to ask this without expecting a backlash?

[Fleurflowering]

I know that people will accuse me of being goady etc, but I would like to ask these questions without a tirade of hate being posted at me. I'm genuinely ignorant about this and want to understand it better.

I was born in 1978. When I was at school, there was a flicker of a mention of autism, but it didn't seem to be commonplace.

Did children have autism? Did ADHD exist then? Or are these new problems and why have they arisen?

Every school class seems to have children with SEND - autism being very common. But, when I was at school, there were "Remedial" classes, but behaviour was nowhere near as bad as it seems to be nowadays and teachers didn't need to differentiate lessons like they have to now. I hear so many people saying that their kids are on the spectrum, or that they themselves have autism.

I also don't remember any school refusers. Is this a new mental health symptom, or are children more autonomous and possibly less resilient nowadays?

I know I'll be flamed, but I'm not denying these conditions exist. I'm trying to learn whether they are new or not.

I’m mid 50s and was diagnosed with autism 5 years ago (and ADHD a year ago). Looking back it was obvious and several of my classmates clearly had it.

I spent 50 years of my life with hardly any friends (including at school) so yes it was a thing but no, it wasn’t recognised or tested then.

And a relative used to escape from school at every opportunity in the 1950s. So it was all there but only now are people acknowledging it

It existed but wasn't recognised.

My 58 year old brother has autism and he was always kept in at break time for 'daydreaming' in class.

As the proud mum of a high needs autistic amazing ds, people throw it about too much now!

Autism was definitely around but undiagnosed. For example I have an uncle and I had a great auntie who both attended specialist schools in the 60s. They were classed as being 'slow' now they would have a proper diagnosis.

Also you know remedial doesn’t necessarily tie into ADHD/ASD…

Looking back I can assume which of my school mates had asd or adhd knowing what I know now. How the teachers treated them was utterly appalling remembering back. I am NT and even I remember crying at how much the maths teacher shouted... And it wasn't even at me!

I was also born in 1978 and I would have said the same - no one had autism, adhd or refused school.

However, if you think back to specific children you knew and their behaviour you will come across some that in today’s society would be labelled as having autism, adhd or being a school refuser.

I remember my mum calling out the social services as my sister bunked school a lot! I also remember a lad who literally raged kicked the teacher when he was given the part as an ugly sister in the school production. I remember a very peculiar girl, who used to talk and sing to herself, and sadly no one wanted to be her friend.

I would say society is just more aware of special needs these days, and society is more tolerant of differences. And rightly so!

There's way more people with adhd and autism now. Way more even than 10 years ago. Not sure what's causing it but very young children access to screens on tablets and phones is not helping

There used to be specialist schools for children with SEND which is why you wouldn't have seen many of them in your mainstream school.

My mother worked at a school that was referred to as a school for 'maladjusted' children. What they meant by that was behavioural.

This could have been due to autism, adha, pda, etc. but those conditions were not recognised. Also there were children who would have behaviour difficulties due to abuse and, again, it was not something recognised, talked about or investigated. They were just deemed too 'naughty' for mainstream school. Heartbreaking times.

Ipads do not cause autism, youre born with it

I was at a highly academic girls school and there were lots of genius “weirdos”. Clearly, they weren’t, they were autistic. I had a few friends who were quite reckless, smart, instinctive and disruptive and almost certainly ADHD. The numerous anorexic girls who lived on Diet Coke and apples were likely ND too.

Autism was first described in a paper by Kanner in 1943. Asperger was working independently at a similar time and described Asperger’s syndrome and it took a few years before it was considered they were two manifestations of autism.

there was a LOT of research and work on autism in the 50s and it was thought it was caused by mothers not parenting well enough.

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/what-is-autism/the-history-of-autism

in the 1970s in the U.K. not everyone was entitled to an education. Some children were deemed uneducable and not allowed to go to school. Private schools for these children developed through the 50s and 60s but in the 70s there was a big push to allow every child a state education and schools specially for uneducable children were built by the state.

children with autism would not have been in the same schools that “normal” children were in because they were not allowed to be.

In 1978 there was the warlock report followed by a new law in 1981 that allowed children with disabilities (who had previously been deemed uneducable) into mainstream schools if they wanted to.

previously they were not allowed in mainstream schools and had to go to special school,

I think there was far less of it, even if some were undiagnosed at that point. I was at school during the 1960s and no-one I knew in my class (of around 30) would have fit that diagnosis. Children at my school were polite, rarely acted up in class, some were obviously better at some subjects than others, but there weren't meltdowns or kids refusing to go to school. However that's a very small sample of kids!

