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??

I always imagine that so-called "high functioning" autism was much easier to deal with and mask in ye olden days.

I seen suggestion that modern schools are much harder environments for many children - my children have some sensory quirks and they've all struggled with noise levels in schools at times. They can be very busy in noise and visual stimuli.

They also dislike the shear amount of group work though I think that's more personality.

www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-and-child/mothers-age-affects-autism-risk/

This looks at a 'generally well conducted' study which discusses this.

Cryingoverspittea that is utter rubbish and dangerous for you to state as fact! As a sonographer I can say that ultrasound has historically been blamed for lefthandedness Which has shown to be wrong.

I honestly think this thread should be deleted.

You can't just start a thread saying "I think"... and proceed to surmise as to the reason autistic people are the way they are with no serious evidence.

How would everyone behave if OP had said "the rising number of fat people".. or "the rising number of gay people".. with absolutely no foundation except her own wondering- out- loud, awful.

raffle
Devereux1 In my experience it would be impossible to separate out. I have 2 children, one with ASD and one with ADHD. This is an incredibly common situation. Lots and lots of families I know are the same.

Yep, outward manifestations can look that way. Down in the science bit, it's more complex. Scientists are not certain. In studies, there seem to be partly shared areas in genetics for the risk of ADHD and Autism, but they still haven't managed to identify a shared genetic variant for both ADHD and Autism and brain imaging results also don't provide strong evidence for this. Maybe they will in time, maybe they won't.

Threads and discussions like this are very difficult, not least for the slightly odd tone of the original post, OP. I wouldn't go as far as others to say it was offensive, but the sentence about being financially better off when older was rather odd. But mostly, as other posters have pointed out, this has to come down to the science.

I don't think it should be deleted, I don't think there's anything wrong with discussing things, evidence is useful. However, I agree that there's a lot more monitoring and diagnosis now.

Iborgia

Why should it be deleted ?? Should every question or query be stamped down on because someone may not like it ? No.

I don't find this.thread offensive at all........it's pondering a situation. It isn't being offensive towards anybody.

btw, I don't think this thread should be deleted. I think people should be allowed to say "I think", and then back it up with why, and be challenged by others.

That's a free society, after all?

This is the sort of article I’d seen about pollution; I think I read something about rising rates in more urban areas, which is what put it in my mind.

I would like to think that the tolerance and understanding of younger generations is and will continue to be much better than previous generations, so that neurodiverse people don’t face the same levels of prejudice and lack of understanding that some have sadly done, although of course there is still a long way to go before we live in a world that can accommodate more than just NT:

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181105105414.htm

That may be the case. The other thing I consider a possibility is that there isn't in fact an increase in neuro diverse people as much as an increase in the diagnosis of neuro diverse people due to a better understanding and recognition of neuro diversity.

OP

Before contraception, women were stuck with having babies right up to menopause.

I’m 43. My mother is 81. She said there was no fuss at all aboit her age when she had me. What’s that bizarre term they use now - geriatric mother?

How many types of neuro diversity were even recognised before?

my belief is that there are much better diagnostics, plus life is far more intense and stressful so kids tend to fall off the world much earlier/more spectacularly.

I am sure this thread is like a number of conversations people have amongst their friends and family in respect of the deemed 'rise' in the number of children diagnosed.

I’ve had this conversation with my high risk obstetrician!

He truly believes it’s from an advance in science. My children would t of survived had it not been for the advances within science

Children are born smaller. More early etc. Years ago nature would of only kept the strong. Even in certain tines they still bind disabled children to a tree and leave them to die. Horrific I know.

Mothers are becoming older. But we are able to make those who would of died. Survive. And maybe that’s why?

He certainly brought up a very interesting debate we had.

Probably best to try to understand the difference between correlation and causation before posting such nonsense.

and I have asd, as does my partner, as do both my children. plus adhd

my partners sister is bipolar.

his father almost definately ASD/PDA but at 85 not likely to get diagnosed

YANBU if you have scientifically researched your theory and have evidence to back it up

YABU if you are just spouting off on the internet

How many types of neuro diversity were even recognised before?

Autism wasn't recognised until the 1940s. Seeing as a load of autistic people didn't suddenly drop from the sky in 1942 it's safe to say that it's always been around and we just didn't recognise it as such until then.

It's a weird thread (to me) because of the donning hard-hat bit. The increased chance of Down's Syndrome is pretty widely known: even if you weren't aware before pregnancy, there's the option of screening/tests in pregnancy etc.
There isn't currently any such screening for ASD so to sling it in as fact is bizarre. There's no elephant in the room, more like a unicorn.

No, it's to do with better understanding and diagnosis. My father is definitely on the autistic spectrum but never diagnosed because he's 78. His grandfather sounds as though he was too and I suspect my femaile cousin on that side is too. It's definitely a genetic predisposition in my family.

I don't think the thread should be deleted either @FoamingAtTheUterus but just imagine of she had posted AIBU to think rising levels of neuro diverse children in society is partly due to rising number of single mothers? for example.

We can all "ponder" but posting opinions without reference to research information or scientific when it comes to children with complex needs is unhelpful at the very least.

ADHD is strongly genetic with numerous studies to support this, and although distinct disorders, ASC seems to be closely associated with ADHD in terms of genetic risk factors.

I have diagnosed hundreds of adults with ADHD (previous job) and it was rare to conduct a family history and not have a parent or Grandparent with significant traits of ADHD or ASC or both, even if not diagnosed.

I don't think there's 'more of it' nowadays, its just more recognised. I've read hundreds of school reports dating back to the 1950s which if that was a school child today, they would be referred to CAMHS for a diagnosis.

Depending on your symptoms, behaviour and social background, children were previously written off as naughty, criminal, lazy, stupid or just disorganised and a 'day dreamer'.

The oldest person I diagnosed was 69 and his Dad was still alive and by the sounds of it still had significant symptoms of ADHD.

I think older mothers are entirely aware of all of the risks but often circumstances are against them conceiving earlier in life - physical, financial, relationship etc.

I would have been a considerably younger mother if I’d been able to get pregnant when we first started trying but not everyone gets to choose do they.

Thanks Gerti, my point is that OP had just plucked an idea out of the sky which has barely any more merit than Too many ultrasounds! Or Mothers absorbing energetic waves!

It's the freedom of speech argument. Toy can't say whatever your want just because you feel like having a theory.

Most of the comments I realise are valid, but the whole OP gives me the rage.