I have 4 beautiful grandchildren and as of now 2 of them have been have been diagnosed to be on the spectrum! I am learning as much as possible! I am retired special Education teacher educated almost 40 years ago and things have changed drastically, open your eyes to the beauty of autism!😊
If you have multiple descendants with autism, it's worth researching if you have it, as genetics is a significant factor (and autistic men and women tend to like each other, so the genes tend to get concentrated 😂), and discovering that you have autism often does a lot to put your life in context. I was diagnosed this year in my late 30s, and I'm aware of people diagnosed as late as their 70s (one was the mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt of some friends of mine, and that whole clan, including spouses, children, and grandchildren shows signs of autism).
Thanks for covering all the myths. I talked to one of my friends whose wife thought that his daughter got autism due to bad parenting and lockdowns during the covid.
I’ve definitely had challenges with learning in school, it’s not that I wasn’t smart I just needed some extra help. And because I’m not like my older brother who obviously had challenges I slipped through the cracks quite a lot.
A couple of people in my family still believe that it is caused by a parent either being too inattentive or being overly indulgent. I don’t know why they think that, but they do.
Empathy? OMW. The 'caring' hurts my son SO much. He cares. Social interaction is difficult. He always had a heap of friends. Only now do i realize that , Yes, he certainly had friends... others love him. He just doesn't really know how to BE a friend. Not really...
I also have difficulty with this. My grandmother on my mother’s side would sometimes say to me when I was growing up “To have a friend be one.” but not explain how to do this. When I would ask her about it she would tell me to recite the golden rule and then say to me that it is “as simple as that”.
11:57 The myth comes from the fact that parents of autistic children are often autistic themselves, and autism often involves difficulties with emotional expression. So doctors observed that the mother was cold and distant and that the child was cold and distant, and concluded that the child's difficulties were due to not getting enough love, when in reality they just shared a heritable condition.
5:36 What it really comes down to its that humans in general have good empathy with people that are like us mentally, but struggle with empathy for people that are different from us. Even if we *feel* empathy for them, we generally struggle to actually act on it in a helpful way.
Yeah that’s super wrong, only some autistic people like my brother for example are non verbal but most autistic people are probably verbal like me and some of my friends
Some doctors and some people in my family believed this. This is probably why my sister’s autism diagnosis fell through the cracks until she was about thirteen or fourteen. My symptoms were more obvious. I said my first word “moon” at age one. Before age two I was saying “cat” and “clock” but few other words if any. Shortly after my two-year-checkup (when it was also noticed that I was making no eye contact and not using my potty chair at all even six months after it was introduced) I was sent to a neurologist. At this point it was determined that I was autistic and also showed signs of a right hemisphere stroke at birth. According to my parents I had some speech therapy by age three (back in the late 1970s). After about six months of this I started toilet training. It was a slow process but eventually just before age six I was trained just well enough to start kindergarten. I am currently level one but according to some doctors I have talked to I was most likely level two by the time I started school (and probably throughout childhood). Before I started kindergarten I was in a half-day preschool program twice a week just before I started kindergarten (which for me was half-day five days per week) in the early 1980s.
In connection with the myth of a single factor causing autism I have noticed that it is fairly common for people to argue about whether a child who is on the spectrum inherited it from the father or the mother.
Genetics does seem to be the primary factor, but it's known that more than one gene contributes, and just because a condition is genetic doesn't mean it's always inherited: mutations happen, and some genetic conditions cause sterility, meaning that they only ever appear as a result of mutations. That said, twin studies indicate great variability in presentation among identical twins, and since identical twins share the same genes by definition and usually share the same environment, there do seem to be other factors influencing how (and possibly if) autism shows up. EDIT: I'll add that often the answer to "who did it come from" is "both", since autistic folks seem to be more likely to fall in love with each other than with neurotypicals 😂.
Thank you ❣️ The myths really hurt. The fear... 😢.... my son is 6"4. He's such a gentle, caring soul. I love him so much. Im a special Ed teacher... but i never realized my son was on the spectrum until the beginning of this year. 😢
Yes, a lot of people don’t know until later. We’re trying to help get the word out as much as possible and raise awareness, as there can be a lot of clarity and help that comes from a diagnosis.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for sending these clear messages about autism! Also, my autistic adult son has intense empathy that can be difficult for him to work through on his own.
3:15 There's a difference between learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities: I have ADHD, which is classified as a learning disability (though it didn't really hold me back in terms of absorbing information), but I have an IQ comfortably above 100 (which is to say, the very opposite of intellectual delay).
