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?

I've been teaching 23 years & there used to be maybe a couple in a year with autism & only a handful needing some special consideration during exams. We have now got around 30 each year needing to sit at edge of room, separate room, reader, extra time, a scribe etc... they are sometimes not diagnosed with anything but just anxious. I feel sorry for them - but it's hard to manage I would think for exams office.

Parents are much more direct about asking for these things. Students too.

I actually think school, if run efficiently, is probably a good environment for some autistic children due to the routine of doing the same thing each day/week/year.

We need some good quality research to answer the question reliably. This feels like it could be a very polarising debate. It feels like some people want to shut the debate down as the question is offensive to them.

In my experience the number of non verbal children in early primary school years has increased greatly in 10 years. The vast majority have a diagnosis of ASD. We are doing children and families a disservice if we do not understand this. Hopefully understanding will lead to support.

Born in the 80s. One of my brothers, now early 40s is definitely autistic but currently undiagnosed. So I think it's always been around just not as much knowledge of it.

For my DB, a diagnosis would most definitely have improved his quality of life. When he was younger he was hospitalised for something most definitely related for weeks and weeks on end which I am sure will have had a lasting effect on him. It still bothers me now and I would have been about 5 at the time. He gets by in life, even manages to hold down a full time job but there have been highs lows and worries that maybe would not have happened had he been diagnosed as a child. Really hope he is diagnosed in the near future. He is becoming lonely and it makes me sad.

The amount of teachers on here who clearly have no understanding of masking is worrying tbh.

When I went to school no one had heard of autism.

But there were plenty of kids who went off to spend time with the 'remedial' teacher. Others who were 'naughty' children. And there were still special needs schools open and so those with more needs were not mainstreamed.

I bet a lot of these kids were on the spectrum.

Firstly, anybody who thinks it is easy to get an autism diagnosis clearly hasn't got a clue of the length and depth of that process. Fortunately we now understand the condition far better. I knew very little about it until my son was flagged and subsequently diagnosed. I had to educate myself. As a result of this, I could see very clearly that my ex husband is autistic. My ex father in law is autistic (diagnosed in his 70's). There is a long line of autistic children on my mother's side of the family. Looking back, my mother's brother was almost certainly autistic. I can think of many people who I went to school with who fit that profile. I'm 54 years old so we are going back many years.

In my father's day, children were often institutionalised. So they weren't at school being "different" or masking. There was zero understanding of the condition, so people were often labelled as disruptive, idiotic, unable to focus. I recall seeing my ex husband'a school reports and he was utterly failed. This was because of ignorance. Autism is genetic. I have been asked to take part in a research study with my son in terms of genetic links. That will be useful I hope. So no, not everybody is on the spectrum, people are rarely, if ever, "misdiagnosed" and if you or your partner has it, the chances are so will your children.

think About the fact that girls were almost never diagnosed in the 80s and 90s. Girls tend to present very differently than boys. They also tend to be better at masking and thus better at integrating into neurotypical society.

society also had a huge growth in stem careers which attracted the highly intelligent ASD children who were capable of integration. There is a place for us to thrive as adults in today’s society. These companies and institutions tend to accept our ND much more easily than the rest of society as a whole. Since we flocked together in these places, we met other ND individuals, married, and made wonderful ND babies.

A parking one finally 😂

Its actually nuts how often this is queried on here seriously!

Yep, so true. There is a genetic link

I am neurodiverse ( dyslexia and I suspect autism) and my oldest DD is on the spectrum too (waiting list) we are both high functioning but understanding from others is key. I also believe my mum is neurodiverse.

I agree. It's absolutely shocking.

An ever growing obsession to label people and put them into boxes.

I wasn’t diagnosed as a child. I was well behaved but often practically mute, very anxious and without friends. I was no bother to anyone though. My son is the same, now diagnosed with asd and receiving friendship support and social skills help and counselling for his anxiety. The increase in diagnosis is a good thing

My opinion is it’s more adults finding partners that are also neurodiverse or autistic and breeding due to internet dating and more opportunities to take employment out of your immediate community. There were naughty out of control children in school in the 80’s and the system forced many out through exclusion and forced more to mask and hide issues massively. I remember fidgety kids and I zoned out a lot, I didn’t look naughty on the face of it. Personally growing up my parents were very authoritarian and physically punished us, so we held it in mostly. As attitudes have changed children are more respected and hitting or smacking is illegal, so children shouldn’t experience having to repress so much to save their lives. On the flip side it part of the metal health crisis as parents cannot control certain children and blame themselves.

