To think autism gets worse with each generation

[eastereggg]

Genuine question.

Why does it seem that autism gets worse with each generation?

Example: a mother is a late diagnosed autistic but her child is very clearly autistic and displays much more severe characteristics than she did. The grandmother would probably be diagnosed autistic today as well.

There seems to be a recurring pattern that I'm seeing where autism is getting more severe with each generation. Is there an explanation for this?

One of the biggest concerns I have about society is the increase in noise pollution and I think autistic children are unaware of the severe effect the background hum of modern human life has on them. It took me decades to understand my own mental and physical response to noise (as an autistic adult).

My frequent periods of suicidality are directly linked to noise (machinery used nearby, cars idling outside, more air traffic, more road noise, people's loud music, distant vibrations being felt as tension throughout my body) and it has become noticeably worse over the past few years, obviously with the increase in population and selfishness.

I don't know if this has exacerbated autism as such, but I think it makes it harder for us to function and it causes a lot of suffering, hence the recent "autism epidemic".

Your last sentence seems to back up the OP's point.

It’s true for my family. It’s also true that my family started having children later in life which I also thought was a link.

I think women were more likely to mask (then have 'nervous breakdowns' in their 30s and 40s of they were married).
Men either found themselves married, and effectively lived in their garage or shed, tinkering with things or collecting or train/bird/plane spotting.
Unmarried ones may have lived at home (mummy's boy) or lived alone (he's a bit odd, but harmless).
Children who didn't or couldn't conform went to special schools.

There is a strong seam running through my family, all the way to my ds.

I also suspect some autistic people end up with adhd people.

i disagree.

There's autism in my family and I've taught many children on the spectrum. I've taught children where - for want of a better way of expressing it - the autism is much more obvious in the mother.

FWIW, I was diagnosed with OCD when I was in my 30s, but it's since been suggested that I have ASD and ADHD - which makes a lot of sense for various reasons.

I'm fairly sure that my mum was on the spectrum and various other family members - usually described as "shy". My cousin's son was finally diagnosed with Asperger's. If anything, my cousin is even more "shy" than his son.

Very true in my husband's family

This.

They were often ostracised from society or kept on the fringes and probably didn't thrive or procreate

Can also be the other way round. Several of my Dad's cousins are/were autistic, none of his or their children are.

Yes, I think the language has changed too. You don't hear 'shy' much anymore. Ds seems shy in public, but that's because he's not coping with the social side and needs to be prodded into 'normal' behaviours. In class, he's quiet. But give him a topic he's passionate about and he'll hold the floor. Won't look at you, mind, and if he's very engaged, you might see him fighting not to flap, like when he was young.

I was attracted to to a partner who is also an undiagnosed autistic
both our kids are SEND diagnosed and have EHCp
like attracts like
and I’ve only just spotted mil traits which have magnified since being widowed , as soon as I said it out loud to my partner I was like “doh!” How could I have not noticed her traits for last 12 years!!! they were there clear as day, I just “ got” her and we all get along nicely as we respect each other idiosyncrasities

There are a few younger members of our family who are developing typically or otherwise do not need ‘early intervention’, and the older ones who are undiagnosed adults would probably be on a pathway to diagnosis or have been diagnosed if they were born today IMO, just as my DC is. It’s only through more awareness that I’ve advocated for my child that we’ve had any intervention at all whereas even back when I was a child and lining toys up, not being hugely sociable and reading early, these were not ‘red flags’ as they are nowadays. So, politely I still disagree with the original statement.

My oldest son has autism and we thought he was quite a handful...he is now 18. Our 6 year old is going through the diagnosis never ending merry go round and he is a lot "worse" should I put it
For example...
He refuses to stop using pull ups despite being fully able to do number 2 on the toilet, he refuses to wee any other way
He HATES having his teeth brushed
He HATES having his nails cut
He won't let me wash his hair or he screams the house down
He refuses to eat or drink if im not with him or giving him the food
He hates escalators
He hates lifts
He can only cope with school for 4 hours a day not 6
There's about 100 other little things but these things were not an issue for my older son yet he got high rate DLA and a spot in a special autism school. My youngest gets mid care dla and I'm having to fight tooth and nail to get him a special school

Definitely the case with my former colleague.

The theory that autism gets "worse" with each generation seems to be based on the assumption that autism is a fairly new thing, which has existed since maybe 1900. In my opinion the same collection of traits has been around for hundreds of years, and the difference is in the way we live, interact and diagnose.

Possibly.
As far as my generation goes, any autism would be beaten, threatened and degraded from us, unless a heavy form, where you would be confined to a "care place".
Bastards.

I think this is very true. My late DMIL was undiagnosed autistic. On paper and at first sight, more easily living in the world than her DS (my DH) who is diagnosed. But actually, I think stronger traits. She just developed work arounds, went into a profession where being intense and straightforward was ok (though I think rubbed people up the wrong way more than average), her special interest was her family, her dysregulation was more forgiven because she was a small woman not a large man getting physical, etc.