Edited to add: My mother however would definitely now be diagnosed with ADHD. No diagnosis nor help available when she was a child, sadly.

Yes it’s always existed, we just didn’t have the means to recognise these conditions.

My uncle was absolutely autistic, he never had any formal diagnosis, my nan had no support or understanding, he was pretty much labelled a bit of an odd-bod and sent on his way - yet he always worked, general factory work or kitchen support, lived alone etc. He passed away a number of years ago now but I think all in all he did ok for himself.

I think there’s a balance to be had, yes it obviously would’ve been great for him/my grandparents to get support, but because there was none they/he got on with what he could do and could achieve in life.

In 1970s it was similar. There may have been one or two kids in my junior school class who were autistic ADHD but they were just labelled weird or naughty.

My grandma took my mum (as a child) to the GP in the late 50s, saying there was something not quite right with her (well-meaning). Turns out it was inattentive ADHD… I also have it. Judging by his behaviour so did my Grandfather!

I have two dc with autism ( one with higher needs than the other) and i look back and realise some of my classmates were undiagnosed ASD or ADHD. I do however believe that it is over diagnosed now and very often wrongly diagnosed in children that actually have attachment disorders due to neglectful parenting.

And those of us who didn’t grow up with screens and who weren’t diagnosed until middle age?

ASD/ADHD wasn’t diagnosed then, so we had to crack on as best we could. I was self harming at 15 and had suicidal ideation but nobody knew. I hid in the school toilets at break and lunchtimes for 5 years.

Now I know that was the issue.

Oh and my best friend at school stopped going about 18 months before she was due to take her exams

Look back at the ‘naughty’ kids in your school. I can think of at least 3 boys in my year group who were just seen as “bad” when in hindsight they clearly had autism.

Children with serious difficulties went to the special school. They didn’t set foot in our school. My Nana worked in a children’s ‘hospital’ that was actually a residential care home and school for children. Many of the children there we’d now see as children with learning difficulty and autism. It in fact still operates as a residential setting for children with physical disabilities, learning difficulties and autism.

There was a lad in our village notorious because he got expelled from every school in the area. At the time he was just viewed as trouble and his mum useless. The poor woman was beyond desperate and he was diagnosed when we were all in our twenties.

if you look back on censuses and old school names you’ll see that there have always been children with what we’d now call autism or ADHD, just back then they were labelled as slow, or backward, or other more offensive names. They just weren’t in mainstream schooling.

My brother was born in 1972 and has only recently been formally diagnosed with ADHD - in hindsight it’s so obvious but at the time everyone just thought he was “difficult” but due to a total lack of understanding he left school with no O-levels and it all led to his belief that he was just, in his words, thick and unable to learn anything.

It obviously existed but there was no real focus on it from the medical profession as far as I can see; my parents took him to a “specialist” in the 80s and they couldn’t pinpoint anything as it was so misunderstood at the time.

As a kid in the 70s I was always told I was hyperactive and it was down to E numbers in foods (doctor's diagnosis). I have always struggled with my brain going in 20 different directions, being untidy, dropping food on myself, foot tapping, unable to sit still ... always in trouble at school but masked it as was bright. Then against all odds I did OK and am now a teacher. It was only working with kids with ADHD that I had the lightbulb moment that this was me!

A relative of mine is in her eighties and I think she would be diagnosed with autism now.
She struggled with friendships growing up and her siblings were told to not upset her at any cost. She found school very difficult. She is still very rigid in her thinking but so disorganised.

I was born in 1979. I was extremely bright, I used to listen to other children read when I was 6-7 because I was a free reader. I wasn't allowed to take times table tests because I always got 100%. I was stopped from doing maths for several lessons at a time so that other people could catch up. But I was bullied, had social anxiety (saw a psychologist in what would be be CAMHS), some EBSA.

In secondary I struggled with inconsistencies between teachers, differing expectations, etc. I would storm out of class to the school nurse and she'd just say "What happened this time...?" I was never, ever, punished by the teachers. I couldn't get my act together with homework but wrote a science investigation in the PE lesson before the deadline lesson to hand it in, in year 9, and scored levels 9 9 9 (max 10 10 10) despite making the coagulation data because I hadn't written it down. I just estimated the trend. I think my teachers knew I was slightly different.

I'm now diagnosed with both ASD and ADHD.

I guess I'm saying it was still there, even if it didn't have a label.

I'm surprised that was your experience. I am not much younger than you, and can think of multiple school refusers from my memory.

I can look back and see lots of behaviour in a different light with a modern take. Most of those children didn't "grow out of it" - many had poor outcomes in adulthood.

It does appear to be more frequent now.