I don't really have the stats in Msia, just a discussion with you guys.

I don't know if you all feel the same way, but unlike my youth days I didn't meet a lot of people having autism issue until present day. Some may say it was due to awareness and education from internet and social media to help us know how an autistic person is like.

However, thinking back, I didn't really meet a lot of people who have autism.

But these days it appears to be more prevalent than before. I mean autistic kids, I love them, they are nice and cute, sometimes I volunteer to help out with the kids.

On the other hand, I felt a sense of concern because I notice how these kids are going to fit in the working life. I do try my best to help but I think today there are more and more of kids being diagnosed with autism than before.

For eg, in my office alone, I have a staff with 8 kids, 2 of his kids are autistic, another colleague from another dept he has 3 kids, 1 of his kid is autistic and then another colleague at another department, she has 3 kids, third one is autistic (non audible), then another colleague has 3 kids, 3rd one also autistic (non audible).

I went to a class reunion, we agreed to set up a few tables, 3 for adults and 2 for kids. during the party, the adults will rotate to the kids table to help take care of the kids, I found out of the 2 tables sitting, 2 kids are autistic.

Then 7 years ago, I befriended a friend, in the course of my volunteer work, who is also autistic, he is about 24yo. He can speak, a very nice guy, he can speak, except he is very naive...sometimes I am afraid that he may kena scam, he so easily trust people. And when he speaks he keeps repeating stuff, I am ok with that. Fortunately there is a co, that is helpful and hired him to do simple work.

So it all boils down to this: WHAT IS HAPPENING TODAY?

Is it because of more awareness level, that more people are diagnosed with autism than 15 years ago?
Or is it because of pollution, the processed food we eat, microplastic issue absorb by the human body, the environment that is causing more autism cases? Of course to date scientist is unable to proof this, but its very concerning that more cases are out today.

I known some close friends who are spending 3k per month on special education for their kids, its become a significant financial spending for families.

There is no cure, there is no way one can detect autism in the womb. Some only find out when they notice the kid is not talking up to 2-3yo, depending on the severity of the autism spectrum.

This post has been edited by hoonanoo: Oct 24 2024, 09:30 AM

Well, it’s not quite true that autism cannot be detected early. Many can be detected early. The question is what are you going to do about it when there’s abortion is not allowed?

This is a lifestyle problem.it starts with men having significantly less sperm than the 90s or earlier. Could be stress at work. Could be bad habit of insufficient sleep. Could be the food. Could be the rise of obesity. So quality of sperm has also dropped. I do not have statistics for female egg count and quality but my guess is that it’s the same drop in quantity and quality. That’s why the rise in IVF, infertility and autistic kids.

Another root cause is because cost of living is so high, people are delaying marriage and delaying having a child. So the age of giving birth also increased. Both are statistically proven in Malaysia. Including rise of autistic children in Malaysia. No proof but a clear correlation in data. Since woman release a fixed number of eggs in their lifetime, the later they conceive, the poorer the grade. But most will find out from fertility clinics is that both are the reason or no reason can be found because it’s rarely a clear reason which person is the cause of fertility.

Like you said, it takes extreme patience and cost to raise an autistic child. I think most parents will want to make sure their kids can take care of THEMSELVES when the parents are no longer around hence the effort to nurture them even at higher cost. More people are buying insurance for this when pregrant. I also foresee most couples will opt for IVF even when they are perfectly fine to avoid autistic kids especially when IVF cost has steadily come down and more accessible. Obviously more have opt not to have kids altogether

This post has been edited by PS8805: Oct 24 2024, 09:50 AM

There are cases where young parents also get autistic child, late marriage is not the main factor.

i got 1 non-verbal seizure prone autistic brother. he's on his late 20s.

most likely im going to take care of him till the day i die or vice versa.

its pointless for me to think about how this happened.

but i think the rise of internet plays a large part regarding the awareness.

the advancement of medical science is increasing the life expectancy of population.

as such, population increase. with more people around, maybe the risk of mutation increase?

i dont know, i dont have energy to care.

im just focusing on giving the best life to my younger brother.

current or future government better not pulling the subsidy of the meds.

ill burn the world if i have to.

