to ask this without expecting a backlash?

As ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder its likely been around as long as humans have
so the question is, is it more common now because of changing environmental or age factors over the last 30 years or are we better at diagnosing it?
also i think the name should change as ADHD is the symptom of the underlying cause. It should be called DDD - dopamine deficiency disorder

Well, you didn’t see profoundly autistic people because the norm was to conveniently lock them away in institutions. As to more “high functioning” autistic people… in every class in every school throughout the entire existence of schools, there’s been that one or two kids in each class who didn’t quite fit in. Think back to when you were young and I bet you can remember the ones from your own classes. The others thought they were weird, strange. They didn’t really have friends. Got into trouble quite a lot. Were perhaps really good at some subjects but didn’t engage at all with others. We’re either extremely shy or extremely bossy and rule driven. They’ve always been there, you just didn’t know what it was called.

I was born at a similar time to you. There was a girl in my class with “Aspergers” - she was diagnosed in the 80s but didn’t tell us until the 90s because it was seen as shameful (it was obvious from primary school that she wasn’t NT, we just didn’t know what autism was). DBro was one of the “E numbers” kids - actually really obvious ADHD.

A lot of these kids just left school - about 1/4 of DH’s class truanted and just didn’t turn up after age 14 or so. Far fewer consequences in those days, the school were mostly glad to get rid of them and they had no hope of any qualifications anyway so pointless them attending all round. Much easier to walk into a job with no qualifications in those days, and a shocking number of the girls (by today’s standards) were pregnant.

There was a lot of shame about autism years ago

My sister was born in 1992 and was assessed as a child and this is what my dad basically said to us - that if there was a line and there was a person with autism, my sister was behind that person with autism, - what we'd call these days, high functioning

But it was very much a secret as such and not somthing we spoke about, even to my sister. My mum was apparently advised to send her to a school better suited for her needs and was very much against it - my sister really really struggled in mainstream school too

Nobody knew she was autistic, she was just labelled a weird kid

That poster has also described perfectly normal children. They do exist you know, despite every second poster on MN seeming to have ND children.

I was born in the seventies, did autism training in early 2000’s and asked the trainer if I had autism, as the triad of impairment described me 100%, the trainer said no as I had a job and autistic people couldn’t have jobs. I now have a diagnosis (and still have a job).
some signs that I’m autistic I think would be recognised early now, biege eating, food not touching, certain sounds, crying when we went to Tesco/fine fare/ other supermarket due to over stimulation, routine, difficulty with friendships, obsessions (special interests), difficulties talking, not being able to manage my own emotions etc

It has always been there it is just we are better at diagnosing it. I don’t know if you have ever heard of Mary Temple Grandin known as Temple Grandin. Temple is an American woman who was born I think in 1947 and she was finally diagnosed in adulthood with autism, she is also a savant. Temples’ mother found a list of autistic traits when Temple was a teenager though and thought they fit her daughter. Temple is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University and has written several books.

I wonder if the apparent increase in school refusal though is related to an increase in school leaving age and the fact that they are allowed to be children for longer and now have more freedom to express their opinions. When my father’s parents were children (1918 & 1926) you could leave school at 14 and my grandfather’s family needed the extra money. My grandfather had no choice but to get a job and grow up fast.

I definitely can think of a few children who would have probably been diagnosed as Asperger's type autism that I went to school with.

I only knew of one severely autistic child who went to a special school. There was also a very high tempered girl who used to throw chairs and stuff and was very compulsive. I'm sure she had ADHD. A few of my friends from school have been diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood.

But still, nothing like the numbers today. Personally I think there are three factors:

I think trauma can look like (or increase the likelihood of) neurodiversity in genetically susceptible people.

I think more people are diagnosed now due to awareness.

I think that also there must be some or many environmental factor(s) influencing the rise in numbers. Many things that are more prevalent now - air pollution, toxic forever chemicals, older parents, medication like SSRIs - have all been linked to increased rates.

I was born in the ‘50s. When I was growing up there were state day schools for those who were termed “physically handicapped” and “mentally handicapped.” They included ESN and SSN schools (“educationally sub normal” and “severely sub normal”) Those were the official terms, they are not mine.

Many or most of these were closed ?in the ‘80s with the stated aim of inclusion, with the children going into mainstream schools. In practice I have read that it was a cost-cutting measure, as the promised financial support for them was never sufficient.

There were also residential homes for “naughty boys”, some of whom had gone through the courts system, but not all. Some went home for the weekends.

That’s where the children you didn’t see were placed.

I attended a small school in the 60s/70s and never knew of any school refusers. Looking back I can think of two or three kids who probably would have been diagnosed with something today, but everyone else seemed to cope okay. It certainly didn't seem as if the numbers of children affected now existed then - and everyone knew everyone in this small town, there was nothing "hidden behind closed doors".

