Published on 12, July, 2020
A parent who's eldest son has AS has serious doubts that it is genetic in origin as nobody else in the family has it. She thinks that it is caused by teaching children reading, maths, and academic subjects at too young an age. Her theory is that the human brain of a baby is very 'plastic' but hardens with age. If academics are taught at a very young age then the brain is shaped and wired towards this often at the detriment of people skills. If academics are not taught then the brain will shape and wire itself towards people skills. In other words, teach academics and the child will be able to read a book but struggle to read people. Do not teach academics and the child will be able to read people but will not be able to read a book until later in life.
Her eldest son was pushed with academics at a young age and he could read and do simple sums whilst at nursery – something not taught until reception class – but he rarely interacted with the other children and chose to play with toys alone. His three younger siblings were not pushed academically at a young age but were academically average and have grown up neurotypical.
There is some anecdotal evidence that AS (in Britain at least) is more common in middle class areas where parents value academic education, want their children to do well academically, and have plenty of books in the house, than in lower class areas where parents just prefer their children to muddle along and do not value academic education or have many books at home.
Arran: Your accuse me of make a "weak counterargument" by raising a strawman? I wrote "As for putting pressure on children to acheive there was once an examination called the "Eleven Plus" which was a standard part of the British education system until the very early 1970s." Then you mention LEAs in the 70s and 80s, which is outside the period that I stated and therefore has no bearing whatsoever on my statement. Until the early 1970s the Eleven Plus examination was a nationwide examination and as such it was used in all schools, for decades. After the early 1970s, due to changes in the education system brought about by a changing political agenda, the Eleven Plus was phased out nationally but was retained optionally in a very few LEAs.
What is the issue BTW, you keep changing it. Now apparently the issue is the "teaching of academic stuff" at a very young age of around 3 years old. Can you provide some evidence for this claim other than the experiences of one solitary person? There are reckoned to be around 700,000 autistic people in the UK so if you wish to prove some sort of trends you need to provide more evidence for your theory than one solitary example which, as I've already stated, is countered by the opposing solitary example of my own experience.