This post has been edited by h0riz0nLine: Oct 24 2024, 10:05 AM

If environmental causes like pollutions and toxins caused more present day autisms.. then there would have been even more autistics cases 20 years ago since back in the 1960s and 1970s .... cigarette smoking were rampant and motor vehicles were less regulated to conform to emission standards.

This post has been edited by alanyuppie: Oct 24 2024, 10:11 AM

I mean when fetus in the womb.

Toddler, you may be able to notice some signs, but confirmation is also difficult unless you do a MRI brain scan.

I've been told in hindsight autism was more prevalent back in the day

Just that it was not recognised as such

And many of them die

I wonder if got stats in Msia.

I being trying to find.

More awareness now that tik-tokers and youtubers sharing the insights and signs of Autism
There are also high functioning ppl that do not usually exhibit autism. Some diagnosed as an adult.

In Malaysia, any signs of out of norm are still being considered crazy/has depression/cacat especially adults.

Autism is a spectrum. Many is high functioning and do not be surprised famous scientists are autistic as well

So pursuits what suit best for individual instead of focus on what he do not hv

Pretty sure you've mixed up autism with Down Syndrome.

It's now called ASD....autism spectrum disorder. As in any spectrum, you can have very mild cases (used to be called Asperger's) to the full blown autistic.

Is it more common? Probably no. Increased awareness makes it seem so.

Plus in the past, families just hide them at home.

This post has been edited by limeuu: Oct 24 2024, 11:18 AM

I once send my kid to a music class for kids.

The teacher would read a nursery story then play music and children would animate and dance along. I saw most of the kids participate except for one kid.

he seemingly too focus or interested in a ball, he keeps playing with the ball, that the mother had to bring along to class, but he paid no attention to the teacher and rest of the kids and he does not participate at all.

The mother is with him and she takes care of him while at class. i notice she spends special attention to him while the rest of the parents just go to the back of the class and sit on the chairs there either playing with their hp or watching the kids performing in the music class.

He looks perfectly normal, and I am glad he could speak but I just wondering why he is always focused on that ball and throughout the whole 1 hour class, he didn't participate at all. The music and the playing was so inticing that the rest of the kids were happy to play except him.

I mean you could tell if some kids are anti social and naughty wanna do something else, but for his case, you could see it wasn't about lack of interest or naughty, you could sense he just don't want to take notice of the class and just want to be in his own bubble. I could be wrong but its just something I noticed.

Although I didn't want to speculate but my heart was thinking that the kid was exhibiting some signs (maybe I am wrong I dunno). I hope he would do well in his future.

This post has been edited by hoonanoo: Oct 24 2024, 11:25 AM

I understand there are those mild cases.

In fact a lot of mild case people live normal lives and go on to have successful life. For Eg Mark Zuckerberg, he was diagnosed with Aspergers.

But I am talking about those more severe cases like in affects child development very severely, like when the child reaches 3yo to 5yo still unable to talk despite intervention. Or they don't focus on you while you are making funny faces when they are in their toddler stage.

I am noticing more of these cases than in the past.

You are a good man, I can see from your writings. I pray that you and your family members as well as your brother will continue to receive all the support.

I have a 65 year old friend who is a retired teacher. She did not marry as she is committed to take care of her 55yo sister who appears to be autistic, she is very prone with her outburst due to her depression issues. Her sister regularly sends her to the psychiatrist to take her meds.

I could be wrong, but if we were able to find the reason, maybe it would help us to pinpoint how to best improve the lives of people who has severe autism.

Can only compare then & now directly if detection criteria & frequency is the same, but it's not.
Chances are what's considered clinically autistic today was just 'weird' back then.

in the past, we call those child hyperactive, naughty, parent did not teach manners to them.

so it's most probably relates more to awareness.

