Reply to Study: Genetics explain most cases of autism

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I also think that for kids on the milder end of the spectrum, the dramatic changes to our education system in the last few decades make a huge difference.  My ADHD son had no issues at his relaxed outdoor-education K-1st program, but once he aged out and transitioned to a more traditional school with significant desk-work and less physical activity he began to struggle.  And that was a private school that still had 3 recesses per day and no testing.  If you had a kid like mine at a daycare or play-based preschool and put him into a standard public K with a big class, one recess per day and lots of emphasis on reading (and sitting), he would crash and burn.  The standard experience in K 30 or 40 years ago was much more like the play-based preschools of today.[/quote]

Also the fact that 40 years ago, most kids wouldn't have spent much time in an early childhood education setting.  My DS is adhd-hyperactive, bordering on aspergers. Because of my job, he's had to be a 8-4pm preschool setting since he was 2.  My father clearly has a very similar profile, but the first time he would have set foot in a school setting would have been K. And even then, it was only a half day. And before K, they wouldn't have done any organized activities (like music together, library reading time, etc). Their only interaction with other kids would have been if his mom went over for coffee to the next door neighbor, and the kids played for an hour.  Also, more schools used to have kids be eligible for K based on a January 1 birthday, but now a lot of programs have shifted to Sept 1.  That means the K kids' starting age is 9 months younger than the average age was when I was growing up.  So my son has been in a high demands setting for 3 years of preschool and a full day Kindergarten -- and finished all that, on average, 9 months before my dad's generation would have even started a full day of school in 1st grade.

My DS had to get a diagnosis at 2-3, because he was unable to function in the settings he was in.  But if I were a mom in 1950, the first time he would have been "tested" in any way was K -- and by age almost-6, my son could have probably skirted through 4 hours of K a day, and by 1st grade (almost age 7 in the 1950s cutoffs) would have been even more equipped to get through a 7 hour school day.  By 7 or 8, I think my son probably won't need medication.  So in 1950, his problems might have evaded notice altogether.  [/quote]

Totally.[/quote]

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