Page 1 of 1 [ 6 posts ] 

Jerry123
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 29 Aug 2009
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Posts: 71

04 Oct 2009, 3:49 am

is there a difference between a child who has asperger syndrome versus an adulit who has asperger syndrome?



zena4
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Jan 2009
Age: 63
Gender: Female
Posts: 6,054

04 Oct 2009, 4:29 am

The needs aren't the same.
Neither is their experience of life and what they understand of it.



Apple_in_my_Eye
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 May 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,420
Location: in my brain

04 Oct 2009, 5:42 am

One is older than the other. (j/k)

Adults can learn to cover some of the signs, and work out strategies to help function and 'pass' better. Basically more data from the world to decipher patterns from and construct counter-measures.

More time for experiences to potentially lead to other problems, ie depression, anxiety, stress-related illness, etc.

Also different expectations from the world would effect how people seem to function.


_________________
Aspie Quiz: 160/43
Alien Quiz: √2/pi


ChangelingGirl
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Sep 2007
Age: 37
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,640
Location: Netherlands

04 Oct 2009, 7:03 am

Don't know wha tyou mean. Of course there is a difference: adults are older. I don't think there is anything universally true about the different abilities of adults vs. children, since some people can compensate/fake NT far better than others, irrespective of age.



zer0netgain
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Mar 2009
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,613

04 Oct 2009, 8:29 am

There is no real difference except where diagnosis is concerned.

Adults with AS likely have learned some coping and adapting skills that conceals the AS symptoms where children likely haven't.

That's why it's easier to Dx AS in children.



ColdBlooded
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Jun 2009
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,136
Location: New Bern, North Carolina

05 Oct 2009, 5:28 am

For me:

When i was a kid- Quiet. Unlikely to say hi back when someone says hi to me. Flat facial expression, with smiles being rare. Not much eye contact. No noticeable stimming except for maybe sometimes doing repetitive things with things in my environment, like clicking things or whatever. Usually obsessed with some tv show, movie, or character(and would want to be that character). Picky about comfortable clothing. Usually tried hard to follow the "rules," but also very prone to overreacting to things. Had a phase of obsessively washing my hands to the point of my hands being dry and cracked. Had an intense Pokemon obsession in early middle school, which was probably the only obsession i've ever had that, for a short time, made me feel almost like i was one of the other kids('cause it was popular, and i could trade cards with people and stuff.. but even they thought i was too obsessive with it). First grade teacher thought i was "slow" because of my quiet-ness and inability to socialize normally. In pre-school i usually walked off by myself. Through most of my younger years i usually managed to have at least one peer who was a friend at most times... But after the age of parents setting up playdates, most of the friends i had i only talked to at school and didn't really "hang out" or do things with unless i was invited to a birthday party or something. Come to think of it, some of the people that i viewed as good friends back then probably just saw me as some kid they knew at school. There was one guy who was in the same grade that i was friends with and actually hung out with sometimes... but he was smart, a little geeky, and lived near me, so it worked out. One time he did come knock on my door and ask me to a middle school dance and i, at the time being oblivious to his feelings and not interested in boys or dances, just said "uhhh, no" and shut the door. I feel bad about being so blunt about that now, though. I did have a group of neighborhood kids, of various ages, that i got along with well. My sister and i would go knock on their door and ask if they could "come out and play" and we'd ride bikes around our street, kick a ball around, play video games, or whatever. That was really nice, and i think that the only reason i was able to function well with it was the fact that our ages were really mixed, so those kind of complex expectations that peers have of one-another didn't exist. I always found it a lot easier to get along with people who were younger or older than me for that reason.. It's just you and that person talking, without it being part of some complicated social network. It does occur to me now that i was rather bossy and disagreeable, though. Anywho, it usually depended on the other person whether or not i was friends with them. It never occured to me how to "take initiative" to start friendships or keep them going, so if the other person kept hanging around and talking to me, then they were my friend, and that's how it goes. If they stopped talking to me or went off talking to someone else, then i just stayed by myself or, sometimes, talked to my teachers.

Now- Quiet sometimes, but more outgoing. Will sometimes start conversations by bringing up a topic of interest to someone. Have a job where i interact with people a lot, and like that it lets me interact with people in a structured way, even if it does overload me at times. I do tend to be a little repetitive in my conversations though, bringing up the same thing over and over again to different people. I can fake some amount of conversation skills by responding with "yeah," "ok," "cool," or something like that when someone says something and i don't know how to contribute to the conversational flow(although, when i'm feeling overwhelmed and people are talking to me too much, it sometimes turns into a sort of rainman-esque repetition of "yeah..." "yeah..." yeah..." yeah..." to everything they say.) I have A TON of stimming these days. Still obsessive, but now it's things like reptiles. Better at talking to people, but still don't know quite how to have and keep a meaningful social relationship. So, i have a lot of acquiantances from talking to people at work, but few actual friends. And the friends that i do have, i rarely "hang out" with. I do a lot of things with my family, though. My little sister used to be my best friend, but now that she's got married and moved away i don't really see her that much. I go shopping and out to eat with my parents and grandparents, and i'm around my parents almost constantly when i'm not at work. I make some eye contact now, but it's not even close to "normal." My facial expressions are still kind of flat, but i smile much more when i think something is amusing. Sometimes i might think to raise my eyebrows or open my mouth when someone says something that is supposed to be shocking, and things like that, lol. Still overreact to things. I think about others' feelings more, even if i can't interpret how they are actually feeling very well. I try to not start arguments as much and i try not to say things that might be hurtful to others(with things that would hurt my own feelings, anyway. sometimes people take things really personally i don't understand why.. but i can sympathize with certain situations and how someone could be hurt by them). I have lots of piercings and stuff, so i think that sometimes people assume that i'm edgy and cool and know about whatever local "scene" there is.. So they'll come up to me with something like (to use one particularly confusing example) "yo, where the party at?" and i'm just like "uhhh.... what party?..." So i think that at first glance i might come off as someone who could be in-the-social-loop in some way nowadays, but after being around me for awhile it probably becomes clear to most that i'm socially clueless and somewhat in my own world.

I think that covers some of the big points.