The other thing that some people in my family say is that my sister and I are (in essence) “old enough to be able to act like everyone else does” because we are (as it is often said) “old enough to know better”. My sister and I both tend to talk too loudly (for example) and some people in the family don’t like that. Also we are sometimes told that we are “too sensitive” or “get upset about things for no reason”. For some reason (while it is rare) we are sometimes told this right after being told that we need to consider the feelings of others instead of just our own. Sometimes I understand why they say this but not always.
This very much makes me wonder how much of your family dynamics are influenced by undiagnosed autism in other family members: You or your sister get emotionally disregulated and lose volume control -> someone else has audio sensitivities and gets overwhelmed and disregulated -> they call you oversensitive for getting upset enough to get loud so easily and ask you to consider their feelings.
@ Maybe, but in addition loud volume tends to run on one side of the family. On the same side one aunt has symptoms of ADD/ADHD but no diagnosis. On the other side of the family there is some confirmed history of autism (mostly in one or more distant cousins). This is the same side of the family where almost everyone is sensitive to loud noises. Sometimes they accuse people of being too loud on purpose and that’s when arguments sometimes start.
Many people tend to confuse IDD (Intellectual Development Disorder) and learning disorders, which are different things. I don't have any of the two and I'm suspected to be gifted since a young age, for me is mainly they way people teach me things, and also sensory issues and executive functioning issues that make it harder. Disorders like the ones you mentioned can also affect learning even if they aren't learning disabilities. Your videos are very helpful for me to know better about my autism, thank you. 👍🙂
1:45 This is important for parents not only for the child's sake, but for their own, given how many parents of autistic children are themselves autistic and have been stuffing it down because it got them bullied or disciplined in childhood.
Great video, I like your videos and I think you are a blessing to the autistic community and the world. I am autistic, I do feel like I have a lot of empathy and feel sad when others are sad. But those feelings are sometimes stuck inside my mind. I think one of the ways I show empathy is bringing up a situation that I felt similarly, even though it's not the same. But I do it because I can use my experience as the basis and then add additional context from what the other person is saying to see how it is different as well.
I dislike when people claim individuals with autism don't feel empathy. Of course they do, but they don't convey it like a neurotypical person would. It's different. Makes them sound like sociopaths & they're not. They're more smarter & aware than they're given credit for. Also, many non-autistic individuals just mimic empathy but don't feel it at all.
Many people used to assume that I lacked empathy. Some still do. My sister and I are both on the spectrum. Back in the early 2000s (when she was in her early 30s) she was having some stomach pains and family members initially dismissed them. Even though she’s level one she eventually (around age eleven or twelve (back in the 1980s)) developed the ability to pretend to have headaches or stomachaches (for example) to get out of activities that she did not want to do. Sometimes after getting out of an activity that she did not want to do (such as going to school) she would admit that she was doing this. Fortunately this time it occurred to me to ask where the pain was and to have her temperature taken. At this point it was noticed that she had a fever. She was taken to an urgent care center (or something similar) and they took her vitals. The doctor called an ambulance and my parents drove their car to the hospital. They rushed her into emergency surgery and got her appendix out just in time (in addition to one or two other procedures they needed to do at the same time). At this point about once every year or two she sees some doctors for follow-up appointments and so far everything looks good. She’s in her early fifties now.
I’m a female autistic person who struggles with how to respond when say someone is upset. I feel inside but don’t know what to do with those feelings in response to someone. I have been told numerous times to grow up cause I like younger toys and with my writing my spelling is bad and was told not to write like that again. I’m having help with writing this. I find people don’t except me for who I am that masking has been a big thing that I’ve learnt to do. I struggle with suicidal thoughts which I wouldn’t do but the thoughts at times are not helpful which are brought on by people who don’t understand.
A little correction: You said that right now if you took all of the children in the United States UNDER the age of 8, right now 1 in 36 would be autistic. The 1 in 36 figure was for children with a birth year of 2012 who data was collected on in certain US states in 2020 when they were 8 years old. Of those who were 8 years old in 2020, 1 in 36 were autistic on average. IN some states, the figures are higher and in some lower. For example, 1 in 22 eight year olds in California in 2020 were autistic. There has not been a published update yet for children born in 2014 who would have been 8 in 2022, or for children born in 2016 who would have been 8 in 2024, but every two years the rate increases substantially. SO essentially the rate is about 13 years behind if you were to use the rate to determine what would be your chances of having a child with autism if you were having a baby right now. So, you can see that 1 in 36 does not represent children who are LESS than 8 years old, as you said, but it represents children who are now age 13. If the rate is increasing every two years that it is measured, the rate for young children of age 2 to 4 for example, right now is much much higher, exponentially higher, as it is increasing exponentially every two years. For children born in 2024, the data for their rate of autism wont be collected until 2032 when they are 8 years old and it might be reported 5 years after that in 2037. The system is really lagging in reporting autism incidence.
