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Massive increase of children with autism

560 replies

TickingKey46 · 09/09/2023 08:56

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?

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pickledandpuzzled · 09/09/2023 11:19

Also the multitasking pressure we are all under. There are fewer opportunities to specialise now. You need to be your own PA and secretary, and run a household and look after your own health and diet.

We used to have a support system in place that allowed us to specialise- technical jobs with admin support and a housewife (or mum) at home.

Becoming the carer for a parent, and never leaving home.

Doing outdoor work, or repetitive work.

Back room work

Most jobs now require you to be social as well as technical and have good personal organisation.

Having a spiky profile is harder to accommodate.

PinkCherryBlossoms · 09/09/2023 11:20

Bunnyhair · 09/09/2023 11:07

@PinkCherryBlossoms read the article if you’re interested. 🤷‍♀️

I'd actually come across it even before you posted it, as it happens. The author is someone I've been aware of for a little while now.

It doesn't remotely address the question of how we'd know how common DC with those needs were even 50 years ago, much less before modern medicine. Note that infant mortality in the UK in 1970 was over 5 times higher than it is now, for example. People seem to forget that less than a century ago, even in the wealthiest societies, lots and lots of babies and small children died.

RedToothBrush · 09/09/2023 11:20

Applesonthelawn · 09/09/2023 11:03

I've recently been diagnosed as an adult woman in her sixties. It has helped me enormously to make sense of my life. I'm in a good place now and that helped create a feeling of "now's the time to get myself sorted", previously I just didn't have the bandwidth for it. I'm sure my brother and father are/were also autistic. We are very different, high achieving (obsessive), withdrawn people who don't fit in well. Now we know why.

My grandfather constantly had arguments at work and lost his job. He had a second family later in life and withdrew to be become a Stay at home dad in his early 50s. This was very unusual in the late 70s. His second wife was the bread winner.

He became increasingly reclusive and withdraw. He hated changes to his routine. To the point that he would actively refuse to arrange to see my Dad. (When we were going up, I think I saw him on about 4 occasions). This got worse as he got old.

He died a couple of years ago in his 90s. My parents have found out more about how bad it was since then.

A good example is how he recorded everything he bought. Date, time, location, price. For years. He made lists and list and lists and kept them. Obsessively so.

His second son, is only a couple of years older than me in his late 40s. He is obsessive about football and cricket scores. He doesn't want to actually go and see matches. He just likes the numbers. He struggles to look after himself (only briefly lived independently) without prompting from his elderly mother. Financially he can't manage his own money. My parents are extremely worried about how he will cope when his mother is no longer around.

Neither my grandfather nor my uncle were/are diagnosed. We strongly suspect long family history of autism in the family and potentially ADHD. But we can't prove it - but theres a catalog of behaviours in their that tick a lot of boxes which we can actively prove with actual evidence (my dad has kept some of his father's lists - but cleared out a large number).

Interestingly my grandfather was a twin - his mother was 41 when she had him and my grandfather and his second wife were both older when they had my uncle too. So they do tick those boxes as well.

I think there will be a LOT of people who will have similar family histories. But no diagnosis.

LadyMadderLake · 09/09/2023 11:20

If I was autistic I would not be having children because having read some of the horrific stories on here I know I wouldn't cope with a disabled child

I can understand that and I don’t think it’s a terrible thing to say. Parents do struggle to cope with a child with severe disability and very difficult behaviour and it can be unbearable- there are often threads on here from those parents. Add in dads who have the societally approved option to fuck off and leave the mum to it and then it’s all on her. These cases have sometimes ended in tragedy.

on top of that if you’re autistic yourself that could make it even harder to cope as a parent. It’s a perfectly reasonable decision.

RonniePickering · 09/09/2023 11:21

outsurance agreed, it is a pretty painful thread to read.

Always tell myself to stay off threads about autism on here, really need to start following it through.

Spudlet · 09/09/2023 11:23

RonniePickering · 09/09/2023 11:21

outsurance agreed, it is a pretty painful thread to read.

Always tell myself to stay off threads about autism on here, really need to start following it through.

Same. It’s always a painful experience, yet here I am again. Just a drunken, drug-addled, social misfit who’s only in it for the money. Apparently.

Grimbelina · 09/09/2023 11:23

I would also add that we possibly have more 'genetic drift' now so ND people may be more likely to have children with other ND people and we know that ASD are very heritable.