Children are born with Autism, parents don’t force iPads on them and they suddenly turn like zombies. I really hate this whole narrative about diet and screen time. Children can be challenging, many may indeed have more screen time than you think ideal, but that can be because they need more decompression time and an experience that is nothing to a “normal” child like going to a shop to buy milk is a big experience for a child with a different way of processing the experience.

I have two children with extremely limited diets and they don’t even like chicken nuggets, they mostly ate everything as babies, I was crunchy as it comes. It just is a stage where they need more control on their diet, or can’t manage certain textures, you cannot do anything, but offer them things, they need to eat. So if it’s a certain crisp, that is always the same in flavor, texture and quantity then so be it, it’s a form of consistency and control in an unpredictable world. It’s not causing it it’s a symptom of it.

I do very occasionally judge other parents of Autistic children ( in my head), because it is sometimes easier not to try things, but I also understand it’s is majorly hard to try things for your child and hard on you when it goes wrong ( and the mental worry even if it goes fine) . So there, parenting is all judgement but at least don’t pedal wrong information.

I was at school in the 80s, looking back there were def autistic kids although undiagnosed at that time. Some kids they’d probably just be left colouring as there was no national curriculum or national testing like sats that schools got assessed on, so a sizeable majority of kids left school in those days not being able to read or write

This must be it. Everyone needs a 'label' and for it to be clear and concise so the NT people can understand it in it's most basic form. CHrist.

I do think it's definitely a spectrum but I think there is more blurring at the milder end with people just outside the spectrum who would be traditionally viewed as 100% neurotypical. So I do think that more and more people could be viewed as very mildly autistic. But generally it makes minimal impact on their life. They can get by. They have never had a diagnosis. Certainly now with the numbers involved, as children their "differences" are not severe enough for schools to pursue a diagnosis because councils are just so underfunded now that a child has to be quite severely autistic to get a diagnosis and funding for a one to one. The children who get anxious over changes to routine or who struggle at lunchtime in noisy playgrounds or dining hall just don't warrant pursuit of a diagnosis from an ed psych, and never have if they've masked well and generally done ok academically.

But maybe as they've got older they've wondered. I think more and more people are falling into this group but only a tiny percentage of those pursue an official diagnosis in adulthood. The rest in this group just acknowledge themselves as a bit quirky and generally manage to find a like-minded partner and a job which suits. I just view this group as becoming more and more of a "norm" generally.

DRINK!

Yea that makes sense as most people were very intolerant of anyone who was slightly different or quirky

Well I can’t speak for anyone else, but I just went and got a diagnosis of ASC because I couldn’t be arsed to parent DS properly. The DLA comes in pretty handy too.

Said nobody, ever.

Yes, me too. Some very high achieving too. I suspect i have adhd. My husband is diagnosed and i have a child diagnosed too.

You do realize that children with autism are just as likely to be advanced as to need remedial instruction.

I know I’m biased because I’m surrounded by people whose autism comes with high iq, but it is quite irksome to see this trotted out repeatedly.

A lot of autistic, bright children were given remedial instruction though….

My ExDH is almost certainly has undiagnosed autism and yet he has an exceptionally high IQ and has a very high flying career. At (private) school in the 90s they didn’t know what to make of him so he was out in the “special” class despite having no learning difficulties, just being different

I think people who are not autistic should not comment on something they know absolutely nothing about.
How would you like autistic people to question your neurotypical behaviour and how you should be trained and disciplined to behave autistic because autistic individuals would feel more comfortable if you were more like them.

I did remidial maths as a child. The first of my qualifications was to qualify as an accountant.

The thread isn't talking about people from 40-50 years ago though. It was asking about recent increases in prevalence.