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The story
A thread about raising an autistic child, posted on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” board, drew a wave of responses. Unlike Down syndrome, which can be identified through prenatal testing, autism usually isn’t suspected until around age 2-3, prompted by an infant health checkup, with a confirmed diagnosis often not reached until around age 5. The thread mixed perspectives from both parents and autistic posters themselves — covering how it feels to go through that diagnostic window, whether a child can manage in mainstream classrooms, and even a firsthand account of independence from a poster who says they’re autistic. Many voiced anxiety about the future, and while all kinds of personal experiences were shared, no clear consensus emerged.
What people said
Guess that's just how it goes, huh. Once he's a grown man it's gonna be seriously irritating.
With autism, only the body grows up — inside, they stay a kid as the years go by.
Who cares about that dumb take.
I keep thinking it'd be better to have him specialize in something technical.
There's no way he survives in a society built around humanities-type social schmoozing.
Has he actually been diagnosed?
Do you run into problems in everyday life?
If you can hold a conversation like this, you're probably not really autistic.
Didn't you have a learning disability? Were you in regular classes the whole way through?
Yeah, regular classes.
It's manageable, totally manageable.
I see. Didn't you get bullied?
Something tells me you're the type who'd bully an autistic kid lol
I did get bullied, but honestly it wasn't that painful, I guess.
Maybe because I liked comedy shows.
Yeah, it's pretty rough.
It has a real knack for pissing people off.
Honestly I'm not even sure what's 'wrong' with it — hard to put into words, but communicating with people is just off somehow.
There's a tendency toward strong fixations.
It varies so much you can't sum it up in one line.
It's the kind of thing where you might start suspecting it around age 2-3, and it's usually not confirmed until around age 5.
Rough that the verdict lands right around when they're starting elementary school.
Well, that's just how it is.
Honestly though, in practice you can usually tell by age 2-3.
You get a sense of it, but you can't get a firm diagnosis yet.
My kid's in early intervention therapy (ryoiku), so there's a lot of kids like that around us — and pretty much all of them got flagged at their 1.5-year checkup.
If we're just talking about being flagged as needing early intervention, sure, that tracks.
That checkup isn't all that reliable, though.
Plenty of kids get flagged and turn out totally fine.
Especially compared to the 3-year-old checkup, where the real screening starts.
Background and key points of this discussion
Unlike Down syndrome, a chromosomal condition identifiable through prenatal testing, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) generally can’t be spotted by appearance. Suspicion typically arises around age 2-3 following an infant health checkup, and after repeated behavioral observation, a confirmed diagnosis is often not reached until around age 5. The mismatched sense of “when diagnosis happens” among posters in the thread likely came from conflating being flagged as “possibly at risk” at the 1.5-year checkup with an eventual confirmed diagnosis. Autism is also a “spectrum” condition with a huge range in severity and traits — some people get through mainstream schooling without any trouble, while others need lifelong support. The account from the poster who revealed they’re autistic themselves, describing how they became independent, illustrates just how varied these outcomes can be. While the thread surfaced plenty of anxiety about the future and about coping in mainstream classrooms, no clear consensus emerged.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Raising a kid with autism seems tougher than expected.”
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