Will most Anti-Vax parents vaccinate or homeschool?

nchr

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 8:17 am

amother [ Chocolate ] wrote:

So where are the group homes now of 40+ autistic people ?

Very many of them are in CA or hidden living with very old parents. In my small chassidish world I know 3 classmates which a situation like this which means there are many more who are quiet. One friend literally could not stop crying because she realized the reality that had her brother had intervention he would not have been hidden in her house with shame her entire life and could have lived a normal life. Some are institutionalized rather than in a group home because there was not a marleted concept of group homes or of what the behavior was.

amother

Chocolate

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 8:41 am

nchr wrote:

You know three 40+
How many 10 year old autistic children do you know?
And if it isn't taboo anymore why wouldn't there be established group homes for 40+?

keym

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 8:58 am

amother [ Chocolate ] wrote:

You know three 40+
How many 10 year old autistic children do you know?
And if it isn't taboo anymore why wouldn't there be established group homes for 40+?

I'm going to say this under my screen name. I was raised in a family with relatives with special needs (not autism) 30+ years ago and family very involved in Camp HASC. Autism absolutely existed. But the high functioning were ignored. I can think of at least 3 girls in my class out of 25 who would have received the diagnosis and help, if it was available. But it wasnt. And they muddled through- through tantrums and lack of friends and social awareness. (All of them have multiple children with children on various places on the spectrum including very low functioning suggesting to me genetic components).
The low functioning autistic kids (I mean head banging, nonverbal). The lucky ones went to HASC or such where they attempted to work with them, but it was mostly about keeping them safe.
And those kids who were kept with parents were institutionalized by puberty when they became too big for parents to subdue. Institutionalized was NOT group homes. They were sat in wheelchairs watching TV and strapped into bed.
This is what they knew.
Being nonverbal and non compliant meant they often didn't have the mortality- usually died in teenage years.

But asking where the 40+ autistic kids and group homes are smacks of cluelessness. It's like asking why more kids didn't survive the concentration camps. It's just tone deaf.

watergirl

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 9:07 am

keym wrote:

thanks for taking the time to write out this reply, you saved me the time.

More kids are being diagnosed now than ever before because the diagnostic criteria has changed, which allows for more children to get the intervention and therapies that they need in order to function at their highest potential. I can think of a few classmates who were just "that weird kid who was really into NASA" who I bet would be diagnosed today. Not because of vaccines, but because we just KNOW more about the brain and behavior than ever before. Just like advances in science and medicine are helping people live longer and healthier lives, they are also helping us understand the brain in all new ways.

I have a cousin, by the way, who is today probably in her 50s. I've never met her because she was "born a vegetable" and was locked away almost at birth. I dont even know her name and she is never spoken about. I have always wondered what her life would be like had she been born 20 years later. That was just how it WAS then.

I have a neighbor who has a child with serious behavior issues. Her therapist recommended a therapy that is very costly, but with an autistic diagnosis, it would be affordable. The child is not autistic and getting the Dx is insurance fraud, but the therapist pushed it. The parents refused and are paying for the therapy out of pocket. But I wonder how many people today are "autistic" because of this type of thing...

The list of reasons goes on and on but does not include vaccines. For crying out loud.

nchr

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 9:11 am

amother [ Chocolate ] wrote:

You know three 40+
How many 10 year old autistic children do you know?
And if it isn't taboo anymore why wouldn't there be established group homes for 40+?

I personally do not know any autistic 10 year olds, but that's not relevant to this conversation because they clearly exist. I do know two people in their 30s recently diagnosed in the last 5 years.

The subject is so taboo that many of these families would never openly admit to it although the grandchildren may at a later point. It is still very taboo for people, especially those older than 50. Also, asking about group homes is naive. These children were institutionalized and are beyond the point of group homes and as keym said, many are no longer alive.

amother

Yellow

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 9:25 am

Agree, watergirl, I had a friend growing up who really struggled with social cues and making friends, etc. The school/teachers tried to help, but they just really didn't have the tools at the time (1980s).

When her oldest kid was young, I remember her telling me about some of his behavior s that really stood out as being on the spectrum to me (I work in the educational field). A few years later, she told me he had been diagnosed with autism (obviously high functioning), which did not surprise me at all. Probably, if she was growing up now, she would have been diagnosed as being on the spectrum, too, more along the lines as Asperger's.

I can think of other kids around the neighborhood who we just thought were a little bit weird and had obsessions and who would most likely get a diagnosis today.

keym

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 9:37 am

watergirl wrote:

Yup.
I remember reading something years ago about how doctors noticed a high proportion of autism in various levels in Silicone Valley CA. They were looking into correlations with hi tech etc. But a theory was floated additionally that many "hi tech brainiac nerds" who worked there would have been diagnosed with ASD or HFA or something If the labels were used when they were kids. They were the Science Geeks. But then they married similar Geeks and had kids diagnosed.......

yksraya

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 1:12 pm

The reason we hear of more autism cases now are.

1. A rise of population, that means a rise in more kids of all kinds.

2. They used to diagnose some as autistic and some as aspergers. Now they put it all under ASD.

3. Special needs is now not so taboo. More people seek diagnosis and help.

My autistic brother is 36. There were plenty kids with autism etc at that time. He was diagnosed as the most severe case of autism in USA at that time (by the best specialists in the field). There was just one more sucha case, a girl. My brother, as well as many others in that age range and even older, are in group homes (hamaspik, Albany, etc)

amother

Hotpink

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 1:31 pm

yksraya wrote:

People also have children later in life, which increases the risk of autism.

keym

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 1:44 pm

yksraya wrote:

The children I was referring to in camp HASC are in their young 50s. The lucky ones who were born after laws were past mandating their education (early 1970s), after HASC, and OHEL and MISHKAN and Women's League was founded. These organizations were started around 45 years ago.
But before then, low functioning autistic kids were institutionalized, not taught or stimulated, and functioning went down even lower.
I once met an autistic teen whose parents took her out of an institution in 1980- put her in a group home. Her IQ was measured at 15 because of her lack of being taught anything in her formative years.

amother

Yellow

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 1:53 pm

Yes, but some research suggests that is because the older fathers married later (because of their difficulties in social awareness, it took them longer to find a mate) and doesn't have anything to do with the quality of their sperm or increased risk at that age. And that there is a genetic component.

I can say, that as an educator, I've worked with lots of kids on the spectrum. And that in most cases, when I met the parents (in one case, the grandparent who visited on Grandparents Day), at least one of the parents had similar tendencies and/or quirks. I think there is very likely some sort of genetics involved.

yksraya

Tue, Jun 18 2019, 1:56 pm

amother [ Yellow ] wrote:

Yes, but some research suggests that is because the older fathers married later (because of their difficulties in social awareness, it took them longer to find a mate) and doesn't have anything to do with the quality of their sperm.
I can say, that as an educator, I've worked with lots of kids on the spectrum. And that in most cases, when I met the parents (in one case, the grandparent who visited on Grandparents Day), at least one of the parents had similar tendencies and/or quirks. I think there is very likely some sort of genetics involved.

Yes. You can sometimes see streaks either in the parents, granparents, siblings, or other relatives.