too weird

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I just have to get this off my chest. I'm not promoting any sort of new theory or pseudo-hippie expository stuff, I'm just making my own observations.

We live in a big city. We live in a nice, family centered neigborhood, but the big city none the less. When my daughter was born there was a group of about 6 other babies all born about the same time. All the moms (or nannies) sort of know each other from hanging out at the local playground.

Out of the 6, 4 recieve services, and 1 I am fairly sure recieves services but can't confirm.

Today, talking with a very nice retired lady who likes to hang out and watch the kids play, I asked if she'd noticed anything in the increase in kids needing services since her son was a kid.

She told me that, as far as she knew, EVERY CHILD except 1 in her half of the bldg not only recieves services, but is bussed to school (where we are bussing is a pretty big thing, lots of services can be had at the local schools).

These are kids who face significant challenges! It seems to me to be very strange that the majority of the kids on this particular block are designated as special ed. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

I probably shouldn't be posting so late at night. It must just be my brain making up boogey men to scare me.

that is weird .
maybe it's something in the tap...

or something in the buildings, maybe they're all old buildings.

Yep, weird.

Lead paint or something?

It does seem weird and it could be a coincidence.

We have a lot of kids with AS in our neighborhood, way more than 1 out of 100, but there are still plenty of more or less NT kids around. What you're describing sounds like it could be worth a call to the CDC in Atlanta (if you're in the USA). There actually could be something in the water/paint/soil...whatever. It could be nothing, but there are folks who check that kind of thing out routinely.

I used to be on a board for moms and am still in touch with many of them, and a ridiculous number of us have spectrum kids. But I think that was a case of self-selecting, because it was specifically a board for people who felt out of the mainstream and had trouble connecting with others like them. Kind of like this place.

This goes back to my theory that there is a big increase in autism, (although some other posters here disagree). I too live in a metro area, and it seems as though I meet at least one child weekly that is on the spectrum. I know the vaccination theory has pretty much been shot down, but I would really like to know what is going on. I too feel that it is too weird-----Would you mind sharing what area you live in? I live in the Atlanta area, and have already participated in a study that was headed by the CDC. This was about a year ago, and I have not heard of any results from the study.

One thing that may be happening is that in certain areas that have a lot of technology centers, maybe the engineers and computer people are all moving there and marrying and having children that are ending up on the spectrum. I think I read that theory in one book. Who knows?

I tend to think there's something in that theory, because so many of my geeky friends are having spectrum kids. I think that possibly having more opportunities to meet and socialize now may mean more autistic genes are being passed on. I met my husband in a computer lab, don't know if I would have found a life partner if I lived in a different time/place. But of course this is just anecdotal, I don't know if statistics actually bear it out.

Just to clarify, not all the kids are on the spectrum. They recieve services for a variety of problems. Many of the kids have co-morbids, and in the interest of being as discreet as possible I'll not list which co-morbids go with what. There are several items on the list which go with more than one kid.

Here's what we've got, just in our one neighborhood playground.
Autism
Aspergers
Significant speech delay
Epilepsy
Multiple food allergies
Gluten intolerance
Gross motor impairment
Fine motor impairment
Severe visual impairment
Proprioceptive disorder
Sensory issues
Anger management issues
Anxiety issues

Possible areas of concern, given location include
1) We are near the depot where subway cars are cleaned
2) There are lots of cell phone towers in the 'hood, including directly across the street from the playground.
3) There is a lanfill nearby which, in former times, was a chemical storage facility. Just to make you sick there are 3 very large schools built on top of this landfill.
4) We are near 2 major highways.
5) We are directly under the flightpath for planes at a major airport. The planes are high up except during fog.
6) Lots of old bldgs. (possible lead paint issues).
7) Lots of construction projects going on. But most of these are on hold right now, due to poor economy.


I don't think it has anything to do with the parents, there are parents here from all walks of life. Most people are middle class with a degree or two.

I don't really want to give details as to where we live, just 'cause there may be people from around here on the board. Other than me the locals tend to be fiercly loyal to the 'hood. Everyone just seems to accept that calling CPSE and spending half your life on the phone arranging for services or nagging insurance to pay for services is par for the course in modern parenting.

Both myself and my husband have started getting migraine headaches and chronic fatigue since living here. My poor husband looks like he aged 15 years over the past 5 of living here.

I don't really want to call the CDC, I just want to get out of here ASAP. I may just be paranoid, but it does keep me up some nights.

It sounds like you are living with chemical overload. The kicker for me is that both you and your husband notice feeling different. So ... Move. Why take chances? Who knows what could be causing what? Why expose your children to more than they have to be exposed to?

I live in an area with an autism cluster and the incident of special needs in my mother's group is really high (I go with the "self selection" theory there) but issues among our kids are not running at the percentages you have.