I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s. I don’t recall any of the kids in any of my classes having autism.
Does anyone?
Maybe they were in special schools or institutionalized. I was in elementary school in the 60’s and don’t remember any autistic kids, either.
I knew two kids with autism in the 60s.
I taught 1st grade for 2 years in the mid-fifties and autism was unheard of.
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I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s. I don’t recall any of the kids in any of my classes having autism..”
I’m a bit older than you but we didn’t have autism, ADD or ADHD back then. My kids were both born in the 60’s - none of their friends suffered from autism, ADD or ADHD then either. I do recall the school principal saying that the little boys in my son’s first grade class were “the orneriest bunch of boys he’d ever had in that school” but they were all boy and just not ready to sit down and be quiet all day. They changed the teacher from a young single gal to an older grandmother type later in the year and that helped some.
IMO, many little boys just are not ready for all that structure at age six. I also think that all those meds benefit the teachers, not the children.
The first time I recall ever hearing any of these terms mentioned was in the late 1990’s or early 2000’s. Either these kids were suddenly being labeled or something else drastically changed, including the kind of teachers being hired, a redefinition of parent’s responsibilities, change in what was in their food, ....???
They were not in your classes. They’ve always been around.
Does anyone?
There were undoubtedly a few. Its just that they were probably completely ignored and rejected by their peers with no understanding how or why they were that way.
Think perhaps of a few people who might have done well in school and might have even gone on to support themselves with a job but were never able to find any friends.
The mental disorders are often the invisible disabilities. There is frequently no outwards appearance, and the challenges these people face are readily dismissed by the masses as a defect in morals.
Exactly. It was virtually unknown. I do remember a few families where there was a child with Down’s Syndrome. There is a book about autism that was written in the 1950s that effectively disproves the genetic theory. I recommend it, a fascinating book: “Pathways to Madness”, by Jules Henry.
No-—even in the 70’s-—The epidemic started when I had my children in the 80’s—and I had never heard about it-—and knew people teaching for decades who didn’t hear of it. I was into child development and my sister is a nurse.
It is a toxin—probably from vaccines——they upped the number of vaccines in the 80’s and reduced the ages-—and massively inject newborns, now with insane cr(p-—like Hep B .
All vaccines have known toxins and babies have no ability of excreting toxins from the brain. That is fact-—all toxins go directly to the brain to kill cells.
Boys are 3 times as likely to get Autism-—same as for Mercury poisoning-—boys are more succeptible because of testosterone reactions to toxins.
This is nothing but the power of the State to monitor the brains of your children-—and destroy them. Think of their ability to “label” your children even more so than they do in public schools today-—and at BIRTH. Evil and insidious. They made up Dyslexia (Blumenfeld) when John Dewey destroyed our education system and all of a sudden the literacy rate plummeted. They wanted to put blame on parents and deflect it from the true cause-—public schools. That was in the 30’s-—it is way more Marxist now.
Corporations have controlled our govt. for more than 80 years and “education” and all media/books/curricula since the early 1900’s is to control perceptions of the masses. They Lie. It is proven over and over. The Corporations/Government want billions dead and not reproducing-—never trust them.
JS Mill predicted this-—Government will destroy Freedom and kill its own populace——it is the nature of government which is always an evil.
I never knew of any such thing in the ‘80s.
My mother was SpecEd teacher, very good. When she went for Masters in the ‘70s she said they hardly touched on autism.
As with everything, we believe autism is being expanded (spectrum!) to include everyone so we all have some disease or condition. And schools have a SpecEd cash cow.
Yes, there was a boy in my elementary school who had exhibited several of the symptoms. He was very odd, but functioned well enough to be kept with other kids.
I was lucky enough to go to a very nice suburban elementary school. If he had been at a more typical school, he would have been bullied I'm certain.
Do you remember any kids who seemed out of sync with the social side of things? Maybe someone who could get good grades but couldn’t pick up on non-verbal cues? Anyone who seemed unusually sensitive to noise, touch, or chaos? “Autism” covers a pretty broad spectrum. I’m pretty sure that if my family were tested, at least half would have it in some form, all the way back to my grandfather.
Including me.
There were certainly some who today would be diagnosed as ‘on the spectrum’. That is, awkward and socially inept. But autism was both only an extreme diagnosis and very rare.
I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s. I don’t recall any of the kids in any of my classes having autism.
Does anyone?
UFO abductions started after that time period and autism rates skyrocketed, coincidence????
Just kidding, or am I?
I have 2 heart conditions that were only “discovered” in the last 10-20 years. Does that mean that no one had it before, no, it means they didn’t know what to call it and many people were told that they were crazy for not feeling well most of the time....
Also, I grew up in the 70’s and know of at least one person that had autism. Most kids were put in special ed or special schools so they wouldn’t be in regular classrooms anyway. As kids we wouldn’t have been aware of “special” kids for the most part....
>> Does anyone?
Nope.
I was forced to deal with it and learn awareness and control - turned out to be one of those folks who maintained a 4.0 in college with a minimum of studying. Still can't focus on anything long enough to develop a real avocation, but I can get along in society and earn my own way.
I am a bit introverted and prefer to deal on a cerebral level vs. emotionally - hence the hanging around FR since shortly after 9/11. I've been aware of this for a few decades but this is the first I considered it as being tied to the other "issues".
Back in the 60s kids with autism were usually called retarded and were put away institutions. Dr. Temple Grandin was diagnosed with autism in 1949. Luckily for her, her parents were rich and her mother fought until she found knowledgeable doctors was able to send her to a boarding school that specialized in autistic and other mental issues. The time she spent in public schools up until that point were nightmarish. The other kids either tormented her or ignored her.