Autism Anxiety Syndrome.

[2bazookas]

Its everywhere in MN. Every young parent seems obsessed with self-diagnosing their child. Sees baby looking away, not talking yet, flapping their little arms; waking at night , lining up their toys, biting and fighting; being naughty at school their first thought is " IS IT AUTISM? Better get an assessment ."

Its heartbreaking to see young parents stressing over perfectly normal variations in child development and behaviour.

ODFOD

If only l had been made aware of baby ASD symptoms then my daughter would have been diagnosed them and not at 16.

or …it you can end up, as we are, with a 16 year old DD, who now has a late diagnosis.. and missed all of Y10 & Y11 due to anxiety (from the undiagnosed autism) , and currently isn’t in college.

I actually agree, and not just their child, themselves too, usually on a 'I've never worked, don't like doing anything I've not chosen to do, people say I'm rude and standoffish, must be autism so bloody offensive and narrowminded to have this mindset that rude and offensive always = autisim, and absolutely uninsightful of what can really occur.

I'm currently trying to get my 16 year old DD assessed. If I hadn't been fobbed off with people telling me she was just "quirky" and "overly emotional" since she started primary school then she would have been diagnosed years ago.

Surely the sooner they're assessed the better if there's any chance at all? And if they're assessed and shown to be NT then the issues can be addressed in a different way

Bit of a goady post...

What an idiotic post!!

Wow. What a nasty post.
We do exist you know, late diagnosed women, not self diagnosed based on some fucking awful stereotypes, but diagnosed by rigorous assessments.
Not that you’d care, you’ve made it abundantly clear that you don’t give a shit.

I may have misunderstood that post. I’m not sure 🤔

‘The issues can be addressed in a difficult way’. Like how? Seriously, there is NOTHING available post-diagnosis to help. Nothing. Diagnosis is useful as it buys understanding but that it it.

No necessarily! I was fully aware as i have an older ds 28 with it and kept flagging up concerns from when my younger ds was 2, they wouldn't diagnose him until he was 10

I think that heightened awareness will result in some very normal things being noted as possible autism, but generally when the baby then does speak, stop arm flapping, stop getting upset by certain materials, the parent doesn't seek the assessment.

It can only be a good thing to have more awareness and also to have parents question these things and have sometimes very valid concerns even if the child then grows out of it?

I think a parent who wonders for a few years as their child is noise sensitive/arm flaps and then realised their child is developing in a NT way will have more understanding towards parents who end up with a ND child as they had a period of concern.

Additionally - sometimes that anxiety when your baby shakes their head excessively, doesn't make eye contact, has sensory issues, stims - is real - and it does take quite a process to get a referral, let alone an assessment - and the diagnoses will not be given unless a lot of factors line up and things are quite certain.

So even if all those parents push for referral, in reality only the children who actually have it will end up with a diagnoses, many things just lead no where as the specialists explain that stims can be very normal up to a certain age and they reassure the parents and tell them at what point to return.

If that awareness in our parenting means that even one or two more children who have autism get diagnosed earlier and have additional support in their education/external lives then for me I think it is a good thing

16 is a lot older than 10, and includes all KS3 and 4

Or we could recognise signs in children, get them assessed and diagnosed and then will be able to put things in place to support them, rather than allow them to suffer their whole life for fear for 'labelling' them.

What is with all of these posts at the moment?

I found an old post of mine the other day. Replying to the type of post you talk about, saying “oh my DD does all that, and she’s doesn’t have autism” er, yep, about that…reader, she does.

What? You've obviously just jumped on to be indigant and bitchy and try and pretend to be shocked. I have said to put it clearly...
I THINK PEOPLE WHO DEFINE BEING AUTISTIC EQUALS BEING RUDE AND STAND-OFFISH ARE WRONG AND JUDGEMENTAL AND OFFENSIVE.

I get you OP.

It's really difficult to get nuance in the written word (which is why I think this comes across as goady) - but when in real life you're having conversations with people who say things like "Bob is a little bit autistic like that" or that they're worried because their kid is violent in class that he might be autistic...when to every other person, it's clear that this kid is violent in class because mum and dad are ineffectual parents - it does wear thin.

Also, let's not discount the absurd numbers of mums (I say that because it's generally mums on this platform) with anxiety who think their kid has autism. Maybe they do, maybe they don't - but does it do anybody any good to assume that not one of these parents might be wrong?

Whenever this question is asked, people get outrageously offended, like OP is saying autism doesn't exist. We all know it does - but I'm not sure why we can't have a rational conversation about how sometimes people are quick to label behaviour that isn't problematic or even that unusual, for whatever reason that might be.

Hence the post following that one.
I’m autistic, I read your post a few times before I understood what you meant, sorry.

@MichelleScarn And to be fair I didn’t pretend to be shocked, I genuinely was, until I understood what you meant.
MN is full of anti autism trolls who do their best to belittle and dismiss what it is to be autistic.

Glad we're on same page @DogFleece !

Ha,ha...

My so called neurotypical child also is not neurotypical!