with the layout.

People don't need to be living with their parents and unemployed for something to have a significant impact on their lives.

Autism is a social and communication disability present since childhood.

Other things that autistic people often experience are black and white thinking, obsessive interests, sensory needs etc. However if you have any of these aspects and don't meet the criteria for a S&C disability since childhood, you're not autistic. That's how it was explained to me by the psychologist when I was assessed.

If you actually take the time to talk to and listen to those of us with diagnosed children you'd quickly find we've experienced some quite extreme things.

I have stopped actually telling people for the most part as they start looking worried and back away.

What is autism https://share.google/C3YGXl8Hr92CnvUyi

There is lots of good quality information about this on the websites of the autistic charities and the NHS.

It is extremely unlikely someone would be diagnosed as autistic if it didn't affect their life. Why would they seek an assessment in the first place?

And in fact I'm sure not everyone autistic does.

There are arguments for and against diagnosis.

That’s interesting thinking it as a colour wheel, rather than a linear line. Puts a different slant on it.

I think possibly also people are trying to medicalise normal behaviour.

I was chatting to a mum recently who said her son’s adhd started when she gave birth to her second child, around age two. Up to then, he was a normal child but when dc2 was born, he acted up.

However, many moons ago, when my cohort were having their second child, we all knew that the first born’s behaviour was likely to deteriorate, as our attention was away from them, and was now with the baby, coupled with elements of jealousy, coping with the new situation etc.

So the child in the first situation was ‘diagnosed’ with adhd, rather than his challenging behaviour being sorted.,

I wasnt trying to be rude, more of a lack of understanding on my part.

So if someone shows 1 aspect of the spectrum on the colour wheel would they be classed as autistic, and isnt the spectrum so varied that infact someone could have 1 trait that doesnt affect their life yet could still be diagnosed autistic and if so what benifit would they gain from this.

Indeed. It is the autistic spectrum.
If you aren't autistic - you aren't anywhere on it at all!

My nan is autistic and ADHD.

I read her school report the other day, she would have been 11.

In a nutshell across all lessons:

• A very slow worker
• Limited vocabulary
• Poor understanding
• Very disappointing result
• Lacks concentration
• Works 'spasmodically' (sudden, brief and irregular bursts)
• If she could learn to concentrate would show a marked improvement

Now, this was 1961. Nowadays, I doubt she would have just been left to it. She left school believing she was stupid and slow which is really sad.

Yes, there were school refusers. You didn't know them because you were in school and they weren't.

We had children who were pigeon-holed as naughty or thick or weird because they simply needed information in a certain way, or interacted (or didn't) with other people in a certain way or became overwhelmed because of sensory processing issues. I prefer a world where they have the support they need.

I think there is a danger of the more able neurodivergent children and young people and adults skewing the conversation away from those who need a higher level of support.

That is EXACTLY what I mean in terms of misunderstanding it.

"The everyone's a little bit autistic" fallacy.

Everyone isn't! Any more than everyone's a little bit pregnant.

Nooo because most people don't have significant deficits in any of the 3 relevant areas.

Although interestingly Kinsey thought human sexuality might work a little like that...

But by that notion wouldnt then everyone be autistic/adhd etc etc?

I don't think "spectrum" means what a lot of people think it means. It's more like a colour wheel. You can be gifted in some areas (DH is very academically able; DD is sporty) while having significant impairments in others (DH struggles with people; DD has a bunch of sensory problems).

People aren't located on a line from 0/10 autistic to 10/10 or something.

By the same token so then being gay is just a new found trend too cos nobody I went to school with in the 70's was gay. Some of the responses on here are just wow.