Autism More Abundant in Children of Older Moms, Sort of…
by admin on February 9, 2010
in autism spectrum disorder, parenting
Ok, you can read the article for yourself and listen to the audio:
Autism Risk Linked to Maternal Age
Read and listen, because the fact is, they are not sure if this is genetically related. Since autism is on the rise, and there is a documented link between autism and genetics, and because the spectrum is so large, there’s no way to gage if autism is cropping up more due to genes.
Baby steps forward, and 10 more steps back…
A couple observations…
This correlation actually makes a lot of sense when we consider the rise in the numbers of kids dxd with Autism/Spectrum issues. When I was born (that would be roughly 40 years ago) women generally had children in their 20′s and ever now and then, in their 30′s. Having children after the age of 35 was almost unheard of, unless it happened to be a woman’s 15th kid (or so).
Second, we “mature” moms are more likely to be open to realizing our children are not perfect… and investigate. I don’t mean to stereotype, but as any preschool teacher – young moms are a bit more likely to blame the teacher or the other children for their child’s misbehavior. Young people in general may be uncomfortable with accountability – it’s easier to blame everyone else. I was there once. As I matured, I slowly made the transition to blaming myself for everything… I may be finding a happy medium in my old age – LOL! So – older moms MAY be more likely to notice idiosyncrasies in our children and respond by making appointments with every specialist within a 200 mile radius.
Lastly, autistic children living beneath the poverty line are more likely to be labeled as cognitively challenged or as having behavior issues. I can’t help but wonder if many teen moms and young single moms simply can’t afford to cart kids to tons of specialists… and if they would realize they need to. They may simply accept a label given by an unqualified person and leave it at that.
I have NO research to back up my theories… but I think it would be interesting if someone looked in those directions
)
Now, that’s an interesting observation, Leigh! I hadn’t thought of it, but those are the things that one doesn’t consider when we get survey or poll or test results, on anything. I laughed during the radio piece when they backpedaled on the whole “it’s not your fault” for older moms. Yes, that’s right, everything’s our fault – we’re too old, too young, too too too.
And still, there has to be another reason for autism besides “old eggs”. I’m not buying that catchall any more!