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?

Some wouldn't have been in mainstream education -many would have been institutionalised, in special schools, or in the youth justice system because without the adjustments we now understand autistic people would have struggled in education.
Others existed but they masked enough to not be noticed. They would often have been those who were in inappropriate sexual relationships, struggled with friendships, were high-achieving but put themselves under pressure, used drugs or alcohol to deal with sensory overload, or experienced eating disorders.

They were the 'naughty kids' in school, the ones who were seen by the other students as 'dumb'. I can look back and see things in fellow students (and myself) that people viewed differently. Or they might have been the super achievers, the overly compliant ones who were maybe a bit quirky and different (that describes me more).

Descriptions of people with ND traits go back to ancient times.

I love my DS but I’m sick to death of people pretending like having a very severely impaired child with crazy high support needs doesn’t entirely ruin the whole families lives. I had to leave work, there’s no wrap around care, holiday care, baby sitters, he’s violent and you literally cannot blink or he’s injured himself or burnt the house down. It’s shit, I can’t fathom why people aren’t more honest about how awful it is. Doesn’t mean I don’t love him but you know…shitty life

@cookingthebooks My eldest is also autistic, but, unlike your DS, he’s verbal, can cope with our childminder and manages in mainstream school with support. Family life is still really hard, so I can’t even imagine what it’s like for you. So just a big hug for you as, yeah, nobody will get it unless they’ve lived it xx

In what way do you think they would have different lives?

I work with children (and their families) and I can tell you now the children that will go on to (and continue) to be involved with the criminal justice system.

Some refuse to take ADHD medication, some take it but it makes little difference. With ASD some may be at specialist school having 1-1 support but are still committing crimes or have behaviours which will risk crime, particularly sexual crime when they are caught/older.

I totally agree. My autistic son has had a huge stream of professionals involved over the last few years. Educational Psychologists, Autism Teachers, Disability Social Workers just for a start. So many meetings, but none actually meet him or offer anything tangible. Turnover of professionals is endless, and so we keep going back over the same info over and over. The money wasted is phenomenal and all it leads to is stress with no support.

Wow thanks OP. Make those of us with autistic children feel even worse, why don't you?!?!

so was it prevalent in Elizabethan times and we just don't know about it?

We do know about it, it just wasn't known as autism then.

People would end up on the streets, in mental institutions or being put to death. Women would likely be tried and killed as witches.

I don't think my son , young teen, has cost the taxpayer a penny yet. Autistic, ADHD. Gaslit by school, doctor, assessing body within the LA who flat out refused to assess.

Now in mainstream, nightmare.

I'm willing to bet he's cost you as parents a pretty penny though. That's the reality for many parents of ND kids. I know we have funded it almost entirely ourselves.

@VivienneDelacroix Albert Einstein was believed by all who knew & worked with him, to be Autistic!

Actually that is incorrect, any diagnosis is based on meeting the diagnostic criteria. Gaining DLA/PIP/Children’s disability payment Scotland is where is depends on the impact on day to day life.

My boyfriend is autistic, and when he went to his GP to get a referral for assessment, his GP revealed he was autistic too.
They walk among us! Who knew?
My boyfriend is in a professional job (needs post graduate qualifications for it), but he struggles hugely in pretty much everything else.

Without the autistic people, many fields that involve creativity and discovery would have suffered. Being able to think and look at things differently can be an asset.

@Kuch3n
Unfortunately anyone who wants a diagnosis can get one completely devaluing it. Private clinics have 100% diagnosis rates according to my gp friend. For some people who are successful in life they want a diagnosis of something to validate why they are not outgoing and sociable. Can you tell my friend doesn't approve, he's uncomfortable with diagnosis in adults

I have a question and I hope I'd don't offend but I don't know where I'd find this information.

If autism is genetic, how is it that couples can have one child with autism and another without? Surely the genes are the same from both parents for both children?

And why is it that some people can function in the world, have successful careers and families etc and others are non verbal, aggressive, unable to use the bathroom but have the same "condition" if that's the right word.

Only if it's matched by a huge increase in accessibility to later terminations.

And then there would be posts questioning why the rate of terminations had gone up.

This is so offensive. You know you can have sex and get pregnant without being particularly adept socially? You know that you might struggle with social relationships generally but be able to form close relationships on an intimate scale?
This is a bit like saying "it's surprising you can read a newspaper when you're dyslexic, because it supposedly impacts on reading". Impacting doesn't mean impossible.

Some of those kids 'without autism' go on to be diagnosed later, they're overlooked not being as severely affected, or it's just not obvious.

The reason there is diversity in how well people with autism function is because it's a hugely diverse spectrum. I've heard it argued that it's so broad as to be meaningless now. I do wonder if there should be different classifications myself.

Old style schooling will have suited some autistic children very well. Highly structured, highly repetitive, socialising only on the playground, not in the lesson.
Same food day in, day out- what was available. Or that whole roast, cold cuts on wash day, shepherds pie, sausage, fish routine.

Staying in the same job for life. Living in the same place. Much less challenging than today’s hectic ways.

Because you have misunderstood the word genetics, it doesnt mean inherited.

Your genetics are what makes you, you. They dont necessarily get forwarded wholesale into the next generation.

In my experience, autistic people are likely to pair up. They attract each other as they gel well. Something to think about?

Same way some of the children have curly hair and others straight.

There may be a triggering factor for the gene expression. We don’t know yet.

The way diagnosis often happens is that one child who struggles more is diagnosed, followed by other members of the family, including parents. You can then look back at grandparents and suddenly, it's obvious.

I said this earlier in the thread, childrens professionals are voicing this more and more, the description and name is meaningless, it will change in time.

Hair colour is genetic, but my children all have different colour hair. Does this help?

In answer to your second question: this is the same for almost every biological and neurological condition. My son has a very rare bone disease, even when so few people have it, the range of experience is still extremely wide. Some people are in wheelchairs and some are competitive football players. Some have restricted opening of their jaw, others have no such difficulty, but they still have the same condition and same diagnosis.