Massive increase of children with autism

[TickingKey46]

I've noticed since the lock down there is a massive increase in children being assessed for autism and associated conditions. I mean massive.

On the school run parents are often discussing it it's become so routine. I'm really interested in why. Why are so many children being diagnosed with this condition?

Yes, mainstream schools don’t have a lot of scope other than one size fits all. They don’t have the resources or the time and they are working within a structure. It’s not a great fit for so many children, ND and NT

I too have heard that the increase in much older parents {especially men} is having an impact on Autism rates.

https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/link-parental-age-autism-explained/

Which was my point. You're linking 2 posts as if they are the same.

I said, If you have ADHD you are more likely to experience trauma.

Are you coming at me to make another point?

Have a look at the statistical evidence as to which is the antecedent...

Sorry, that was a response to mandymion.

Has a link been proven of that though? Does a person having autism mean their children will have a higher risk of having the “severe” form?

I still think it’s rude when you don’t have a condition/disability yourself to say “if I had it I wouldn’t have children”.
Just my opinion and I haven’t attacked anyone.

interesting points about older men,
they might be older due to their own traits which delayed their finding a partner,
they might be wealthier , due to being older, which aided them in seeking a diagnosis

Absolutely not. They need to be able to navigate the world they live in and school is a big part of that. Otherwise, what is the real point of learning stuff at school?

Parents need to teach their children that they can't always pick and choose what they learn otherwise you'll have an unqualified work force in the future.

I also think the big difference is that everyone needs to work nowadays and parents just don't have the time to invest. For children with mild autism things like parental attention and firm boundaries make a massive difference.

I am currently doing some work with schools as part of my job and the increase in referrals/children displaying indicators in lessons since Covid (in primary age children).

The main consensus in both schools I have been working in being that it is at least in some part a consequence of Covid and the lockdowns. We have children hitting school age now and early primary years who were babies/toddlers during Covid lockdowns and so missed out massively on social interaction, nursery, “learning” about the world around them. As an example we have had a class of 6 year olds this week the majority of whom have massive trouble communicating with each other or staff, multiple non-verbal children in the class and at least half of the others have extremely poor speech, the kind of speech you’d expect from a toddler. These children can’t communicate, make eye contact with others, can’t share, they become stressed when in those situations where they have to engage with others and many then throw toddler-like tantrums.

These kids were locked inside their homes during key developmental years, they never learned how to communicate/play with other kids because they weren’t allowed out. They never acclimatised to busy places because nowhere was busy, so now are having melt downs in busy classrooms/assemblys. They only had parents around to learn their vocabulary from, some parents were working from home during this time or just stuck their toddlers infront of a screen.

This means that if you look at the fact sheets on autism that teachers use, actually a majority of the class are now displaying those behaviours.

I’m on the fence as to whether an increase in diagnoses is due to increased awareness (although there are still massive numbers of kids who remain undiagnosed, mostly due to parental denial) or that the numbers of neurodivergent kids being born really is on the up.

However, I think the widening of the diagnostic criteria for autism means that lots of kids get covered by that umbrella, perhaps inappropriately.

For example:

Foetal alcohol syndrome causes many traits that resemble autism and ADHD, and those diagnoses carry less stigma than FASD, so those are the diagnoses that are given. I really think FASD is more prevalent in our society than we can ever fully comprehend.

Birth trauma - so many children born prematurely, or born in a poor condition due to mismanaged births often grow up to be diagnosed with autism and/or ADHD. In the past they may not have survived, but now they do.

Other trauma - I’ve noticed online that a lot of looked after/adopted children are diagnosed with autism and/or ADHD. This can be FASD or the trauma of being neglected as infants, plus the trauma of moving from birth parents to foster carers to adoptive parents.

It’s so complex and worth having a conversation about.

I’m an autistic mum of autistic kids in no doubt as to why my kids are ND. The genes on both sides of the family are obvious and go back generations. All undiagnosed of course.

which leads to more on the waiting list for an assessment

But comments like yours really illustrate the wrongness of the PP.

There has been some really interesting discussion on here, and the odd ableist comment which has been soundly refuted by other posters.

