Autism rate unbelievable

[OneShyLimeBird]

I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but the rate of autism has increased so much that I am doubting my own high functioning diagnosis, and the diagnoses of many others. The meaning of autism has expanded so much that virtually every other child has it. It used to be so rare, I’m not saying your child doesn’t have needs but you used to have to meet a much higher threshold to be diagnosed with autism that it’s now lost all meaning. It can’t all be autism.

Ive said on many a thread that one day there should be a way to detect it on a brain scan because we do the same with things like dementia etc. Ive been shouted down with that as well, not sure why

So it wouldnt surprise me if there are growing techniques in this area, we are talking about neurological misfunctioning, so why wouldnt it show as different? Im not a neurologist however !

@OneShyLimeBird you're wrong. It CAN show up. Part of the issue is that it doesn't show up identically in every person with autism . It can present in different and show different changes in various people, including not at all. The other issue is that some changes in the brain CAN have other causes.

This is why it isn't currently used as a diagnosis tool, and as a research tool.

Maybe in the future...

Autism shows in brain scans, take a look at Temple Grandin’s website, I believe she has her images on display there. I have pictures of my own scanned by

Well there you are, in years to come it will be a diagnosis tool no doubt, saving time, resources and misdiagnoses

Or maybe advances in genome sequencing and gene research. Or maybe both. That's the future though.

From a quick Google it's seems that the scans are not actually very accurate. They pick up differences in the brain but those differences could have several others causes such as adhd, brain injury and trauma.

It's interesting. I'll have to read more .

im also an autistic woman and just came here to say that ‘high functioning’ is really horrid

Thank you! I quite agree.

"Low support needs" would be a more accurate description.

I didn't read that post as the modern environment causing autism, rather that the modern environment exposes autism. Which is it easier to mask in: a three person office or a thirty person open plan office?

"Low support needs" would be a more accurate description.

Not really. A so called 'high functioning' autistic person can have areas where they need a high level of support.

Yes and not all high functioning/Aspgergerers find this horrific, my sibling doesnt and will describe themselves as that

Yabvu.

Can we have links please to back up your ridiculous claims. Research says 1.7% children have it which is way off your ridiculous claims of virtually every other child. The threshold is not much higher and it has not lost meaning. The areas a diagnosis is based on have to show significant impact on life.

So links please!

Teenage rebellion and lack of eye contact are not going to get any teen an autism diagnosis.

Here's the thing. My grandfather struggled to hold down a job. In the end he remarried when he was 50 and his wife went out to work whilst he stayed home and looked after his son. He became ever more reclusive. He became actively unwilling to break his routines including to see his other son.

It was only when died that my dad began to grasp how bad it was. He'd kept lists of everything he'd bought since the 1970s.

His son clearly has similar issues. He's never moved out. He's obsessive about football and cricket scores but doesn't want to actually go watch them. He can't look after himself. My parents have been trying to gently encourage his mum to get a diagnosis for him. There's definitely something there.

We know there are others in the extended family going back several generations who had issues.

My uncle and grandfather managed to cope because they've been supported by a woman to live day to day since they were both children. That's less easy now because so many parents have no choice but for both to work. It makes it harder for individuals to 'disappear' into society if you will.

Apparently, 1 in 3 children have autism and the diagnosed rate has increased by over 700 percent in 20 years. You can find the information yourself online

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/04/uk-increase-autism-diagnoses-neurodiversity

1 in 3? Where are those figures from please? Link?

It might be a typo, its 1 in 36, so a rate of about 2.5% of the population

Lumping me and you in the same category as non-verbal people with severe symptoms feels like a disservice to those people.

But do you feel it’s a disservice to say two people with cancer (both stage four but very different symptoms) shouldn’t be lumped together? Just because a condition can impact people differently doesn’t take away from the fact both have it. Yes, the extremities aren’t comparable but the condition is there nonetheless.

As OP says every other child seems to be autistic, surely her 1in 3 wouldn't be a typo. So link please OP for this 1in 3 figure?

I personally think that 1 in 3 is too high a rate and 2.5% is too low. I think that 1 in 8 is more realistic.

It makes me angry still that I had to battle for a diagnosis that was so obvious, and it still took years of appointments with paediatricians, Ed Psychs, SALT and OTs. My friend’s child was diagnosed after a single zoom appointment during lockdown.

Was that really all there was to it though? One of my children was diagnosed after a single (in person) appointment but school had sent off the referral with pages of evidence from them, ed psych and SALT. Then it was assessed to see if the referral was enough to be accepted (it was) and then it went to a questionnaire stage. There were half a dozen questionnaires for parents and school to complete with some having a recommended time of over an hour. That was then assessed again to see about progressing. Then there was something for the child to do to see about progressing again. Therefore, by the time it got to the final assessment with a multi disciplinary team, there had already been a huge amount of input that was all used as part of the assessment decision.

@OneShyLimeBird 1 in 36 children actually . Even using the highest estimates, the number of people with autism is 1.5 million.

So where exactly did you get your 1 in 3 numbers?