A little over five years ago before the older grandson of a friend of mine started talking I mentioned his symptoms to some people in my family. At that point in time he was considered level three. Initially he wasn’t saying any words. Some people in my family suggested that maybe he was just giving his grandmother and his parents the silent treatment. I wonder how common it is for people to assume this initially. That was not what was happening because initially he wasn’t crying and rarely made any sounds even at age two or three. They took him to a number of doctors including an ENT and used fiber-optics to look at his vocal cords to make sure they were intact and they were. They also eventually determined that he could see and hear. Shortly after this he was evaluated for autism and determined to be level three. Eventually after a lot of speech therapy and other therapies and watching some episodes of children’s TV shows he eventually said “Hi” and “bye”. Eventually other words like “No”, “Yeah”, “Mama”, “Dada”, and “Nana” came in some order. About a year later he was using sentences. At this point if he needed to “go” but didn’t want to use the toilet he could say “No poo-poo-head-dumb-dumb!” before deciding to go. By age six he was able to start changing himself when he needed to and was saying more sentences and was able to start kindergarten. He’s now considered level one and depending on what kind of day he’s having you might have to look for autism signs in order to see them. He’s about two grade levels behind now (except in math (his math skills are one to two grade levels above average for his age)). A while back he was determined to have dyslexia. This is holding him back academically more than his autism. He still has some difficulty with transitions, sharing, interpreting body language, and understanding some figures of speech and some jokes. His signs are subtle enough, though, that most days you would only notice them if you are specifically looking for them.
Thank you for this video ! I know that there is no cure for my daughter who is level 3 non verbal. People get on me about "making her eat certain foods and or make her do or go places. Its rough with going places. She doesn't want to be outside so I don't force her.
8:28 Even very independent-minded, late-diagnosed autistic adults often struggle living independently. That's not to say that we can't, but we have a tendency to live with our parents later than average, to struggle with employment even if highly intelligent and highly skilled, and to struggle with maintaining a household alone. I have an older relative that shows signs of autism that lived with his parents until they died, still lives in the same house, and, being a lifelong bachelor, has had trouble maintaining the property.
Some people in my family believe that people on the spectrum know how to act but deliberately choose to do the opposite because (to them) the “correct” way of acting is “intuitively obvious” or seems like common sense to them. It is the neurotypical people in my family who often take this position.
A person that I know has two grandsons who are on the spectrum. They were both level three initially. The oldest one was eventually level two and is now level one. The younger one was level three and is now level two. They were both diagnosed between ages two and three and started talking around age four.
Many autistic parents are some of the best. Just look at Marie and how she treats her siblings. Having a special needs sibling they need more attention and yet she feels loved
Some people in my family think of autism itself as a learning disability. Some people have this idea because some people on the spectrum have either dyslexia or hyperlexia. It seems to be fairly common to see one or the other in people who are on the spectrum but I don’t have any numbers on this at the moment.
Hey 7 Ahead - My mom has diabetes & my dad cheated on her with another girl , what does that have to do with what I'm trying to say ? , well ever since I was diagnosed with level 1 autism by my psychologist in July 2024 my parents still treated me like I don't have a disability because they say that I can still function with my autism . Whenever me & my mom or dad get into disagreements they end up saying I'm being disrespectful & talking back whenver I try to reason with them basically trying to express myself . 7 ahead what's your honest advice for my situation ?
I heard a quote once to the effect of "The full depth of human rage is not reached until a third party tactfully intervenes." Which is to say that even among neurotypicals, and even when it's a good idea to attempt to intervene in an argument (which it often isn't), you can generally expect that if you try to mediate between two people that have deep animosity towards each other, they will both get very angry with you. This doesn't necessarily mean you've done anything wrong, it's just a common human reaction.
When I was growing up back in the 1980s and 1990s it was thought that 1 in 10,000 people have autism. This was eventually revised to 1 in 2,500 and not it is known to actually be more than 1 in 50 (last I read).
Some people in my family thought that autism could be outgrown back in the 1970s and 1980s even though as far I know no one told them this. I do remember them being told that the symptoms can become more subtle with time and maybe they misinterpreted that.
@ On that subject my sister and I are both sometimes told by some family members that our diagnoses are “all in the past”, “ancient history”, and that it is “about time that we get past this because we are old enough to do so”.
