1/20 children in Northern Ireland have autism

[Anonymous]

according to the BBC.
Not sure what q i'm asking but just - wow
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-65640128

[Anonymous]

The longer I live, and the more I deal with my own neurodiversity as well as other mental health challenges, the more I come to believe that these things are not just innate genetic accidents. Environment matters a lot, whether it's the impact on you or your parents or grandparents. And I think it matters not only in what individuals experience, but also in how their community interprets it and assigns it a label, and then how it is treated and managed within a society.

So my first thought is that generations of violence, political turmoil, and economic issues cannot possibly be unrelated to this. I can't tell you exactly HOW they are related, but they must be related. It's not an accident.

[Anonymous]

It’s going to get worse. I am a school psychologist and when I look at the younger siblings of students at the school I am at really worried about how many if them are in strollers staring at screens. Phones and tablets are an effective and cheap babysitter. It’s a low income school where kids don’t have the opportunity to get signed up for activities where they interact.

If there are kids on the spectrum who are borderline with a lot of socialization with parents, siblings, friends, quality pre-schools, attending story times, etc. they might not ever have enough symptoms to have issues or get diagnosed. Now add COVID lock down to that mix where kids didn’t socialize at all for a year not even with cousins. We are seeing kids who are coming in to K with lower language and socialization skills across the board. It’s really, really concerning.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I are research scientists in the biomedical field, and we're personally interested in this. Both DH and DS are on the spectrum, of the inattentive ADHD/high-functioning autism variety.

I think the take-away is that:

1. Neurodivergence is more common than most laypeople imagine. All our brains exist on a spectrum of organizational, cognitive and communication/socialization spectra, and some brains suffer from noticeable variations from the norm, or downright maladaptations, in one or more areas. For mild symptoms, we can also consider how societal expectations can trigger diagnoses that might not have emerged if the patient had had a different, less demanding lifestyle. It happens that our human society is evolving towards social norms that require near-constant contact with ever widening and fluid networks than ever before (social media), which is poses an existential challenge for the less social among us. It's almost a question of natural selection.

2. The medicine of brain functioning ("mental health", which means the physical functioning of the brain) has long been ignored and underfunded, and greatly lags behind other medical fields. It has suffered from moralistic viewpoints centered around sin, guilt, willpower and shame, which hide the true number of patients and hinders their treatment. It's only recently that researchers have made significant strides in creating a framework to define and diagnose the many variations of autism and ADHD, particularly the more high-functioning and less visible variations, which did not use to have such recognition compared to more disruptive variations. This is to be expected: having identified the obvious problems, scientists seek to define the more subtle ones, just like for any scientific issue, medical or otherwise. This diagnostic framework will likely change with time - nothing is set in stone for now. Symptoms can overlap significantly between ADHD, autism, and other disorders, which might indicate that a complete reframing is necessary in the future, with more data at our disposal.

4. Regarding population or familial trauma (war, famine, forced migration or severe neglect leading to lack of physical and mental care): this is an emerging field of research. There are indications that such trauma can be carried into the genes and affect one's offspring, and it has been suggested that such might be the case for slaves and their descendants, or survivors of attempted genocide and their descendants. But nothing is confirmed as yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s going to get worse. I am a school psychologist and when I look at the younger siblings of students at the school I am at really worried about how many if them are in strollers staring at screens. Phones and tablets are an effective and cheap babysitter. It’s a low income school where kids don’t have the opportunity to get signed up for activities where they interact.

If there are kids on the spectrum who are borderline with a lot of socialization with parents, siblings, friends, quality pre-schools, attending story times, etc. they might not ever have enough symptoms to have issues or get diagnosed. Now add COVID lock down to that mix where kids didn’t socialize at all for a year not even with cousins. We are seeing kids who are coming in to K with lower language and socialization skills across the board. It’s really, really concerning.

I do NOT think though that you can screen time your way into autism. you can screen time your way into poor socialization, but not into the fundamental brain differences, visible on MRIs, that exist in the brains of true autistic individuals from birth.

[Anonymous]

1/20 is diagnosed with shortness also. Autism has become a catchall diagnosis for everything on one side of a nell curvem

[Anonymous]

Northern Ireland is a very small country. This could easily be the result of a handful of specialists changing their practices.

[Anonymous]

If you’re “high functioning”, do you really have autism? When I was growing up, autism meant non-communicative, in-your-own-world kind of behavior. Is the “spectrum “ too broad now because people want a label for their kids just because they’re a little weird?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s going to get worse. I am a school psychologist and when I look at the younger siblings of students at the school I am at really worried about how many if them are in strollers staring at screens. Phones and tablets are an effective and cheap babysitter. It’s a low income school where kids don’t have the opportunity to get signed up for activities where they interact.

If there are kids on the spectrum who are borderline with a lot of socialization with parents, siblings, friends, quality pre-schools, attending story times, etc. they might not ever have enough symptoms to have issues or get diagnosed. Now add COVID lock down to that mix where kids didn’t socialize at all for a year not even with cousins. We are seeing kids who are coming in to K with lower language and socialization skills across the board. It’s really, really concerning.

Cool refrigerator mom theory, bro. But lower socialization/language skills do not an autistic child make. Unless you’re a psychologist who doesn’t know what they are talking about. Again, the problems with over expansion of a diagnosis.

And incidentally… My autistic son watched zero screens until he was 3.5 when I changed his routine a bit to help him diversify his interests. And they found a genetic CAUSE to his autism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My husband and I are research scientists in the biomedical field, and we're personally interested in this. Both DH and DS are on the spectrum, of the inattentive ADHD/high-functioning autism variety.

