to think rising levels of neuro diverse children in society is partly due to rising ages of pregnant mothers?

[staydazzling]

im not condeming anything here btw, i would like to make that clear. and i know this may not go down well on here, donning hard hat but whenever theres discussions about how neurological diversity in children has risen ASD, ADHD etc in society, the conversion is often about MMR Ipads or diet, discipline etc which of course all important variables but i feel its unhelpful that a lot of would be mothers are not informed of the risk past 35, of downs syndrome, autism etc, its obviously much better financially to be older and have a family. aibu to feel its the elephant inthe room regarding rising levels of children with ASD, ADHD, Etc??

MsJaneAusten
The SENCO who allowed exam concessions for the children you’re judging will have read it multiple times and applied it fairly.
I don't even think you are discussing what I am discussing.

Don’t use exam concessions as another stick to beat parents with.
WTF. I'd like you to quote anything I said which is doing this. What is the discussion you think in your head we are having?

I have ADHD I was diagnosed age 40 my daughter also has it too she is 8. There were no iPads etc when I was a child.

It's extremely genetic and I can see it's come from my paternal line x
I wish it was diagnosed when I was younger it would have meant a childhood of being understood academically.
My mum also never had any scans with me so that discounts that theory

@Devereux1 That is not how a dyslexia diagnosis works. It doesn't make sense. Senco has to approve exam exemption they know all the tricks.
Report it.

@Devereux1 That is not how a dyslexia diagnosis works.

It may not be how it's meant to work, but it has worked exactly as I have described for several sets of cheating teenage children that I personally know.

It doesn't make sense. Senco has to approve exam exemption they know all the tricks.

No evidence needs to be provided for dyslexia. Happy to be corrected on this. It is self-reported in these schools I am referring to, and after a little digging, believed it to be nationwide.

@Devereux1- I think you’re trying to say that parents pretend their children have disabilities in order to get exam concessions. If that’s not what you’re saying then I apologise. What point did you think you were making?

I have always wondered if it might be the contraceptive pill that has caused any illness.

MsJaneAusten
@Devereux1 I think you’re trying to say that parents pretend their children have disabilities in order to get exam concessions

No. I described the factual incidents of some parents and teenagers that I personally know who have done this and openly admitted to doing it. They have pretended their children have disabilities in order to get exam concessions.

I fail to see how you can a) disagree with pure fact and b) regard this fact as using exam concessions as another stick to beat parents with.

I have always wondered if it might be the contraceptive pill that has caused any illness.

Autism is not an illness, it's a neurodevelopmental condition with marked differences in the brain.

And it is not caused by the contraceptive pill.

An awful lot has changed over the last couple of decades. We have WiFi signals in our homes, radiation and other kinds of waves from phones, laptops etc. Also the food we eat is becoming more processed and modified. Parents today are embryos that were exposed to a lot of this too and now their babies are in turn.

I think there is a genetic link. A lot of people I know with autistic children have more than one with it, or other issues in the family.

Colleagues working in the nursery who have been in the industry many years say it is showing up more frequently now in our area.

As for parental factors and fathers being more likely to pass on conditions when they are older, it kind of makes sense. The eggs were formed when the mother was a foetus so the DNA was formed then. Men are making sperm all the time so new ones will be being made from older versions of that persons DNA and copying more changes.

Getting extra time in exams or any other concession (supervised breaks) etc doesn't mean you'll pass, you either know the answers or you don't so it's not a particular advantage. You could have all the time in the world but if you don't know the answers, you don't know them.

It's been a loooong time since my GCSE and A levels but I remember several being hours long and being deathly bored in a silent room as i'd finished but we weren't allowed to leave before a set time before the end. I'd wonder why a neurotypical child would want extra time when having it doesn't magically increase their ability to know the answers.

I'm another one who's never known a child get e.g extra time without a diagnosis either, but that's by the by.

Turnyourlightsdownlo
Getting extra time in exams or any other concession (supervised breaks) etc doesn't mean you'll pass, you either know the answers or you don't so it's not a particular advantage. You could have all the time in the world but if you don't know the answers, you don't know them

Eh? Of course having extra time is an advantage! There is a reason exams have a set duration, a reason why the questions are designed according to the ability to suitably answer them within a given time, and a reason why so many children end up doing poorly/poorer than if those who had longer to think about the answers/draw clearer diagrams/plan their answers, because they ran out of time.

Devereux1. Exactly, you made the point yourself.

"There is a reason exams have a set duration, a reason why the questions are designed according to the ability to suitably answer them within a given time"

So yeah, the exams are designed to take a certain amount of time for an average neurotypical child plus time for checking. There are months of mock exams and in-class 'exam question practice' plus previous exam papers given for them to take home so children get to practice under timed conditions and develop and hone their time management skills. They also know the length of all the exams beforehand so are prepared. They're not just chucked in an exam hall on the day and surprised with 'right, you've got 2 hours, ready set go'.