Hi ma'am my baby is 4 months old.... Does not make any kind of eye contact.... But tracks object as well as light ... I am sacred will you please help me.... He has completed all other milestones properly like rolling over, head is also steady.... Only no eye contact
This could definitely be autism. Alternatively he could have had a right hemisphere stroke in the womb or at the time of birth. Either one can cause this. Sometimes it’s possible to have both. It turns out that in my case I had a right hemisphere stroke at birth and I am also on the spectrum (currently level one but according to some doctors I have talked to I was probably level two during childhood).
Ezra looks quite sharp in the thumbnail photo, but I wonder how happy he is with it 😂. AuDHD guys have a reputation for being very militantly casual in our dress: During the preparation for my brother's wedding I told him "get a good look, because this is the best-dressed you'll ever see me!" On the other hand, the resistance to formal dress among AuDHD guys tends to come from poor executive function and a desire to put our brainpower to more interesting uses than deciding what to wear. Given Ezra's support needs, I imagine he rarely dresses himself, so he may not care much about what he wears unless it's uncomfortable (I have a ton of tolerance in that respect and tend to select fabrics for durability, whereas many autists with tactile sensitivities select fabrics for comfort). But if Ezra ever does get to the point of dressing himself, even, indeed perhaps especially, if he becomes an Ivy League professor, he will likely always have one support need related to formal dress: you will *always* need to tie his tie for him. I can't tie one to save my life (largely, I think, because of motor issues comorbid to autism).
I was very hard to put my diagnosis on of two reasons, the more nice one is that I have an iq high enough for mensa, the less nice one is that I got depressed in preschool and because it never was treated until three years ago (at the age of 31) it is chronic. But as soon as I started getting treated for it became al my diagnosis very obvious.
My sister and I have some abilities that most people don’t have. For example, I have perfect pitch (and I can usually remember a song, TV Show Episode, or movie after about two or three viewings) and my sister has an almost perfect memory for names and dates but we don’t really have any other abilities that are different from the general population that I can think of. On the hand I have seen at least three or four people on the spectrum in my everyday life who don’t seem to have any unusual abilities.
ASD isn't caused by bad parenting it's actually the thing that makes it harder to diagnose it because trama masks asd alot of the time and on the topic of being alot I only wanna be alone cus I don't feel comfortable around people cus I feel I get judged . It's #### annoying being in a main stream school cus they act like ASD goes away over time in the school and it really doesn't and for me over time according to other people I'm getting more autistic lol and it's funny. The ability I have is pattern recognition and I was told off for finding patterns in things I shouldn't of In maths and that want good because I didn't know how to explain it to people lol another great video keep it up and sorry about commenting alot and now I'm thinking why and I saying that but oh well cya 😂😂
It’s genetic so it’s passed down from family members. My brother and I have both been diagnosed with autism and there’s a chance our dad is undiagnosed autistic.
@Sonicfan-cc1temy girl is six months She turns when you clap talk but calling her name she takes long to turn to u u have to shout alot to look at u. She loves lights like bulbs, moon ,stars to look at She looks at her fingers as if she plays with them She wants to clap her hands always She bangs are fingers everywhere and everytime She was to pinch you and somehow aggressively Is she autism just asking thanks. But I hv never seen autistic person in our home or family
I have 4 beautiful grandchildren and as of now 2 of them have been have been diagnosed to be on the spectrum! I am learning as much as possible! I am retired special Education teacher educated almost 40 years ago and things have changed drastically, open your eyes to the beauty of autism!😊
Thanks for sharing!!
Appreciate you watching and commenting ❤️
If you have multiple descendants with autism, it's worth researching if you have it, as genetics is a significant factor (and autistic men and women tend to like each other, so the genes tend to get concentrated 😂), and discovering that you have autism often does a lot to put your life in context. I was diagnosed this year in my late 30s, and I'm aware of people diagnosed as late as their 70s (one was the mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt of some friends of mine, and that whole clan, including spouses, children, and grandchildren shows signs of autism).
I love watching how parents with kids with autism cope with it like your family,autism family and The gentle life.
So glad ❤️
Thanks for covering all the myths. I talked to one of my friends whose wife thought that his daughter got autism due to bad parenting and lockdowns during the covid.
I’ve definitely had challenges with learning in school, it’s not that I wasn’t smart I just needed some extra help. And because I’m not like my older brother who obviously had challenges I slipped through the cracks quite a lot.
A couple of people in my family still believe that it is caused by a parent either being too inattentive or being overly indulgent. I don’t know why they think that, but they do.
Yeah, there’s a lot of misinformation out there for sure
Empathy? OMW. The 'caring' hurts my son SO much. He cares.
Social interaction is difficult. He always had a heap of friends. Only now do i realize that , Yes, he certainly had friends... others love him. He just doesn't really know how to BE a friend. Not really...
