| Archive for A Forum For Carers |
| ians1 |
Are there more disabled kids?I am researching something, do you think that there are more or less disabled children now than say 10 or 20 years ago as a proportion of the population?I don't know the answer but I am thinking that with a reduction in fatalities for newborns and advances in medicines there would have been an increase. Any body know a link to any stats please let me know. Thanks ian |
| Dotty |
Now that you mention it...I'm new to the website and forum but I think there are more disabled children these days but I hadn't thought about it until you just mentioned it. Your reasons are valid as well...Dotty |
| pixie |
You're probably right Ian, I would think there would be more for some of the very reasons that you state. Not to mention that life in general these days is better and people live longer.
I don't know any links offhand but I'll have a look around to see what I can find out. |
| Speeds |
I am sure that there are more but would need to do a search to see.
Also - disability definition - there are some children now who are considered under the disabled umberella who would not have been many years ago. |
| pixie |
There's also the fact that many disabled children used to be hidden in care homes and institutions so maybe that plays a part of the perception that there are more disabled children.
I don't know what others feel about that way of thinking. |
| jvz |
I agree that advances in medicine have kept some children alive who would have died a few years ago. Also the aim is now for care in the home rather than in an institution. As aids have become more portable, and the needs of the disabled have had to be considered in buildings it does mean that more are able to get about than used to be the case.
Of course like in all statistics the criteria changes over time making a direct comparison difficult. I have had a quick look but haven't found any figures relating to a change over time. Good luck. |
| charles47 |
How's the research going, Ians1?
Might be worth looking at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation - they've done quite a bit on disabled children and their families over the years, although I'm not sure about your particular query. In autism there has been a huge leap in diagnosis/identification: in Leicestershire in 1988 the LEA knew of 42 children. Now, across the same area there are more than 1,000 identified. More children or better identification? Nobody's really sure - that debate started in the 90s. Conversely, I'd expect that Down Syndrome numbers are down since the introduction of the test during pregnancy. A lot of families have chosen not to have their disabled child, often on the basis of the pressure put on them by the hospitals - Damon Hill has mentioned this before, for example, in that he and his wife were given the worst case scenario in the expectation that they would agree to an abortion - which they did not. |
| pam |
The autistic spectrum is very long isn't it? psychologists can be wary these days that at times behaviours can present at times like Autism but can actually infact be an Attachment Disorder made by poor parenting. Thus they can be reluctant to put this 'tag' on a child. Pam |
| pixie |
You can also look at it the other way around and wrongly label a child with an Attachment Disorder.
It happened to us with us having 3 ASD young people they thought we were just bad parents initially. They didn't bother to look and see the other ASD relatives despite us telling them. It was a relief to finally have the right DX but we had to go private to get it. |
| pam |
Oh Pixie that must have been awful for you. These behaviours are so alike and can entwine into looking like one thing initially can't they. As you found out they can get it wrong and these days we are very much into the attachment disorder thingy. A few yrs ago it was way down the scale of 'possibilities' today they seem to look at the 'possibilities' of AD fist I think. It was not right you had to go private to prove your point. I'm pleased you got your result though. Pam |
| charles47 |
Worst of it is that when autism was first identified by Leo Kanner in 1943 he put it down to being caused by poor attachment/"refrigerator" mothers. He recanted on that over 20 years later.
Fact is that if you look at the whole situation and identify what is going on, there is little similarity between attachment disorder and autism. The trick is in spotting the abstract/imaginative thought issues. A child with attachment disorder still has a functioning imagination and can display a sense of danger, for example. Most of the problem is in the tendency to take short cuts and make assumptions about parenting skills. Most of the cases of late diagnosis that I have come across have been down to this. |
| pixie |
A little info here on that Charles.
http://www.autism-watch.org/causes/rm.shtml |
| charles47 |
Interesting article, Pixie, although it ignores Kanner's eventual change of mind - he did eventually realise that he'd mixed up the cause and effect issue.
Nowadays, it's more likely that - rather than diagnose the child - mums end up with the "neurotic mother" or Munchausens by Proxy tag. I remember one mum who for seven years couldn't get anyone to listen to her: all that time she did come over as neurotic in the way she stared (to hold your attention) and spoke rapidly (to make sure you heard everything she needed to say) - and was ignored as a result. When, finally, she got a diagnosis from one of the top people in the country (that even our LEA could not ignore), she was cured! 
But it should not have taken seven years. |
| myra |
i know i have worked in special education for 17 years and we are certainly seeing more and more pupils coming through our doors
myra |
| pam |
I know one mum who has two children the eldest is fine her second child collapsed sveral days after having the immunisations had fits stopped speaking and began some of the the behaviours which we see in Autistic children. This mother blames the immunisation for this change in her daughter. Pam |