Last time don't have mobile phone and wifi

Close friends who got married total up got 6 of us. 3 of them got autistic kids. Incident rate 50%. It's crazy

I think back then the amount of autistic also same. Just they wont be so severe because lack of screen time. And got huge amount of human interaction to force the conformity. Imagine siblings banyak, out of 4 ekor only 1 autistic. The other 3 will have some way to pressure the autistic one to be more normal.

From what i observe. those non functional autism is solely due to lack of guide from the surrounding peers. Those with parents heavily involved and well informed in regards to autism, those who do early intervention from age 2 onwards have much better outcome than those that sit back and pray the kids are just in the phase, they WANT to believe they can outgrow the autism. End up by age 7 only they start to accept their kids are autistics.

I don't think autism is caused by behaviour issues or lack of attention/guidance from parents.

Last time in my school, I had friends who were 100% neglected by their parents, just send to school, feed and cloth them, that's all.

but still their minds can learn.

I believe autism is caused by children brain not growing to normal, its very subtle, can't be seen. MRI can't detect in baby, toddlers until later on. Very subtle changes in the slow growth of certain parts in an autistic child, those severe non verbal cases.

one of my kid has development issue so ayam sending him to EIP..

really good business that center.. got alot of kids with autism..

ayam oso seeing a education counselor for kids.. good business mang.. appointment need book 2 months in advance... and need pay deposit upfront and if u no show.. deposit burnt

personally, i think awareness and detection is better now.. plus parents not hiding it anymore...

This post has been edited by seather: Oct 24 2024, 02:16 PM

i am saying those with severe autism la. Non functional type. totally incoherent in talking.

I mean to say they naturally autistics, not severe because got early intervention. those autistic who parents did nothing from age 2 to age 7 is those that speaking also got problem.

During your youth your circle of friends is smaller. Like the examples you gave below only can happen later in life.

Also during your youth(mine as well) you may not notice autism even when you see it. Less awareness at that time.

It may also be cases has increased. No definite answer without proper statistics.

1. There's much greater awareness of autism now than in the past among the general public. This leads to more individuals being screened and diagnosed, especially those with milder forms that might have gone unnoticed previously.

2. The definition of autism has evolved over time, and the diagnostic criteria have become broader. This means that individuals who may not have met the criteria for an autism diagnosis in the past may now be included within the autism spectrum.

In the past, individuals with unique behaviors or ways of thinking were often simply seen as 'weird'. Today, we have a greater understanding of mental health conditions, and many of these individuals might be recognized as having conditions like autism, or any other mental situations.

what is EIP ?

How much per month?

Early Intervention Program.. it is for kids with developmental issues..
the center can offer customized therapy for individual needs of the kid

penang around RM2.5k/month for full day.. depending on the therapy u need..

I see, hope everything works well.

In addition to increased awareness, is the increased labelling and assignment of "developmental disorders". "Slow" children gets labelled something. There must be a reason why they are "slow".

The IQ spectrum follows a basically Gaussian curve. There is going to be the bottom 10% with intellectual impairment. In the past they are just called "stupid". Now that is not acceptable and new labels need to be found and used. Nobody exist in the B10 anymore. They are somewhere higher if not for a developmental disorder.

yeah like ADHD and dyslexia.

but I am just not saying about certification or diagnosis.

I am talking about noticing more and more kids with these tendencies - like non verbal, tend to do certain things repetitiously, too overfocus on objects, anti social, throws abnormal outburst tantrums over something small or non noticeable. Its hard to explain but you can notice something peculiar and tell tale signs of autism.

its getting more prevalent in these modern times.

Even some of my friends who are expecting, actually praying for their baby to be healthy, because they are seeing more n more autism problem coming out.

I don't understand the point of this thread. are you actively seeking confirmation to your observation and dismissing replies that doesn't reflect that?

I just want to hear people feedback, are they feeling that they are encountering more Autism cases?

I just got to suspect may be due to more pollution, diet, micro plastic that is affecting our modern day health.

could it be DNA damage?

that's the point of this thread.

