Is everyone, everywhere ND - I seriously am confused.

Some kids with fairly severe autism or even middling can't just get on with it.

I’m with you op and was discussing with this with another teacher in school the other day.
We had quirky kids, kids who were very bright, some not very bright, some dyslexic. But they never needed a label, they just got on with it.

The amount of fuss in schools now is ridiculous, kids chucking tables because they can’t control themselves, kids refusing to come to school and parents enabling it.

There really wasn’t anything like that back in my day, we just got on with life.

No levels as per the US diagnosis system refer to support needs which they state can fluctuate throughout life, one of my children has been on all 3 levels.

There is no medication for autism and only half of the 3% of children diagnosed with ADHD are on medication so not sure why you think ND children are on loads of medication. Pharmacists also don’t know what diagnoses people have when they pick up meds. 🤔

What was your motive for this thread?

Why would it be? Same upbringng can work differently for different kids . Even if none of them have autism

Agreed. One of my friends who does not believe my autism and ADHD diagnoses is a
very experienced teacher. She even works in a private school that has a very high number of ND kids so teaches a lot of tbem. I have actually been diagnosed by one of the most experienced consultant psychiatrists in the field - she has been diagnosing ADHD and autism for over 30 years - so I am highly confident my diagnoses are accurate. However, my friend reckons she knows better, despite zero clinical training.

Also, DC2’s primary and secondary schools failed to notice their dyslexia, autism and ADHD - despite DC2 having lots of mental health problems. The schools were very good apart from that.

This may help

This is really interesting to me. I say my son has autism because he has severe/ profound etc autism. We see it as something like a condition/ disorder that needs curing because he is so impacted. It's interesting that the same descriptions have opposite reasoning.

If it's poor behaviour why wouldn't all siblings have it? I've got autism because of my neurological disorder. My brother has autism too but my sister doesn't. We all have the same parents and we're raised the same

Well DD is suspected at the moment, as we’re STILL waiting to be seen. She’s beautifully behaved and very polite , thank you very much, so our parenting can’t be that bad.

At the moment it seems level 1, level 2 and level 3 are being used but it doesn't exactly explain much! I believe level 1 is some support needs, 2 is substantial, and 3 is very substantial. From what I've seen in practice, 2 might mean would struggle with a regular job, might live independently but need support, and 3 is unlikely to live independently, may not use it understand verbal language, very much the 'severe' part of the spectrum as it were.

My daughter was initially diagnosed with Asperger's and still prefers the term as it distinguishes her from her more severely affected autistic brother. She has a distinction in her Masters but needed accommodations because of the dyspraxia that is part of it for her and causes slow writing speed. She is capable of living a perfectly normal life and is someone who has autism rather than someone who is autistic in that is a big part of her but not her entire being. Her brother is autistic and every cell in his body seems to be different. He lives independently but needs a lot of help. I think we need a new term to describe the more able end of autism - autism type one is a ridiculous term in my opinion - in order to distinguish it from those who are more severely affected.

There is a lot of "suspected ASD/ADHD" on MN, which I take with a pinch of salt as it is often used as an excuse for poor parenting. Go on flame me.

I agree with this. There was a thread some time ago about Michael Gove's education reform in particular and how it has disbenefited children, teachers and families. My daughter was just a bit quirky until she started school and the wheels totally came off. Neither of my children should need specialist placements in theory.

And the parents would often also use physical punishment more.

There is a LOT of undiagnosed neurodiversity in my extended family.

I grew up in the 90/00s. We had two diagnosed kids in our year at primary, one very profound who went to specialist secondary school and now lives in a care facility (my mum still speaks to his). I’d hazard a guess a handful were undiagnosed. Always dismissed as the weird ones or the quiet ones. The ones in the corner not socialising much and obsessing over dinosaurs or whatever. Daniel was probably autistic, he still loved dinosaurs in year 6 but not just a bit - it’s all he’d talk about. So I think more were SEN but undiagnosed and “high functioning”, just dismissed as being weird.

The thing is that when we were kids in the 60/70s we were able to let off steam by ie walking or biking everywhere,climbing trees,swimming in rivers,me and my friends would go out at 6am do a paper round/milk round ect and be out all day until it was getting dark.My mother didn’t have a clue where I was and didn’t ask,we got up to no good sometimes and there were police around to take you home and give you a good telling off or worse.My 14 year old grandson has just spent the whole summer holidays sitting in his bedroom playing computer games,he’s never played a football/rugby/cricket match in his life,can’t swim and don’t ride his bike at all.A now puberty has kicked in and they are wondering why he’s going wild.Now he’s diagnosed with ADHD and mild Autism with drugs to keep him calm.There was nothing wrong with him apart from bad parenting and bad schooling(not made to do any PE whatsoever) The Next Generation are going to be worse I’m afraid.Good luck everyone

It’s cause the teachers used to batter anyone who put a foot wrong. Plus schools had no targets so there was no pressure on the kids full stop.

And none will have gone through diagnosis training.

No they can’t, a huge number of TAs and teachers are hugely ignorant re ND particularly amongst girls.

I know they aren't meant to diagnose but my son is pretty obvious. I would possibly not diagnose if it was a lot more subtle but most TAs in their heads can make a good guess.