Thank you for sharing ❤️
Appreciate this perspective and you sharing ❤️
I also have difficulty with this. My grandmother on my mother’s side would sometimes say to me when I was growing up “To have a friend be one.” but not explain how to do this. When I would ask her about it she would tell me to recite the golden rule and then say to me that it is “as simple as that”.
❤️❤️❤️
11:57 The myth comes from the fact that parents of autistic children are often autistic themselves, and autism often involves difficulties with emotional expression. So doctors observed that the mother was cold and distant and that the child was cold and distant, and concluded that the child's difficulties were due to not getting enough love, when in reality they just shared a heritable condition.
Im a single mom. My brother and his wife are the worst offenders in the 'you're a weak/ incompetent/ bad mom' category. 😢
Sorry to hear that.
Yeah, that can be super frustrating, I’m sure you’re doing a great job. Make sure and check out this video on that subject that we made…
Mother REACTS to "Autism is the Mother’s Fault" RUclips Commenter
ruclips.net/video/T1qHiv7R69U/видео.html
5:36 What it really comes down to its that humans in general have good empathy with people that are like us mentally, but struggle with empathy for people that are different from us. Even if we *feel* empathy for them, we generally struggle to actually act on it in a helpful way.
I knew some people that said that you couldn't be autistic if you were verbal
Yeah that’s super wrong, only some autistic people like my brother for example are non verbal but most autistic people are probably verbal like me and some of my friends
Some doctors and some people in my family believed this. This is probably why my sister’s autism diagnosis fell through the cracks until she was about thirteen or fourteen.
My symptoms were more obvious. I said my first word “moon” at age one. Before age two I was saying “cat” and “clock” but few other words if any. Shortly after my two-year-checkup (when it was also noticed that I was making no eye contact and not using my potty chair at all even six months after it was introduced) I was sent to a neurologist. At this point it was determined that I was autistic and also showed signs of a right hemisphere stroke at birth. According to my parents I had some speech therapy by age three (back in the late 1970s). After about six months of this I started toilet training. It was a slow process but eventually just before age six I was trained just well enough to start kindergarten.
I am currently level one but according to some doctors I have talked to I was most likely level two by the time I started school (and probably throughout childhood). Before I started kindergarten I was in a half-day preschool program twice a week just before I started kindergarten (which for me was half-day five days per week) in the early 1980s.
In connection with the myth of a single factor causing autism I have noticed that it is fairly common for people to argue about whether a child who is on the spectrum inherited it from the father or the mother.
Yes, a common argument. 😊
Genetics does seem to be the primary factor, but it's known that more than one gene contributes, and just because a condition is genetic doesn't mean it's always inherited: mutations happen, and some genetic conditions cause sterility, meaning that they only ever appear as a result of mutations.
That said, twin studies indicate great variability in presentation among identical twins, and since identical twins share the same genes by definition and usually share the same environment, there do seem to be other factors influencing how (and possibly if) autism shows up.
EDIT: I'll add that often the answer to "who did it come from" is "both", since autistic folks seem to be more likely to fall in love with each other than with neurotypicals 😂.
I love your content and so educating
Thank you ❤️
Appreciate you watching and commenting ❤️
Thank you ❣️ The myths really hurt.
The fear... 😢.... my son is 6"4. He's such a gentle, caring soul.
I love him so much.
Im a special Ed teacher... but i never realized my son was on the spectrum until the beginning of this year. 😢
Wow, thank you for sharing your experience. ❤️
Yes, a lot of people don’t know until later. We’re trying to help get the word out as much as possible and raise awareness, as there can be a lot of clarity and help that comes from a diagnosis.
Thank you so much for the information.
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for watching and commenting ❤️
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for sending these clear messages about autism!
Also, my autistic adult son has intense empathy that can be difficult for him to work through on his own.
3:15 There's a difference between learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities: I have ADHD, which is classified as a learning disability (though it didn't really hold me back in terms of absorbing information), but I have an IQ comfortably above 100 (which is to say, the very opposite of intellectual delay).
Thanks this really helped me!!
Glad it helped!
What specifically helped so we can make more videos like this. 😊
And, oh yes.... my family, some friends, my brother and his wife, other teachers....
❤️❤️❤️
Thanks for watching and commenting ❤️
The other thing that some people in my family say is that my sister and I are (in essence) “old enough to be able to act like everyone else does” because we are (as it is often said) “old enough to know better”. My sister and I both tend to talk too loudly (for example) and some people in the family don’t like that. Also we are sometimes told that we are “too sensitive” or “get upset about things for no reason”. For some reason (while it is rare) we are sometimes told this right after being told that we need to consider the feelings of others instead of just our own. Sometimes I understand why they say this but not always.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. ❤️
It’s very helpful!