I actually think it's gone the other way in our family: my DH is less affected than his DM, our DS is apparently not as badly affected as DH was as a child (in part because we realised sooner and people are generally more adaptable to neurodivergence now than 30 years ago). DS is very small so no way to know how he'll ultimately be affected but he's not what people would think of as "severely autistic" - mainstream school, has friends, very bright. The kind of autism that runs in DH's family has lots of traits that are beneficial, as well as the disabling traits.

And for people asking if ND people ever gave NT kids - it's definitely happened in my DHs family, where there are several generations with both ND and NT people. No reason to suspect our DD is anything other than NT (I am NT).

There's a lot more pressure these days. And it starts from the moment kids start school. All kids must be above average! (The government really don't understand how this works!) which means from reception it's work work work - know your phonics, read, do maths, SATs, OFSTED, GCSEs, A levels, must get As in all subjects or you're a failure, and let the school down.

When I was at primary school it was very easy going, we did our topics, did art, PE, etc, there was no pressure or before and after school sessions in year 6 in the mad dash to get you up to scratch for SATs.

When my youngest (adhd and autistic) was at primary it was maths and English, maths and English. Only those, with one PE session a week, as SATs were the be all and end all. None of the promised sessions to help him were delivered,but I knew that once he reached year 6 they'd panic and up the pressure on him, so I took him out and home educated him.

I really struggled with the transition to secondary, so much so I was referred to a child psychologist (no idea what the result of that was - I told him what I thought he'd want to hear, rather than my actual feelings) and floundered badly.

I was diagnosed autistic at 45, after going through the diagnostic process with my youngest and doing all the questionnaires thinking "but I do that, that's me" I probably have adhd too, but haven't pursued a diagnosis.

My second is also autistic, but has learning disabilities, so when going through his diagnosis it didn't even occur to me that it was from me. I thought it was all from my ex's side of the family - lots of, what was then Asperger's, diagnosed or apparent in my kids cousins.

Obviously my son would have been sent to a home back in the day, not seen out and about in public.

My brother is sadly dead, but he definitely had adhd, noticeable from a young age. He was just a "naughty boy" though, and a fidget, and hyperactive. Nothing wrong with him at all, oh no.

I'm happy to now have a label of autistic, rather than the labels I grew up with - stupid, slow, unorganised, messy, dreamer. I'm glad my youngest son doesn't have to go through life wondering why he's different and being labelled like that.

It’s the diagnosis in the children that causes the adults to seek a diagnosis for themselves?

For the "plural of anecdote is not data" posters, you're misusing this argument. It's perfectly reasonable for somebody to postulate theories based on the evidence of their own eyes - this is, after all, often the first step in many scientific discoveries. What wouldn't be reasonable would be for the OP to try to make public policy based on anecdote, without proper scientific research to back it up. But she's not doing this - she's simply starting a discussion.

Despair at the amount of misinformation being spouted on this thread

Very interesting question OP and I wonder if it’s genetics or environment or both. I do notice this in my unscientific sample of parents I know

Often though, particularly with women, we are finding they have presented to medical professionals many times over the years and been misdiagnosed. It's very very common to find women who have been incorrectly medicated because their diagnosis was wrong. It's not because they didn't have supper needs it's simply that they were not accurately diagnosed.

Name changed for this, but honestly I believe we were smacked and hit, so those who could hide it did hide it, but it eventually caused later life problems.
Going back further, put in institutions.
I think today's autistic children are subjected to more overstimulating environments too, noise from TVs and various gadgets, heavier traffic, bigger class sizes, so can become more overwhelmed.

There are four problems contributing in my family:

1. the tech industry has made ASD DH and me into a big success so we had a child together who is more ASD.

2. Something has gone wrong with food so that DS gets terrible reactions to it.

3. The NHS has no policy for to help ASD health problems.

4. The school system doesn't work for ASD kids in the way that it did in the 90s. The screens are everywhere and it is too much.

Poor DS is on his knees.

I think modern life makes it hard for people with autism now. My grandfather and one of his siblings was most likely autistic, but their life was completely different to my DS who has autism. Grandfather lived in a small, quiet village. There was no TV, not even street lights, and certainly no internet. His clothes were made of natural materials and plain and simple. Food was pretty simple, too. By the sounds of things, his parents weren't too fussed about what he did at school. There wasn't too much pressure on him, and he chose to pursue a career in carpentry. Happy in a shed on his own, just how he liked it.

My DS lives in a town that is always bright, smelly and noisy. He goes to a large school that is also bright, smelly and noisy. I do buy natural clothing where I can, but obviously there are a lot of man made fibres around and he hates the feeling of those. He's only just turned 10, but already has SATs pressure, and school want him to be 'ready for secondary'. It's just too much pressure too young. I really do believe if my DS had the same life as my grandfather, he would be able to cope so much better.