adult children?

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does anyone know why some people with autism are like children in adult bodies? i dont quite understand it. i enjoy goofing off and having fun but most of it would be considered age appropriate. yet some people with aspergers (or possibly high functioning autism) function on the level of a toddler playing with baby blocks and stuff (also wearing diapers and being spoon fed) is this a symptom common of aspergers? none of my aspie friends are quite like that. i would assume this is much mor common in low functioning individuals?

I feel pretty immature sometimes...maybe even guilty of lining of my nephew's blocks once in awhile.... but I can honestly say I've never heard of someone with Aspergers who wears diapers and is spoonfed as an adult. One of the criteria of Aspergers is that we meet self-help milestones on time.

I also don't think all low-functioning autistic people wear diapers are spoonfed babyfood either....maybe the most severe. Actually, I went to school with someone who I considered to be low-functioning, and for most of my life that was my only knowledge of autism...I didn't know it was a spectrum. And he went to school in the grade below me, never wore a diaper, and ate his lunch like everyone else.

Nope, just a symptom of being an adult baby.

It's rather uncommon for anyone with autism to need someone to feed them.

But playing with blocks is a popular activity. You're missing out.

Of course it is very common, aspies are very sensitive people. who often react in really bizarre ways.. which would be normally considered childish.. So yeah

Only we're not children. We're adults who are autistic.

You see this also applied to people with, say, Down syndrome and other forms of developmental delay--they are called perpetual children and assumed to have a "mental age" in the childhood range. But the fact is, they do not think like children; they think like developmentally delayed adults. Similarly, autistic adults are not children. We are not neurotypical adults; but we are adults. Many of the assumptions people make about children don't hold true for NT children, let alone autistic adults; and it can get really inaccurate if people try to deal with us as though we are children.

I am very childlike..but not like a baby...
I "pass" for an adult,. granted, I am 35, get carded regularly..and act significantly younger than my age. I also don't drive a car, and have not passed a lot of milestones common for people my age...I do play with dolls and can act rather emotionally juvenile at times...

Developmentally, in some ways I was delayed enough that might be considered somewhat lower functioning that one would expect from "Aspergers"..ie I was "behind in my "self care skills"....but maybe more "NT" in other weird ways..that is why I think myself perhaps PDD_NOS...though I was assessed as having "Asperger's
i can be very guillable and naive and I tend to "overdisclose" rather than be a private person

I never really felt like a child even when I was a child...I do however look no older then 16 when I am actually 21. its a bit annoying, somtimes.

Wait till you are 35 and still getting carded regularly....

I'm almost 36 and I still get carded. They're supposed to check ID if you look 27 or younger and people have told me I look 20-25. I've been told I'm like a kid in an adult body. I thought the comment was made just to be disparaging. Is it my fault that people my age are supposed to be time-beaten, snobbish, jaded and unhappy?

I do not know where you get your misconceptions. To be diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, one must not be intellectually impaired, and those with AS are usually of average, high average, or occasionally "superior" intelligence. You will generally find a high incident of AS among university professor and scientists.

Those with HFA may be delays as children but are generally of average intelligence and functioning levels as adults.

The type of person you describe would be someone with low functioning autism, and though it is not the same thing, these individuals may have profound mental retardation.

It should be mentioned that there are those who are not on the autistic spectrum who are mentally ret*d.

I think the problem is one of seeming child-like, when in fact they may be fully adult in areas of intelligence, capability and taking responsibility.

I don't wear nappies and I don't expect to be spoon-fed. However, I do take childlike pleasure in things like playing around at airports, running with the trolleys, treating the railings as a ballet barre and swinging on the overhead bars hand-grips in the bus which takes you to the plane.

When I travel with my neurotypical boss (who is my best friend), he doesn't mind that I do these things, even though he is 63 and conducts himself in a very normal way, and he doesn't dress weird or anything.

I know some people probably find my behaviour strange in a not-good way, but most people laugh with me rather than at me. I get the impression that they wish they had the guts to behave like that too.

Unless I am stressed out or in sensory overload, I also like making eye contact and smiling at strangers, because it surprises and they smile back and it seems to make them feel happy and appreciated. (I sometimes make too much eye contact too when I chat to men, and I get excited in the conversation if the subject os of intellectual interest, and then they misinterprete it as sexual interest.)

And I like certain kinds of toys. I have two Femisapien robots.

I have always been quite "childlike" myself. I have an insatiable childlike curiosity and sense of wonder at the world around me, which makes me appear like "a kid in a candy store" anytime I share my enthusiasm with others. When I am learning something new or discover something that really fascinates me (which isn't hard), I get so excited that I sometimes actually tend to giggle like a 2-year-old.

I'm 26 years old.........I'm toilet trained and can feed myself but I live at home and my mom makes my dinner every night........I watch children's cartoons and I twirl a string in front of my face while watching them. I still think of myself as a child..........and people are always shocked when they find out my age............because I act immature? So....do I count as an adult baby?