You can't stop all discussion in case someone says something inappropriate. It's the only way to tell people they are wrong, for a start!

@Santanderfall after your description of yourself as a child, then statement that you are introverted not ND, can I ask how you know?

Well that’s pretty damning

there have been a huge amount of referrals for diagnosis for years, covid made a difference to being able to do the assessments.

covid wouldnt have caused autism
teachers need to rethink their referral criteria in that case.

@RonniePickering I believe so, but can't point to evidence. A friend was diagnosed in adulthood having had two children one of whom is profoundly disabled, the other struggles significantly. I'm pretty sure he referred to it when discussing his own diagnosis.

More awareness.

There are lot of adults especially women being diagnosed who were completely missed. The awareness is meaning that kids who would likely have been missed and instead have grown up struggling and maybe diagnosed as an adult are now having their autism acknowledged in childhood.

I agree, I think on the whole it has been an interesting discussion for a change. Hopefully those who have the more ablist views on things read it and learn something.

But some of these graphs just show a very low referral rate during the first period of the 2020 lockdown when health appointments were severely restricted, and an increase at the point that schools returned and health services opened up?

The ACEs research is largely irrelevant in discussions about ASC or ADHD.

It was a population based research into physical health problems possibly arising from ACEs.

So it was a broad population theory that could not be applied to individuals.

Which as an aside, highlighted the potential correlation between ACEs and diagnosis of childhood ADHD.

Which as the researchers said, didn't mean ACEs meant ADHD but that DC with ACEs were more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD.- in the socially deprived areas that were the core group that the research was concerned with.

What are the core symptoms of ADHD? Poor concentration, easily distracted, poor working memory, impulsivity, etc etc etc.

What are the peripheral behaviours that are often seen in ADHD? Educational and work instability, relationship instability, alcohol and drug misuse, anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, other MH problems.

Which are all the same symptoms/ behaviours for many people who have experienced trauma.

But also many people who have experienced trauma don't exhibit those symptoms or behaviours.

And many people who haven't experienced significant trauma do.

The potential connection between ACEs and ADHD is unproven other than having significant ACEs means more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD.

Having ADHD and being diagnosed with it aren't the same thing.
.

@pickledandpuzzled

If you believe OP and others who post these sorts of thread are genuine, you’re incredibly naive. This is just the latest thread on this topic, they all have a slightly different ‘take’ on it but it’s always the same bollocks which attracts the same posters or types of posters.

Do you know there are other sites where people talk about posting this stuff to be deliberately inflammatory? They laugh and take the piss of ND, they don’t believe it exists and enjoy winding up posters here. They discuss and mock the replies they get. I have pointed mumsnet to those sites in the past yet they still let some of these threads stand.

Anyway, I’ve reported and suggest others do the same. I will hide the thread now.

Nobody is necessarily saying Covid causes autism. But it has meant there are a LOT more children reaching the criteria for referrals and so more referrals.

How would you suggest changing the referral criteria to account for this? By making it more difficult for parents to have their children assessed?

You can’t deny that many of these behaviours- unable to communicate, unable to make eye contact, cannot cope in busy places/loud places, unable to share/play with others, difficulties learning in school- all reflect the signs teachers are looking out for. You couldn’t possibly remove any of those from the criteria without ending up making it harder for those who need it to get a referral/diagnosis.

I have to say I agree with @pickledandpuzzled

The illness I have is, as far as we know, not genetic. But I would have thought twice about having dc if I had known about it earlier. In part because my illness means I can’t look after them as well as I wanted and because, even though there is no genetic link established yet, that illness is strongly associated with another illness which IS genetic… Seeing the effect in life, I would have wondered if I wanted to take the risk.

Same with DH. Yes we’ve had dcs. Then realise one of them is on the spectrum and actually DH is too And probably his dad. A cousin is on the way to being diagnosed after falling apart when they started Uni etc…,
I wouldn’t say any of the people in DH family has had autism in a more serious way through generation (if anything FIL was more severe). But tu can’t deny it’s a disability and has a huge impact on every member of the family affected.

I hope this all gets fed back as part of assessment of the Covid reaction

If these children do get this referral is it easy to separate out autism to the general Covid period decline in the actual assessment and diagnosis?