This very much makes me wonder how much of your family dynamics are influenced by undiagnosed autism in other family members:
You or your sister get emotionally disregulated and lose volume control -> someone else has audio sensitivities and gets overwhelmed and disregulated -> they call you oversensitive for getting upset enough to get loud so easily and ask you to consider their feelings.
@ Maybe, but in addition loud volume tends to run on one side of the family. On the same side one aunt has symptoms of ADD/ADHD but no diagnosis. On the other side of the family there is some confirmed history of autism (mostly in one or more distant cousins). This is the same side of the family where almost everyone is sensitive to loud noises. Sometimes they accuse people of being too loud on purpose and that’s when arguments sometimes start.
Many people tend to confuse IDD (Intellectual Development Disorder) and learning disorders, which are different things. I don't have any of the two and I'm suspected to be gifted since a young age, for me is mainly they way people teach me things, and also sensory issues and executive functioning issues that make it harder. Disorders like the ones you mentioned can also affect learning even if they aren't learning disabilities. Your videos are very helpful for me to know better about my autism, thank you. 👍🙂
1:45 This is important for parents not only for the child's sake, but for their own, given how many parents of autistic children are themselves autistic and have been stuffing it down because it got them bullied or disciplined in childhood.
Great video, I like your videos and I think you are a blessing to the autistic community and the world. I am autistic, I do feel like I have a lot of empathy and feel sad when others are sad. But those feelings are sometimes stuck inside my mind. I think one of the ways I show empathy is bringing up a situation that I felt similarly, even though it's not the same. But I do it because I can use my experience as the basis and then add additional context from what the other person is saying to see how it is different as well.
I dislike when people claim individuals with autism don't feel empathy. Of course they do, but they don't convey it like a neurotypical person would. It's different. Makes them sound like sociopaths & they're not. They're more smarter & aware than they're given credit for. Also, many non-autistic individuals just mimic empathy but don't feel it at all.
Many people used to assume that I lacked empathy. Some still do. My sister and I are both on the spectrum. Back in the early 2000s (when she was in her early 30s) she was having some stomach pains and family members initially dismissed them. Even though she’s level one she eventually (around age eleven or twelve (back in the 1980s)) developed the ability to pretend to have headaches or stomachaches (for example) to get out of activities that she did not want to do. Sometimes after getting out of an activity that she did not want to do (such as going to school) she would admit that she was doing this.
Fortunately this time it occurred to me to ask where the pain was and to have her temperature taken. At this point it was noticed that she had a fever. She was taken to an urgent care center (or something similar) and they took her vitals. The doctor called an ambulance and my parents drove their car to the hospital. They rushed her into emergency surgery and got her appendix out just in time (in addition to one or two other procedures they needed to do at the same time). At this point about once every year or two she sees some doctors for follow-up appointments and so far everything looks good. She’s in her early fifties now.
1:05 Meanwhile, autistic scientists are searching frantically for a cure for neurotypicality. 😂
I’m a female autistic person who struggles with how to respond when say someone is upset. I feel inside but don’t know what to do with those feelings in response to someone. I have been told numerous times to grow up cause I like younger toys and with my writing my spelling is bad and was told not to write like that again. I’m having help with writing this. I find people don’t except me for who I am that masking has been a big thing that I’ve learnt to do. I struggle with suicidal thoughts which I wouldn’t do but the thoughts at times are not helpful which are brought on by people who don’t understand.
A little correction: You said that right now if you took all of the children in the United States UNDER the age of 8, right now 1 in 36 would be autistic. The 1 in 36 figure was for children with a birth year of 2012 who data was collected on in certain US states in 2020 when they were 8 years old. Of those who were 8 years old in 2020, 1 in 36 were autistic on average. IN some states, the figures are higher and in some lower. For example, 1 in 22 eight year olds in California in 2020 were autistic. There has not been a published update yet for children born in 2014 who would have been 8 in 2022, or for children born in 2016 who would have been 8 in 2024, but every two years the rate increases substantially. SO essentially the rate is about 13 years behind if you were to use the rate to determine what would be your chances of having a child with autism if you were having a baby right now. So, you can see that 1 in 36 does not represent children who are LESS than 8 years old, as you said, but it represents children who are now age 13. If the rate is increasing every two years that it is measured, the rate for young children of age 2 to 4 for example, right now is much much higher, exponentially higher, as it is increasing exponentially every two years. For children born in 2024, the data for their rate of autism wont be collected until 2032 when they are 8 years old and it might be reported 5 years after that in 2037. The system is really lagging in reporting autism incidence.