Nowadays it is more common due to better awareness, my eldest is mild autistic and he turns 8 this year still non-verbal, my brother-in-law first born daughter also autistic but on the more aggressive spectrum. I guess it runs in my wife's side of the family.
There are many theories of causes of autism i.e. heavy metal, food, supplement etc but to date not even one is conclusive.

Bro, can he communicate now? MT child is secondary school. Cant communicate get.

This.
People tend to only credit increased awareness but don't credit increased exposure these days. Also the older we are, the more we are exposed to others. So we see more now than as kids.

I have also noticed increase of gay/lesbians these days compared to back then.
Also notice more OKU people (physically disabled ones), probably due to better facilities and equipment for them to be out and about.

He only used certain words mostly

So only our close family can communicate with him to certain extant

Something about what he want to do or eat

But not something complex

Outsider can’t understand him that’s for sure

The later birth age is definitely a contributor.

I think the biggest reason is that our society has generally gotten a lot safer, so taking care of an autistic child is actually possible. In the past, it would have meant their death.

Our technological advancement also favours autistic people. So those with slight autistic traits excel in their field and have a chance to pro-create, increasing the trait in the gene pool.

Autism got extreme cases also wan la, how much you intervene also difficult.

food and environment.. maybe damages baby health in woman's body...

just how many women these days really jaga their makan when they pregnant? eat like usual..... everything got preservatives/ pesticides..

also I suspect got DNA damage too..

Lack of awareness. Many still don't understand what autism is, including me, until my girlfriend asked me to read the symptoms because I have difficulty dealing with someone with mild autism in my workplace, and I thought it was a strange behavior he was having, until I learned he actually has autism. 

We can read about autism behavior on Google because international awareness has made it more common. It's unfortunate that Malaysia hasn't made significant efforts to diagnose autism. 

Some symptoms seem like normal behaviour of an anti-social person. So im still confused.

that's why it's a spectrum

Afterall getting diagnosed is just slapping label on him. Most of the time getting the diagnosis is more to please the surrounding ppl than the affected person. Human coping mechanism is weird and we tends to seek answer to thing that doesnt help if at all.

Took me a very long time to read between lines when ppl asking the question "i dont understand" it is just another way of saying "i cannot accept what is happening". They don't really want to know the answer.

He is not antisocial but super lazy. Laugh when it's not funny, cause the awkward situation. Repeat the same thing again and again, which is super annoying.

I believe different people have different symptoms. 

sorry to hear this.

erm, don't mind me asking, isn't non-verbal is at a higher autism spectrum level? It is still considered mild?

I believe there is a cause, I really hope scientist can make the discovery soon and a cure is discovered.

but he is able to work and solve complex working issues, right?

Yup birth at later age has been proven to be the reason, statistically.

However, during my granny days, she gave birth to 8 children, her sister also gave birth to another 8, the 6th to 8th children were given birth when she was in her 40s, yet these issues does not happen.

I just suspect its more due to our modern living, we are living among more n more microplastics and pollution.

my youth days, my social circles were very large.

in my school alone, I was very active in social clubs and sports.

I played football in my neighborhood area.

I was a scout and we social with other scouting groups.

I travelled a lot during festive holidays to my relative hometowns in other states (today I have no time to go).

It's like a normal person until he speaks. But muka ada macam sedikit cacat.

so how come he can get employed?

he work as a what?

Having a child later in life, especially if it's your first, can come with more risks. Once you have your first child at a younger age, you're less prone to complications even if the next ones come later—at least that's what I've heard.

I'm personally rather surprised to read through this thread, as I didn't know it was that common. Fortunately, I don't personally know anyone in my circle whose child is autistic—at least not yet.

I could not get any statistics that reflect this, that's why I created this thread.

Having said that, the thread rules does not dictate that I must come up with a study, I can create forum based on what I observe and I pose this observation to the forumers for their feedback.

However, there are cases that first child can get autism too. Some parents plan to have more children such as the 3rd or 4th child, then by the time they reach this stage, they are already in their mid 30s. So the risks are there too.