I think the take-away is that:

1. Neurodivergence is more common than most laypeople imagine. All our brains exist on a spectrum of organizational, cognitive and communication/socialization spectra, and some brains suffer from noticeable variations from the norm, or downright maladaptations, in one or more areas. For mild symptoms, we can also consider how societal expectations can trigger diagnoses that might not have emerged if the patient had had a different, less demanding lifestyle. It happens that our human society is evolving towards social norms that require near-constant contact with ever widening and fluid networks than ever before (social media), which is poses an existential challenge for the less social among us. It's almost a question of natural selection.

2. The medicine of brain functioning ("mental health", which means the physical functioning of the brain) has long been ignored and underfunded, and greatly lags behind other medical fields. It has suffered from moralistic viewpoints centered around sin, guilt, willpower and shame, which hide the true number of patients and hinders their treatment. It's only recently that researchers have made significant strides in creating a framework to define and diagnose the many variations of autism and ADHD, particularly the more high-functioning and less visible variations, which did not use to have such recognition compared to more disruptive variations. This is to be expected: having identified the obvious problems, scientists seek to define the more subtle ones, just like for any scientific issue, medical or otherwise. This diagnostic framework will likely change with time - nothing is set in stone for now. Symptoms can overlap significantly between ADHD, autism, and other disorders, which might indicate that a complete reframing is necessary in the future, with more data at our disposal.

4. Regarding population or familial trauma (war, famine, forced migration or severe neglect leading to lack of physical and mental care): this is an emerging field of research. There are indications that such trauma can be carried into the genes and affect one's offspring, and it has been suggested that such might be the case for slaves and their descendants, or survivors of attempted genocide and their descendants. But nothing is confirmed as yet.

1, 2, 4?

[Anonymous]

I think it's a combination of the broadening of the diagnosis and also real increases in children who are "really" autistic.

I have a premie and it is well known that white boy babies have worse outcomes than girl babies or POC babies. Boys are more fragile girls from conception on, more subject to disruption and more sensitive to disruptors. And our environment is more disruptive than it used to be.

Boys present "worse", are more severely affected by autism than girls. My two DSs are both ASD and ADHD and, while both of those run to some extent in DH (ADHD) and my (ASD) families, my kids are struggling a lot more than earlier generations did.

PS - I have a lot of Irish ancestors. While there's a lot of mythology associated with being Irish, this is the first I've heard that autism is part of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My husband and I are research scientists in the biomedical field, and we're personally interested in this. Both DH and DS are on the spectrum, of the inattentive ADHD/high-functioning autism variety.

I think the take-away is that:

1. Neurodivergence is more common than most laypeople imagine. All our brains exist on a spectrum of organizational, cognitive and communication/socialization spectra, and some brains suffer from noticeable variations from the norm, or downright maladaptations, in one or more areas. For mild symptoms, we can also consider how societal expectations can trigger diagnoses that might not have emerged if the patient had had a different, less demanding lifestyle. It happens that our human society is evolving towards social norms that require near-constant contact with ever widening and fluid networks than ever before (social media), which is poses an existential challenge for the less social among us. It's almost a question of natural selection.

2. The medicine of brain functioning ("mental health", which means the physical functioning of the brain) has long been ignored and underfunded, and greatly lags behind other medical fields. It has suffered from moralistic viewpoints centered around sin, guilt, willpower and shame, which hide the true number of patients and hinders their treatment. It's only recently that researchers have made significant strides in creating a framework to define and diagnose the many variations of autism and ADHD, particularly the more high-functioning and less visible variations, which did not use to have such recognition compared to more disruptive variations. This is to be expected: having identified the obvious problems, scientists seek to define the more subtle ones, just like for any scientific issue, medical or otherwise. This diagnostic framework will likely change with time - nothing is set in stone for now. Symptoms can overlap significantly between ADHD, autism, and other disorders, which might indicate that a complete reframing is necessary in the future, with more data at our disposal.

4. Regarding population or familial trauma (war, famine, forced migration or severe neglect leading to lack of physical and mental care): this is an emerging field of research. There are indications that such trauma can be carried into the genes and affect one's offspring, and it has been suggested that such might be the case for slaves and their descendants, or survivors of attempted genocide and their descendants. But nothing is confirmed as yet.

1, 2, 4?

Sorry, I had two separate points in the middle paragraph, but then bundled them into one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you’re “high functioning”, do you really have autism? When I was growing up, autism meant non-communicative, in-your-own-world kind of behavior. Is the “spectrum “ too broad now because people want a label for their kids just because they’re a little weird?

You nailed it!

I just wanted a label for my "a little weird" kid -- so grateful they expanded autism to ASD so now I can slap a label on him!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you’re “high functioning”, do you really have autism? When I was growing up, autism meant non-communicative, in-your-own-world kind of behavior. Is the “spectrum “ too broad now because people want a label for their kids just because they’re a little weird?

High functioning still hits a wall once life ramps up.

It may be middle school, high school, college, working, or life with dependents. But then actual coping skills and systems that work are needed. Have asd understanding, and a network or therapist at the ready.

Go in for fine tuning as needed (ie are overwhelmed a lot, shutting down, need more decompression time than usual, family members are concerned, relationships are getting ruined).

[Anonymous]

op - in some ways i see this as a positive.
ASD HAS become so broad of a diagnosis (it is such a catch all) that we may as well know that to be true and really take that on and start recognizing how widespread it is and take away the stigma and start setting life up better for ND people.
either that or we need to change the DSM but i actually at this point think us completely changing society is more likely than the DSM gaining more specificity.