There is also the complication of PANS/PANDAS and other post-viral conditions, particularly post-Covid, which may have triggered ASD-type behaviours/symptoms, or mean that children and adults with ASD and new physical challenges are pushed beyond their ability to cope.

It is a very complex picture and we still don't know enough about autism.

Sirzy · 09/09/2023 11:23

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

You don’t get a diagnosis just because parents push for it.

you don’t bet DLA just because of a diagnosis.

Tumbleweed101 · 09/09/2023 11:23

There is more awareness but it doesn't explain the more extreme behaviours that are being seen now compared to a few years ago. I've been in childcare around 10yrs and my own eldest child is 25yo. I've never known such a high number of more severe presentations of ASD in young children as I have in last couple cohorts. We currently have one non verbal extreme behaviour child (throwing, climbing, hitting, meltdowns, biting etc) in preschool and there are four in the 2-3yo group. Then there are what are more functional children who will still need significant help. The funding tends not to start until after EHCP is in place so we are often trying to help children on ratios made for typically developing children.

Many of us who have been in childcare a long time have definitely seen a difference in behaviours - regardless of the labels for the children.

RonniePickering · 09/09/2023 11:23

It’s a perfectly reasonable decision.

IF they WERE autistic. They’re not.

Endlesssummerof76 · 09/09/2023 11:24

PinkCherryBlossoms · 09/09/2023 11:14

People doing all of their childbearing quite young then stopping was a pretty new phonemenon in human history though, right? And was only common for a quite limited period.

Before modern contraception, it was normal for couples to carry on having babies until the woman hit menopause. The big increase is in older first time parents, not older parents per se. I can believe we might see more autism as a consequence of older parents now than we did in, say, the 1970s. Because that was an unusual period in that there were lots of babies to younger mothers and many fewer to older mothers. I'm less convinced it would be happening more now than it did a bit further back.

Historically, the age of menopause was much earlier - e.g. Aristotle referred to menopause as around 40 years of age so childbearing would have ended earlier too.

PinkCherryBlossoms · 09/09/2023 11:24

Sirzy · 09/09/2023 11:17

But a bit further back child mortality rates were much higher which could have an impact on things.

Yep agreed. I've made a couple of posts on this thread arguing that lower infant mortality rates now mean we aren't comparing like with like.

toadasoda · 09/09/2023 11:25

Thindog · 09/09/2023 11:19

An increasing number of premature babies now survive, and with prematurity comes increased risk of being diagnosed with autism.

Is this actually factually correct or just anecdotal? I don't think I've heard this before. So does that mean there is a link between brain development in the later weeks of pregnancy and autism? Or is it the opposite - the autism is innate and somehow more likely to bring about premature birth?

PinkCherryBlossoms · 09/09/2023 11:25

Endlesssummerof76 · 09/09/2023 11:24

Historically, the age of menopause was much earlier - e.g. Aristotle referred to menopause as around 40 years of age so childbearing would have ended earlier too.

I thought he'd said between 40 and 50.

Grimbelina · 09/09/2023 11:25

PinkCherryBlossoms yes lower infant mortality almost certainly has an influence too.

Stompythedinosaur · 09/09/2023 11:27

Tumbleweed101 · 09/09/2023 11:23

There is more awareness but it doesn't explain the more extreme behaviours that are being seen now compared to a few years ago. I've been in childcare around 10yrs and my own eldest child is 25yo. I've never known such a high number of more severe presentations of ASD in young children as I have in last couple cohorts. We currently have one non verbal extreme behaviour child (throwing, climbing, hitting, meltdowns, biting etc) in preschool and there are four in the 2-3yo group. Then there are what are more functional children who will still need significant help. The funding tends not to start until after EHCP is in place so we are often trying to help children on ratios made for typically developing children.

Many of us who have been in childcare a long time have definitely seen a difference in behaviours - regardless of the labels for the children.

I just think children with that extent of disability were hidden at home.

I am happy that we now agree that disabled children should have equal access to services.

Highandlows · 09/09/2023 11:27

If it is lack of vitamin D. It would bring many cases of autism in the U.K.

KnittedJimmyChoos · 09/09/2023 11:28

@LolaSmiles

There is giving into tantrums and also accepting that tantrums are part of development and we ride through them teaching dc about feelings and appropriate responses as best we can.