It's been existed for a long time, but the nonverbal Autism looks really obvious and quite a lot nowadays compared to last time.

other autistic spectrum is also noticeable.

Are you asking in Malaysia specifically? Beause a quick google search will give you the answer.

wow 663% increase !!!

https://ova.galencentre.org/number-of-child...m-2013-to-2023/

Number Of Children Diagnosed With Autism In Malaysia Increased By 663% From 2013 To 2023
The number of children with autism registered with the Department of Social Welfare (JKM) has been steadily rising, from 6,991 children in 2013 to 53,323 children in 2023.

https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2022/07/kh...ism-rates-rise/


KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 – Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today that he will recommend to the Cabinet to form a National Autism Council, amid increasing numbers of autistic children in Malaysia.


This post has been edited by hoonanoo: Oct 29 2024, 11:05 AM

True, I agree with your points there, I also have a daughter who may/may not have autism, she is now 1 years and 4 months old and she can't speak anything yet and it gave me concern also the cost is too high. I read a lot now about autism and it seems there have been many research regarding this matter. I also read about human evolution because most autistic kids are very smart. Scientist have made assumptions that maybe we are evolving. big IF here. Anyway I have been close monitor my daughter and tried many ways to educate her to be able to speak even one words. Please pray for me and my family guys.

Cheers!

that's one school of thought.

these days, some with mild autism or functional autism also diagnosed.

People like Elon Musk and Top Gear host could also be autistic, but they are functionally autistic.

Well yeah, after I have a daughter we have an appointment at KK every 1-3 months for shots. Hell I dun even know there are that many shots since birth. No wonder our dna already made 0.3% from medicine alone. We alter our genes since birth.

i m a teacher.

i can confirmed that more autismic children nowadays and some are severe.

I hope and pray the best for your daughter.

If you want clear the air, perhaps you can go see a child psychiatrist, and see if they can find ways to diagnose or advice you to wait until she is much older.

one of my staff, whose third child has autism, he suspected something when she was a baby, like when he played with her, her eyes was looking at elsewhere. his other 2 children when they were babies, they would have responded and laughed.

This post has been edited by hoonanoo: Oct 29 2024, 02:47 PM

https://ova.galencentre.org/number-of-child...m-2013-to-2023/

Number Of Children Diagnosed With Autism In Malaysia Increased By 663% From 2013 To 2023
The number of children with autism registered with the Department of Social Welfare (JKM) has been steadily rising, from 6,991 children in 2013 to 53,323 children in 2023.

https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2022/07/kh...ism-rates-rise/


KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 – Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today that he will recommend to the Cabinet to form a National Autism Council, amid increasing numbers of autistic children in Malaysia.

these already confirmed it.

Autism on the rise in Malaysia because many couple wed and have kids at later age above 32.

Elon musk also is autistic, abeit a high functioning one (asperger)

First born, age 5 years 7 months, just diagnosed ASD, grade 2 both SCI/RRB. Teacher inform us only we noticed. Gave birth at age 34.
Treatment to follow suit and expected to last for life.
Suspected inherited from my gene. Had anxiety and panic attack recently myself.
Prayers goes out to all the parents out there.

Attached File(s)
 Gut_and_Psychology_Syndrome__Natural_Treatment_for_Autism__ADD_ADHD__Dyslexia__Dyspraxia__Depression__Schizophrenia.pdf ( 1.39mb ) Number of downloads: 23

sorry to hear this.

DId you notice any anomalies when your child was 2 yo ?

like your child refuse to look at you in the eye?

or too fixated to an object like a ball when other kids are around?

I sent my kid to a playschool, while they were play acting, with other kids, I noticed one very handsome young boy about 5yo, he was not socially responding. THe mother was accompanying him, but he kept playing with the ball while the other kids were dancing and enacting the play with the teacher.

and what level is grade 2 ?

This post has been edited by hoonanoo: Jul 3 2025, 07:06 PM