@GentleSheep
“Children at my school were polite, rarely acted up in class, some were obviously better at some subjects than others, but there weren't meltdowns or kids refusing to go to school.” you’ve nicely described masking.
There’s an element of social contagion, I’d not heard of school refusal but if I’d even conceived of the concept I’d have walked out of secondary school on the first day

Those with higher needs wouldn't have been in the mainstream schools, and plenty of people were undiagnosed and just seen as behaving differently.

Very much this.Younger members of my family being medically and formally diagnosed has led to older members of my family having huge lightbulb moments.

It's extremely prolific in my family yet only diagnosed in the generation behind me.

There's always one...🙄

As a teacher, I can say it is far more prevalent now. It's not being over diagnosed either. There has been an increase in children with ASD/ADHD.

I remember the Reception class I taught in 2004 had 1 diagnosed lad with ASD. In the 3 classes preceding, I'd taught about 100 children. Only 2 of those 100 would have a diagnosis today.

There weren't more special schools around where pupils with these needs were attending. And thinking back to how society was in 90s/2000s, you didn't see so many needs in the community, as I don't believe they were there.

My friend set up a weekend club for primary age children with ASD in 2002. There were 15 places in the club. The team struggled to fill the places, despite being recommended by the LA SEN team to families. The city had 250000 residents.

It's been debated for a while as to the cause of the increase in numbers.

I started school in the 60s. There was very little bad behaviour, this was because their would be consequences, not only from.the teachers but also the parents, if they got wind of it.
Teachers being assaulted was unheard of. Never heard of school refusal. Kids either went of their own volition or they were frogmarched in
Kids assaulting their parents? No chance. You would be belted to Kingdom come and back again.
Problem is now that their arent any consequences fro bad behaviour. You reap what you sew unfortunately 😕

Lots of people are neuro diverse but don't recognise it - esp females who are masters at masking issues mainly because the communication part of the brain in females is naturally more developed than it is in a male brain.

I have dyslexia, so am ND. I have a few friends who are likely ASD. I have other friends who have ADHD. Probably c50% of my friends are ND. Most don't have a diagnosis, but as a mother with 2 ND kids, I can def see it in them.

The issue isn't how many diagnoses now per se, it's how many fake diagnoses are there. This is why I believe PIP payments for neuro diversity where a person can work should not go to the person but should fund treatment/support only, that would include dietary requirements if food is a challenge and also clothing if textures are a challenge.

The obviously autistic kids would not be in school back then (for me, this was 80s). But girls, and boys that would be classed as high functioning now... they would would have been in school with you and were under the radar. They would have just been seen as odd... probably bullied.
I do remember some boys that were very disruptive that would probably be diagnosed as ADHD now.
My DP is late diagnosed autistic, but was in remedial class when he was in school. It was not picked up for him even then.
My best friend in primary went on to be diagnosed with learning disabilities that was just not picked up when we were small.

Autism was recognised as a neurological condition in medical practice before you were born. There are documentaries from the 60’s and it was first discovered in the 40’s. Only significant autism was diagnosed though, less profound autism was put down to behavioural problems.

I’m a similar age and I can recall several kids who very obviously were ND so there will be many others who were less obviously ND.

I also recall some students being home schooled, not attending because they were bullied or just playing truant regularly.

Things were ignored, brushed under the carpet, kids were excluded for bad behaviour or just didn’t go with little consequence.

Just because things are more visible and recognised now it doesn’t mean they didn’t exist/weren’t prevalent before.

There were more children in special schools or even institutions. The more "high functioning" kids were in mainstream, undiagnosed, but often characterised as difficult/naughty/weird/quiet/stupid depending upon how their neurodiversity manifested.

I can think of a number of my classmates who would probably have a diagnosis now.

Multiple older members of my family quite clearly have autism and would be diagnosed in a heartbeat these days, but flew under the radar back then

I was born in 1991 and diagnosed ADHD as a child, so 2002 ish. And OCD aged 7

So it's always been a thing.

I do think it's loosely used these days, people take the smallest personality traits and feel like they need a label for it, ie my sisters son aged 2 got a diagnosis of autism because he lined his cars up (what toddler didn't?) and had no road sense.

I'm not even taking the piss, she literally gets money for him (he is 5 now) because of those reasons alone - he's a normal child, I promise you.

My sister in law says her kid is absolutely on the spectrum because he's into comics.

There is less shame in it these days, I grew up hating and denying the labels and carried that hatred into my adulthood for myself.

I think it's great there is more information about it, and I think it's good for so many children and adults who do have issues and they can access help, but in the same breath I do think being different is the new normal, and people will chase anything just to be part of something.

They always existed, they just weren’t diagnosed. More and more people are being diagnosed now because it’s recognised. The numbers of people diagnosed ND will keep rising and rising. I am not sure if neurodivergent will be the correct term before long.