Why are so many children autistic these days?

[Superlambaanana]

I've just seen someone comment on a thread that 4 out of 5 of their DC are autistic. So many classroom assistants in every primary class. So many parents I talk to saying they have or are fighting to get a diagnosis for their DC. And yet no one I went to school with at primary or secondary level was ever diagnosed as autistic, nor did anyone do anything that suggested they were undiagnosed like hand flapping or inability to communicate normally. Various levels of intelligence and social ability obviously, but no one who was at the level of meltdowns and needing stringent routine etc. Is it environmental?

No

If you look at the statistics of women actually even compared to men who have been diagnosed later in life so maybe being born say 1950's upward then no. Impossible because processed foods were not a thing then and you are born with autism.

Absolute nonsense. I have a far from UPF diet and my son was still born with autism. You don't "get" autism. It's a born with condition.

Trauma?

80s/90s child here. The only class disruptions, in any school I went to, was maybe one child in every 5 classes over the entirety of almost 2 decades work of schooling? Everyone just....did what they were told. Got on with the work. Didn't talk back. Etc. Now, in my chldren's school, there are kids running amok, literally, in the corridors, allowed to scream, flip tables, kick out at teachers, swear at everyone, grab other kids by their clothes...and the non-violent kids have been told, "Well, Jimmy has "issues", you need to understand that/"Jimmy has 'issues', you need to accomodate that"...I wish I was making it up.

Just more awareness basically. I remember a few from juniors and secondary who were just described as a bit slow but definitely had autistic traits. Our 2 local special schools have huge waiting lists. My DD is as you describe non verbal flaps her hands. She also has uncontrolled seizures.

She did go to a very good mainstream nursery. But was decided SEN school was best for her. Same with ds. I myself struggled through school especially maths. We had something called SMP card's. Apart from learning us to the basics we were basically just left to get on with it.

But a lot of the more severe were shut away in institutions. You've only got to look at how the Queen's cousins were treated. A little girl my daughter was in nursery with told me about her brother with down syndrome. Much as her parents wanted to bring him up with his siblings there was no school in our town for him that would take him back in the 60's. There was no special school no mainstream would take him.

The nearest available was Lancaster Royal Albert hospital for disabled children. They rarely took them out into the community as they do now
Term time he stayed at school and came home in the holidays. They would visit the odd weekend not very often as it ment travelling on the train with all 5 sibling. The hospital was open until the 90's.

When I was at school in the 60's/70's, children with extreme behavioural difficulties and those with disabilities or obvious additional needs didn't go to mainstream school, they went to 'special school'. Many of those would probably have been autistic, and very likely undiagnosed. They were categorised as (the truly awful) ESN.

They try to send as many children as possible to mainstream school now, (and have 1-1 support in class if they are lucky) so I'm guessing that could be part of the reason. I think that there is increased awareness of ASD and other issues, so many more are diagnosed now than would have been the case in years gone by.

I was in my mid 50's before it dawned on me that I'm probably autistic. It would never have been picked up at my school in a million years.

We didn't even have "special school" in my county/neighbouring counties.

It’s always been there but changes in society and the education system make it harder for them to exist beneath the radar/without being detected. For example, when we had a homogeneous society - ie all ‘British’ with very very clear and universally understood rules about behaviour (when to shake hands, when to wear a hat, when to have afternoon tea, how to refer to the vicar, the headmaster etc) it was easier for neurodiverse people to blend in, and for the eccentrics to be regarded as just that (the aloof professor, the village cat lady). Now we have a multicultural, ultra diverse and ever changing society where the norms change virtually with the seasons. It’s harder to socially mask when you have no effing idea whether your interviewer or client are orthodox jews, muslims, rambunctious Italians. It means that navigating every single social interaction is stressful and thus autism is more of a issue.

Add into that a school system that requires uniform behaviours, development, performance and enforces constant monitoring from the moment a child walks through the doors of reception class…

So, personally, I don’t think ASD/ND is more prevalent - I just think the world is more complicated making it harder form autistic individuals to cope as well. My kids are ASD/ADHD; but I can very clearly see the traits/behaviours in the several of the older generations of both mine and my DH’s family. They’d have been diagnosed today, but they functioned perfectly well within the structured society they lived in from 1930-2000. Today, though? Their brains would have fried.

From what I understand, in 1994 the diagnostic criteria for Autism changed. Prior to that you could only be diagnosed with autism if you had a low IQ. In 1994 autism first became recognised as a spectrum disorder. As a result many with ASD who left school around that time or prior to then would have not or have still not been diagnosed.

You do not grow out of autism.

@coxesorangepippin You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

I've reported that post, it has absolutely enraged me. The ignorance!!

For the same reason “more people” are left handed now. They are simply allowed to be and acknowledged.

The recognition has increased, not the rate at which people are left handed or are autistic.

Nor ignorance it seems.

No point pointing out the real reason as people will just jump on your comments calling you ignorant.

You could also ask similar question such as why has the prevalence of absence from work due to back pain fallen off a cliff in the last decade or 2?

what about the ones you taught that weren’t diagnosed yet? The ones who got their diagnosis at 50.
there’s possibly also an increase because it’s hereditary and people who may have traditionally been institutionalised or spinsters or bachelors (due to autism) are now marrying and having kids.

That is not what I’m saying. What i’m saying is that the genetic component has increased and accounts for a (small) part in the increase in numbers.

OMG I thought we outlawed lefthandism!

It really is defying ridiculousness now the amount of threads on this.

Probably because they were all shut away in special schools like they didn't exist. Our local SEN school old head refused to turn children away if they needed a place in a SEN school. In theory some might think it's the right thing to do. But the reality was the classes got too big for staff to manage. Especially when they get to teen years. Many of the pupils parents realised the more severe were being forgotten about my own included. So not always the best place. A lot of parents went to tribunals to get their child into independent special schools out of county.

I find that Brugha study interesting. Autism.org.uk still says today that "more than 1 in 100" (but presumably not as much as 2 in 100?!) people are autistic. But American site autismspeaks.org seems to think it's more like 2.5%.

Im a teacher, and I don't have a single class of 30 without at least one (diagnosed) autistic child. A rough calculation would suggest maybe 4% of children I teach (mainstream, non-selective secondary) have a diagnosis of autism. This seems to be an increase from that study 13 years ago.

@Bluerisotto - can you link to any studies showing 55% increase in ASD as a result of ICSI IVF please?

I think there needs to be different diagnostic for different ends of the spectrum.
Some of the reason people who struggle and find it debilitating are a world away from someone who is successful and doesn't find there asd a hindrance at all and that's where the expectation of person A also had autism and manages xyz so there's no reason why person B can't manage it and so it's thought that person B is making excuses because even person A doesn't believe person B can't manage when they both have asd.