Eventually, diagnosis rates will catch up to the actual incidence of the condition, and the delay will stop mattering so much.
A little over five years ago before the older grandson of a friend of mine started talking I mentioned his symptoms to some people in my family. At that point in time he was considered level three. Initially he wasn’t saying any words. Some people in my family suggested that maybe he was just giving his grandmother and his parents the silent treatment. I wonder how common it is for people to assume this initially.
That was not what was happening because initially he wasn’t crying and rarely made any sounds even at age two or three. They took him to a number of doctors including an ENT and used fiber-optics to look at his vocal cords to make sure they were intact and they were. They also eventually determined that he could see and hear. Shortly after this he was evaluated for autism and determined to be level three. Eventually after a lot of speech therapy and other therapies and watching some episodes of children’s TV shows he eventually said “Hi” and “bye”. Eventually other words like “No”, “Yeah”, “Mama”, “Dada”, and “Nana” came in some order. About a year later he was using sentences. At this point if he needed to “go” but didn’t want to use the toilet he could say “No poo-poo-head-dumb-dumb!” before deciding to go. By age six he was able to start changing himself when he needed to and was saying more sentences and was able to start kindergarten. He’s now considered level one and depending on what kind of day he’s having you might have to look for autism signs in order to see them. He’s about two grade levels behind now (except in math (his math skills are one to two grade levels above average for his age)). A while back he was determined to have dyslexia. This is holding him back academically more than his autism. He still has some difficulty with transitions, sharing, interpreting body language, and understanding some figures of speech and some jokes. His signs are subtle enough, though, that most days you would only notice them if you are specifically looking for them.
Thank you for this video ! I know that there is no cure for my daughter who is level 3 non verbal. People get on me about "making her eat certain foods and or make her do or go places. Its rough with going places. She doesn't want to be outside so I don't force her.
Thanks for this video lots of love from India ❤🥰
My pleasure 😊
Thank you! And lots of love right back at you ❤️
I have level one autism and I HATE the myth that we can’t have empathy.😢 I have a lot of empathy.
8:28 Even very independent-minded, late-diagnosed autistic adults often struggle living independently. That's not to say that we can't, but we have a tendency to live with our parents later than average, to struggle with employment even if highly intelligent and highly skilled, and to struggle with maintaining a household alone. I have an older relative that shows signs of autism that lived with his parents until they died, still lives in the same house, and, being a lifelong bachelor, has had trouble maintaining the property.
Some people in my family believe that people on the spectrum know how to act but deliberately choose to do the opposite because (to them) the “correct” way of acting is “intuitively obvious” or seems like common sense to them. It is the neurotypical people in my family who often take this position.
Thank you for sharing ❤️
A person that I know has two grandsons who are on the spectrum. They were both level three initially. The oldest one was eventually level two and is now level one. The younger one was level three and is now level two. They were both diagnosed between ages two and three and started talking around age four.
Thanks for sharing ❤️
Many autistic parents are some of the best. Just look at Marie and how she treats her siblings. Having a special needs sibling they need more attention and yet she feels loved
Some people in my family think of autism itself as a learning disability. Some people have this idea because some people on the spectrum have either dyslexia or hyperlexia. It seems to be fairly common to see one or the other in people who are on the spectrum but I don’t have any numbers on this at the moment.
Agreed
Thanks for sharing ❤️
I know an autistic girl. She is supersmart. Only top grades.
Yes, thanks for sharing. ❤️
Hey 7 Ahead - My mom has diabetes & my dad cheated on her with another girl , what does that have to do with what I'm trying to say ? , well ever since I was diagnosed with level 1 autism by my psychologist in July 2024 my parents still treated me like I don't have a disability because they say that I can still function with my autism . Whenever me & my mom or dad get into disagreements they end up saying I'm being disrespectful & talking back whenver I try to reason with them basically trying to express myself . 7 ahead what's your honest advice for my situation ?
I heard a quote once to the effect of "The full depth of human rage is not reached until a third party tactfully intervenes." Which is to say that even among neurotypicals, and even when it's a good idea to attempt to intervene in an argument (which it often isn't), you can generally expect that if you try to mediate between two people that have deep animosity towards each other, they will both get very angry with you. This doesn't necessarily mean you've done anything wrong, it's just a common human reaction.
When I was growing up back in the 1980s and 1990s it was thought that 1 in 10,000 people have autism. This was eventually revised to 1 in 2,500 and not it is known to actually be more than 1 in 50 (last I read).
Yes, thank you for sharing. ❤️
Ty ❤
Some people in my family thought that autism could be outgrown back in the 1970s and 1980s even though as far I know no one told them this. I do remember them being told that the symptoms can become more subtle with time and maybe they misinterpreted that.
