To think if ASD is costing the UK 32bn per year we need to better early screening?

[Pelot]

Autism costs the UK 32bn a year. That's more than cancer, heart disease and stroke combined.

Yet we don't routinely screen all children and get them the services they need early enough. Often the system waits until a child is so unable to cope that they become disruptive in school that a referral is made. Often families don't realise (because no one tells them) that their child is displaying multiple red flags and that they will likely have higher care needs. Those families go on to have multiple affected children because they had no idea what the care needs of the first would be. Surely getting intervention and support sooner would be more cost effective and allow families a chance to be more fully informed when making decisions about subsequent children?

I think being diagnosed in your fifties is surprisingly common. I have two family members diagnosed at that kind of age - both of whom had managed successful careers but who struggled massively in other areas.

I know I was being sarcastic, I obviously missed the mark!!

There is a threshold you need to meet and having persistent deficits in reciprocal social communication and social interaction
restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour and symptoms causing clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning to the extent you are significantly impacted in life to meet diagnosis criteria would mean you don’t function “well” in life- without support and adjustments .

Hmmm… my children have cost the taxpayer £0. Not for assessments, not for medication or therapy, not for their education (yep private education, so in fact SAVED them £7k x 8 years for each child)…

I was agreeing with you, lol.

In the nicest way, you seem quite misinformed.

You can work, be "successful" in a career and still struggle with all the things on your list.

As someone who has worked in accountancy with at least 2 (that I know of) diagnosed adults, you’re ill informed. A lot of autistic people are very capable of functioning in an important or difficult job. There are many ways in which autism can impact people and it’s doesn’t always mean they can’t function well.

Think of all the people in history who likely had autism. In fact it’s suggested that most of the great scientists may have had it. It’s a type of being human that tends to produce extremes when ability is combined with single mindedness.

To those of us who have been around a while I can assure you it is surprising. Where were all these people with autism when I was young?

This is absolute rubbish, as anyone who knows anything about autism will know. At least half the (diagnosed) autistic adults I’ve met are in work - FT as well as PT. Doesn’t mean we all “function well in the world” outside a safe, predictable routine.

Which is exactly why being able to work doesn’t clarifying somebody as functioning well in the world.

Oh don’t worry, we were there 👋mostly struggling along unaided and/or misdiagnosed

Its not inherited, just to say

Its thought at the moment to be genetic. Thats not the same as inherited. This misunderstanding is quite widespread

@CautiousLurker01 my point isn't about two specific kids..this is health economic data that goes across a massive group. But even in your case why did you pay for private? We've paid for private education because ours wouldn't cope in a state school with 30 kids. They wouldn't have gotten the social and emotional support they needed either. It's still a cost. Because I'm shouldering it privately doesn't make it an additional cost. It If I had NT kids I would have happily used the local primary school.

Many would have been medicated and sent to live in care facilities for the rest of their lives. Others would go to "special schools" and then stay at home indefinitely. The more "high functioning" would have just been seen as odd or weird or special.

Autism isn't new. It's always existed. It's just it was hidden from public view much more often in the past.

Apologies, I think I misread your post. I thought you were saying the reverse 🤦‍♀️

Being successful in your career doesn’t mean you function well in life. I have family members who had seemingly “successful” careers however they absolutely couldn’t be described as functioning well in life.

Considering autism is supposed to massively impact social relationships, it is a bit surprising that so many have no trouble with relationships and having children.

How are we defining "functioning"?

Lots of people with autism go to work every single day and get through the week without any (visible) issues. But they then go home and melt down, or shutdown completely. On the surface, those people manage just fine.

Others can't cope with work and will melt down or get too overwhelmed to even make it through an hour or two in the work environment.

The former aren't necessarily coping any better than the latter, they just manage to keep the mask on for a bit longer, that's all.

I agree 100% with this. But yes, get your flameproof suit out.

@gamerchick That's not true at all. There's a lot of scientific literature to support that spacing DOES significantly impact the chance of a child being autistic. Perhaps educate yourself before being so rude.

This link is fairly easy to read but there are plenty of others and pubmed will give you lots of the articles.

autism.org/pregnancy-spacing-may-affect-odds-of-asd/

JFC, what a comment. Are you quite alright?!

There is a whole lot of uneducated nonsense on this thread.

Just because something impacts social relationships, doesn't mean you can't have a marriage and a family, though

There's a reason why lots of ND people end up married to other ND people...