I don't believe always coming down like a ton of bricks on "the naughty little madam /bratt" helps behaviour either?

LadyMadderLake · 09/09/2023 11:28

IF they WERE autistic. They’re not.

Surely anyone is allowed to decide not to have kids because they know they couldn’t cope with a child with severe disability who would never be independent and they don’t want to risk that. Aren’t they?

RedToothBrush · 09/09/2023 11:28

PinkCherryBlossoms · 09/09/2023 11:14

People doing all of their childbearing quite young then stopping was a pretty new phonemenon in human history though, right? And was only common for a quite limited period.

Before modern contraception, it was normal for couples to carry on having babies until the woman hit menopause. The big increase is in older first time parents, not older parents per se. I can believe we might see more autism as a consequence of older parents now than we did in, say, the 1970s. Because that was an unusual period in that there were lots of babies to younger mothers and many fewer to older mothers. I'm less convinced it would be happening more now than it did a bit further back.

First born children and children born to older women, would be less likely to survive due to higher rates of complications.

You can definitely see in my family and DH's family that it was common for the last children born to women in their fourties were more likely to die very close to birth.

This combined with many more children being born and surviving to younger couples would produce a massively different demographic profile to the one we see today.

Today we see a higher percentage of children born to older parents and a lower percentage born to younger parents.

PastelLilac · 09/09/2023 11:28

SnowWhiteAndTheTwoKids · 09/09/2023 11:03

I agree, there are more. It's not just about more awareness. When I started teaching 20 years ago you might have had 1 or 2 kids in the school who displayed 'unusual' behaviour. Now you have a few in every year group who are either diagnosed or awaiting diagnosis. My working theory is around increasing rates of survival of premature babies and increase in multiple births due to IVF. Often one child of the twin pair has an additional need.

Older couples tend to need fertility treatment eg clomid and ivf. Older parents increase the likelihood of having children with SEN. My parents are in their early 50s but there has been a huge increase of parents of a similar age or older who have children a lot younger than me (late 20s).

Willmafrockfit · 09/09/2023 11:30

it is a spectrum
definitely more and more people are aware of it.

greyflannel · 09/09/2023 11:31

WhoWhereHow · 09/09/2023 11:02

It's how society responds that I'm really interested in.

We're seeing that lots of people across all age ranges have been struggling with society in numerous ways. It seems We're getting better at identifying who those people are. So what do we do with that info? Rather than giving every individual adjustments (which may still be required) maybe we should look at how we structure society?

What happens if/when "NT" is the minority?

Having said that, I do struggle with understanding how much of the diagnosis criteria individuals would meet if we did restructure society so the norm was more "ND" friendly (obviously, its not going to address every specific case!)

The disability rights movement in general and autistic self-advocates in particular have shifted the dial. Our legislation to some extent now reflects the social model of disability, protects disabled people from some forms of arbitrary exclusion and discrimination, and places obligations on service providers and employers to make adjustments to remove substantial disadavanatges that disabled people would otherwise experience. The SEND CoP compliments this. This has created at least some legal protections and rights to provision for autistic people (even if they are routinely unlawfully withheld). This change in our legal framework shifts the balance in terms of the benefits and disbenefits of knowing you have an otherwise hidden (and stigmatised) disablity.

Whilst society has legislated, culture lags behind, as seen by the knuckle dragging commentary about the 'harms' ND children do in mainstream school, or the 'floods' narrative, like this one, that are all over MN at the moment. Prejudice is isolating and othering for children and their families, and fuels the epidemic of agression and bullying ND kids face in schools. If we want to stop kids being bullied for being a bit different, with the long term mental health issues this can lead to, better behaviour needs to be modelled on sites like this.

RedToothBrush · 09/09/2023 11:31

Endlesssummerof76 · 09/09/2023 11:24

Historically, the age of menopause was much earlier - e.g. Aristotle referred to menopause as around 40 years of age so childbearing would have ended earlier too.

What a lot of utter irrelevant tripe.

Can you explain what was happening in the 1600s - 1950s please?

We have these things called birth and baptism records which are pretty extensive and of particularly good quality since 1837.

Plenty of women had children well into their 40s.

Willmafrockfit · 09/09/2023 11:31

this is where mumsnet is dangerous,
all sorts of people spouting all sorts of supposed facts