An inability to complete an exam in the time needed would suggest some kind of learning difficulty, whether you agree or not.

But extra time still won't make a difference if you don't know the answers.

I'm a mother of a 2 year old and a newborn. I'm 44 and not offended.
I think there's a link with father's age. It's odd you only considered the mother. In fact I read one study that said actually that older mothers have lower fertility and many more miscarriages due to abnormalities but the babies who do make it through the tough selection process at our age are healthier than the average!

@hopefulhalf the "jury" may be out according to you, but can you please link the medical journals which prove that maternal age is a factor? No you cannot, because this ignorance to facts is astounding.

Are more babies actually born with downs to older mothers, obviously the risks are much increased. However I thought because they would be so aware of the higher risks they would have more testing earlier and have anmio etc. Certainly all the downs babies I know were born to very young mothers whilst I know several older mothers who have had terminations due to results of testing.

Even if more older fathers have children with ASD than younger fathers that does not prove it is their age that causes it. It could support the fact that it is genetic for example if it were the case that men with ASD often start their families later (on average, obviously not everyone). Certainly that has been what I have observed.

I think there's a link with father's age
This is another theory as DF ages varies as do their IQ.
DP was 26 and 31 when we had DC.
Are more babies actually born with downs to older mothers, obviously the risks are much increased I don't think so my uncle with downes was my Nan's 2nd child she had 7 after him all fine.
Lots of young mothers give birth to Downes syndrome babies.

Oh and Devereux 1. You seem to think its the school that grants extra time or other exam adjustments.

It is not. They have to make an application to the Joint Council for Qualifications. Click on the link below and you can download their policies and see what evidence they require of 'significant and persistent difficulties' in terms of SEN and how applications will be rejected if this is not provided so you have been misinformed of 'parent diagnosed conditions' or claims of diagnoses with no supporting evidence.

www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/access-arrangements-and-special-consideration/regulations-and-guidance/access-arrangements-and-reasonable-adjustments-2019-20

There is a reason exams have a set duration, a reason why the questions are designed according to the ability to suitably answer them within a given time, and a reason why so many children end up doing poorly/poorer than if those who had longer to think about the answers/draw clearer diagrams/plan their answers, because they ran out of time.

You don't seem to understand specific learning difficulties. I raised concerns with the school about DD2 from age 12. I had her assessed privately by a speech and language therapist, and a leading neuro-educational psychologist at 16. The psychologist detailed in her report how DD2 cannot extract much meaning from language. She has to read a sentence or replay what she heard in her mind three times to work out what it means while more language is pouring in. She can't follow instructions or recipes or films or books or conversations, unless its short answers to her questions. She has difficulties with planning and organisation, including her thoughts - she spends an hour a day, looking for her phone and keys. She forgets all appointments, unless they text her reminders. She finds it difficult to put thoughts together - for instance, she can't write a story. She cannot visualise from language - such as describe what a scene in a book looks like.

The psychologist recommended 25% extra time in exams to give her more time to read the questions; plan her work and read it over (as she makes silly mistakes).

She was in a such a state about her A-levels (being suicidal), we only got her to take them at all, by taking her to the GP, who prescribed her Prozac.

The local state school refused to give her extra time in her A-levels, saying there should be a level playing field.

I had to threaten to take them to court for disability discrimination; and then they allowed her extra time in the rest of her A levels.

After being suicidal 6 times in her first year at university, she was diagnosed by a the mental health team with ADD. Imo, the stupidity of her school, while not the main factor, contributed to her mental health problems connected to studying. What is the point of a teacher telling her in the 6th form she was scatty - when that is exactly what ADD is like, and it has disastrous effects on self esteem?

DD did not do better than a "normal" child of comparable intelligence and abilities, because she got extra time in exams - all it did was give her time to read the question three times, which she needed to understand it, where the "normal" child could understand it first time of reading it!

It is a complete myth that there are increasing levels of neuro diversity. Prevelance studies carried out since the 1950/60s show a consistent level. What has changed is diagnosis levels.

My husband didn't get diagnosed in the 70s, I didn't get diagnosed in the 80s, my dd didn't get diagnosed in the 90s. Yet since 2000 all of us plus my son have been diagnosed. So is that a 400% increase in autism in our family or a 400% increase in diagnosis with the actual level being the same through 50 years?

It is a complete myth that there are increasing levels of neuro diversity.

You say that with a level of confidence I haven't come across anywhere.

Prevelance studies carried out since the 1950/60s show a consistent level.
How was prevalence measured if not by diagnosis?

Please please please can people not regret to autism as a 'disorder of the mind' or a 'mental health condition' caused by 'deterioration of egg quality or sperm quality' as people age?

Autism is NOT a mental health condition, nor is it a sign of a mental impairment.

FFS.

Were Alan Turing, Einstein and Isaac Newton mentally deficient? No.

*refer not regret

And to any poster who suggests that parents 'request' a diagnosis for DLA etc.

Seriously - educate yourselves