Yeah, there’s definitely a lot of confusion out there on the subject for sure
@ On that subject my sister and I are both sometimes told by some family members that our diagnoses are “all in the past”, “ancient history”, and that it is “about time that we get past this because we are old enough to do so”.
Yeah, that’s frustrating
Hi ma'am my baby is 4 months old.... Does not make any kind of eye contact.... But tracks object as well as light ... I am sacred will you please help me.... He has completed all other milestones properly like rolling over, head is also steady.... Only no eye contact
This could definitely be autism. Alternatively he could have had a right hemisphere stroke in the womb or at the time of birth. Either one can cause this. Sometimes it’s possible to have both. It turns out that in my case I had a right hemisphere stroke at birth and I am also on the spectrum (currently level one but according to some doctors I have talked to I was probably level two during childhood).
@thomasschoeck9080 thank you I will get him checked
Ezra looks quite sharp in the thumbnail photo, but I wonder how happy he is with it 😂. AuDHD guys have a reputation for being very militantly casual in our dress: During the preparation for my brother's wedding I told him "get a good look, because this is the best-dressed you'll ever see me!"
On the other hand, the resistance to formal dress among AuDHD guys tends to come from poor executive function and a desire to put our brainpower to more interesting uses than deciding what to wear. Given Ezra's support needs, I imagine he rarely dresses himself, so he may not care much about what he wears unless it's uncomfortable (I have a ton of tolerance in that respect and tend to select fabrics for durability, whereas many autists with tactile sensitivities select fabrics for comfort).
But if Ezra ever does get to the point of dressing himself, even, indeed perhaps especially, if he becomes an Ivy League professor, he will likely always have one support need related to formal dress: you will *always* need to tie his tie for him. I can't tie one to save my life (largely, I think, because of motor issues comorbid to autism).
I even have empathy for inanimate objects!
Thank you for sharing ❤️!
I was very hard to put my diagnosis on of two reasons, the more nice one is that I have an iq high enough for mensa, the less nice one is that I got depressed in preschool and because it never was treated until three years ago (at the age of 31) it is chronic. But as soon as I started getting treated for it became al my diagnosis very obvious.
My sister and I have some abilities that most people don’t have. For example, I have perfect pitch (and I can usually remember a song, TV Show Episode, or movie after about two or three viewings) and my sister has an almost perfect memory for names and dates but we don’t really have any other abilities that are different from the general population that I can think of. On the hand I have seen at least three or four people on the spectrum in my everyday life who don’t seem to have any unusual abilities.
Agreed!
You do have an incredible memory. 😊
I have high functioning ASD but I don't get the sign when I need to eat so I have gone days without eating and it wasn't good lol
Wait Simon can tie his show leases on his own , his learning fast
My son Pats your back when you trip or get hurt. If that's not empathy, what is?
So true!
Thank you for sharing ❤️
I cannot mask my autism because I’m sensitive to noise and Overstimulated easily so people I don’t want them to find out will find out
Teach Ezra how to do primitive reflex integration exercises that will help him learn how to talk!
I’m not familiar with this but it sounds like it could be an interesting idea.
ASD isn't caused by bad parenting it's actually the thing that makes it harder to diagnose it because trama masks asd alot of the time and on the topic of being alot I only wanna be alone cus I don't feel comfortable around people cus I feel I get judged . It's #### annoying being in a main stream school cus they act like ASD goes away over time in the school and it really doesn't and for me over time according to other people I'm getting more autistic lol and it's funny. The ability I have is pattern recognition and I was told off for finding patterns in things I shouldn't of In maths and that want good because I didn't know how to explain it to people lol another great video keep it up and sorry about commenting alot and now I'm thinking why and I saying that but oh well cya 😂😂
What causes autism please someone explain me well in simple English
It’s genetic so it’s passed down from family members. My brother and I have both been diagnosed with autism and there’s a chance our dad is undiagnosed autistic.
@Sonicfan-cc1te so if both your parents are okay and tour grandparents had it can it affect my children. And can I ask u some questions
@Sonicfan-cc1temy girl is six months
She turns when you clap talk but calling her name she takes long to turn to u u have to shout alot to look at u.
She loves lights like bulbs, moon ,stars to look at
She looks at her fingers as if she plays with them
She wants to clap her hands always
She bangs are fingers everywhere and everytime
She was to pinch you and somehow aggressively
Is she autism just asking thanks. But I hv never seen autistic person in our home or family
@@RuthEdrine-lm6miIt sounds like this could be autism. I would definitely bring this up with her doctor as soon as possible.
@@thomasschoeck9080 I took her to her Peadetrician but she told me she is okay