I've heard that this may actually be overstated, because in boys, it's more likely to result in behaviour seen as not normal (particularly disruptive behaviour in school), and therefore more likely to be diagnosed. Not sure though.It's much more likely to occur in males, although it can be present in females.
I've heard people claim their autistic because they're socially awkward...... I don't think that's autistic at all, it's like when people say they have OCD because they don't like mess.... that's not OCD it's just called not being a tramp.
Seems we live in strange times where people want to have some sort of disposition.
As for the cause, I don't think we'll ever know the true cause, but someone will pin it on something, like smoking being the main cause of cancer, then they found out that the old beef and tomato pot noodles also caused cancer so changed the ingredients and made them shit.....bastards!
Let me state, before going any further, that the following is based on no expertise or in depth knowledge of the subject.
However, when someone asked earlier in the thread 'what has changed over the last couple of decades' I would state that it is probably worthwhile considering the factors that children are exposed to in their infancy.
Particularly, the amount of extremely young children who are consumed by screens - before they can hold a conversation in a lot of cases.
I don't think that this 'causes' autism, as it is obvious, if you have ever met anyone with a significant level of it, that it is very consuming and unlikely to be something that is 'caused' by one or two things in particular.
However, the question is what has led to a lot more diagnoses of it, including a lot of 'mild' cases.
It is a fact that there is a developing trend for the mental health of young people as a whole is deteriorating. Mental Health issues in young age groups are rising hugely. It is a very worrying trend. There is also, according to many, a significant rise in young people experiencing a lack of resilience and grit and struggle to deal with pitfalls in life. This may or may not be the same thing.
It is also true to say that a symptom of some autism is liking to be in your own world, wanting to be shut off and not liking change, interruptions or disruption. Something that is actually a very common description of children playing with screens.
Is it not worth considering whether the rise of diagnosis of 'mild' autism could actually be doctors mistaking the symptoms of a growing decline in childhood mental health and putting it all under the easy label of autism? Obviously, unmistakable, severe autism could not be mistaken in this way but I would imagine that the symptoms of 'mild autism' and the symptoms of the increasing amount of children with mental health issues could be quite similar.
Screens emit light, which doesn't cause Autism.
Also the programs that are consuming these kid's attention often have a beneficial influence on their development, even when they're playing silly 'mindless' games.
Not true in my research - which as you can imagine I've done extensive :-) Boy's don't in general fully develop their frontal lobe part of the brain until their very late teens. Girls develop this part of the brain much earlier - with exceptions. This is the part of the brain that senses danger. So boys are more likely to be reckless and disruptive than girls between the ages of 10 and 19. This is a large cause of disruptive behaviours in school. Medical and statistical research show that boys are around 10 times likely to show autistic spectrum behaviours than girls. I can back this up by saying more than 70% of kids I teach on the spectrum are boys, although it seems a lot more extreme if girls have it as it's not the 'norm' and it's unusual in society that girls show traits such as being mute, lack of empathy, lack of eye contact etc unless they have suffered some form of abuse. Of course, you may find research that argues against this, but in my own personal experience and my work experiences support my theory. I'm sounding like a fucking psychiatrist now lol sorryI've heard that this may actually be overstated, because in boys, it's more likely to result in behaviour seen as not normal (particularly disruptive behaviour in school), and therefore more likely to be diagnosed. Not sure though.
It's a valid argument, but I mentioned in an earlier post, you can't catch or develop autism. You're either wired up that way or you are not. I'm constantly on a screen during the day which, as an autistic, I need to stimulate my brain and escape from the world when I'm having a bad day. I can assure you you cannot 'catch' autism by looking at too many screen during infancy, but a person can get in habits that mimic the signs of autism by being obsessed with screens.Let me state, before going any further, that the following is based on no expertise or in depth knowledge of the subject.
However, when someone asked earlier in the thread 'what has changed over the last couple of decades' I would state that it is probably worthwhile considering the factors that children are exposed to in their infancy.
Particularly, the amount of extremely young children who are consumed by screens - before they can hold a conversation in a lot of cases.
I don't think that this 'causes' autism, as it is obvious, if you have ever met anyone with a significant level of it, that it is very consuming and unlikely to be something that is 'caused' by one or two things in particular.
However, the question is what has led to a lot more diagnoses of it, including a lot of 'mild' cases.
It is a fact that there is a developing trend for the mental health of young people as a whole is deteriorating. Mental Health issues in young age groups are rising hugely. It is a very worrying trend. There is also, according to many, a significant rise in young people experiencing a lack of resilience and grit and struggle to deal with pitfalls in life. This may or may not be the same thing.
It is also true to say that a symptom of some autism is liking to be in your own world, wanting to be shut off and not liking change, interruptions or disruption. Something that is actually a very common description of children playing with screens.
Is it not worth considering whether the rise of diagnosis of 'mild' autism could actually be doctors mistaking the symptoms of a growing decline in childhood mental health and putting it all under the easy label of autism? Obviously, unmistakable, severe autism could not be mistaken in this way but I would imagine that the symptoms of 'mild autism' and the symptoms of the increasing amount of children with mental health issues could be quite similar.