Can autistic people develop?

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Learning skills, even skills that are harder to learn for autistics, does not make you less autistic. Not even if you narrow the gap between yourself and your NT peers.

"Functional" people may well get worse (not more autistic, but less capable). People with "severe" autism may also progress so some people call them high-functioning. People who started out looking high-functioning may get better and people who started out looking low-functioning may get worse, too. People from both groups may stay the same.

Confusing the issue, people may be more functional in one environment than another. Someone could appear to do better because they got away from a stressor such as fluorescent lights. Someone could appear to do worse because more stress was added. Or people may be asked to perform a set of tasks they're good at and appear high-functioning, but appear low-functioning when asked to perform a set of tasks they're not good at. This can be mistaken for gaining or losing skills.

Yes, this makes a lot of sense. I had been thinking of AS and depression as separate things to deal with, with depression far more important, because it is so destructive. I see that I may have been wrong. It is indeed possible that the depression was, as you term it burnout from trying to function as an NT. I was thinking of my depression as being due to overwork and perfectionism. I thought of my social problems, including both AS and social phobia as separate issues. I see that this may have been a mistake.

I think depression was part of the reaction to the burnout. I've had a lot of depression over the years, but I think much of it is reactive to events. But yeah, it's hard to separate it from everything else, and it aggravates things.

I have spent years developing a non instinctual, non NT reaction to others.

I would not want to screw it up now and start behaving like an NT

good point =)

Indeed many autistic people lose skills over time and it does not take being considered severe to have that happen. And certainly does not require being unable to use Wrongplanet. I've read that between 1/3 and 1/6 (roughly) of autistic people lose skills during adolescence. And the condition known as autistic catatonia that has amplified many of my traits, is not restricted to those considered severe to begin with, and can happen to those diagnosed with AS. I know some people diagnosed with AS who now cannot speak because of it. The main predictive factor for this condition is not severity nor which spectrum diagnosis you have, but rather whether you fall into the subgroup Lorna Wing calls "passive" (people considered passive are more likely to experience it than those considered aloof or active but odd). (Those are shorthands for ways autistic people deal with social situations. Aloof = not approaching others, behaving as if others don't even exist even when approached. Passive = not approaching others but accepting approaches. Active but odd = approaching others but in highly unusual (yet still obvious) ways. Passive is more linked to autistic catatonia/parkinsonlike issues than the others despite not having to be considered "very severe" or "severe" at all to be passive. Loss of abilities/seeming more autistic over time is far from unheard of among people who come here, otherwise there would not be such frequent threads going "Why am I regressing?!"

That doesn't even include the people who generally stay at about the same level or, more commonly, gradually increase in skill level over time... but who temporarily lose access to skills that they've learned, and function as though they hadn't learned them. It can be quite possible for someone who's usually as independent as an NT to get to the point where they are so stressed out that they can't take care of their own basic needs--you know, eating, bathing, that kind of thing. That's not the same as a true regression because there is a causal factor which, when removed, brings you back up to your baseline.

Pretty complicated in either case. Autistics apparently just learn differently and even use skills differently once we've learned them. NTs seem to have this... I dunno, this predictableness about them, where they'll usually do roughly the same quality of work, whatever their circumstances are. They seem to be always able to use whatever skills they've learned, and there's only a little variation based on their environment and their mood and whatever. Whereas, with autistics, the variation can be really huge.

Burnout^

I'd say this is a go for me.

For myself, executive functioning, i.e. short term working memory, falls by the wayside in certain environments. The new stress causes that 'uncanny loss' that prevents me acting normal( functional) when in this dysfunctional context, as this 'rattles' me to a lower working level. It's telegraphed in body language and people have asked me, "what's wrong? You're jerky in your movements." Or overhearing, "He's acting strange again."

This normalizes or "baselines"with a shot of adrenaline allowing it to be learned , as unlocking the 'mind bind.'

I had a bad case of encephalitis, and got worse.

Also, as I've aged, and accumulated bad experiences dealing with people, which has exacerbated withdrawal and social opportunities then diminishing social skills.

However, since being now 6 months new to my revelation of AS, I can say that my behaviour has changed for the better.

I'm happier, more understanding of all my mistakes/differences with NT's.... I'm learning to cope, now that I know what it is I'm coping with.

I am definitely getting more autistic recently, mainly because of the fact that I can afford to spend more time alone and work from home. My sensory issues actually got worse but my focus and my ability to memorise detail have improved.

When I have to go out to work though I get more sociable after a couple of painful days. Well - sociable is not the best word but my tolerance for the outside world increases.
So I guess that I could actually get less autistic if I really need to - but the question is, do I need to?

You dont need to. Do you want to?

From what I see with groups, I dont

I regressed last year after a breakdown. I became alot more childish. My interests/hobbies became very adolescent. Interestingly, my dreams reflected this were related to things I did / people I knew as a teen. I am now having dreams about things I did when I was 20/21 ish and my life is kind of reflective so I assume by that you can progress,

However, I look back on some of my school work when was younger, even at primary school, and I realise that I was alot more intelligent and mature back then than I am now which I find sad, but interesting.

My son is 14 and he thinks I'm immature. I feel more autistic now than I did when I was younger. I get on with people who are alot younger than me very well. I am in my 30s and My younger brother seems very old in comparison to me. Everyone thinks I am 10 yrs younger.

I'm NT and I had to figure lots of social stuff out by quiet observation and thinking about it. Things often didn't make sense to me in peoples behaviour. I came to understand that they thought differently from me, and their experiences were different. Then I could understand why they were doing things.
For example I know when I meet someone and use a specific demenour they will treat me differently from if I have another demenour. I know what people are thinking of me, I can tell it through their body language, their tone, what they say and don't say, how they look at me. Even without that I am acutely aware of the impression I am making based on my words and behaviour and actions and I can change that. Sometimes I can't be bothered, but other times it's worth my while to summon the energy. I learnt all this, some consciously some I guess subconsciously.
I really do not believe NT people have a deeper understanding, but I believe Aspies do not learn in the same way, so that all the myriad little simultaneous things that go in in social setting are missed or not pieced together in the mind so the opportunity to learn and comprehend is missed. I really strongly feel ASD at its most fundamental is a learning deficiency, I believe that from observing my little Autie and my girl with Dyspraxia.

Thank you for this feedback.

I have the impression that learning social skills is different for different people, even among NTs. Some seem to pick it up effortlessly, and others, like yourself, seem to have to work a bit harder. I imagine that it is a lot like mathematics. Some people can absorb it easily (at least at the lower levels) and others never manage to get it at all.

Um, no, actually. Thanks for the support.

This is a question that confounds me and pretty much places me in the predicament I'm in, where I have no idea where I actually stand. I never had major problems socially, I always have had friends but was just universally perceived as "weird". I wish that, knowing what I know now, I could see myself as a child, before 20-some years of crash-course forced social experience.

I was 26 years old before anyone legitimately suggested that I was AS, and the thought had never once crossed my mind before that. I always felt like my brain was strong but despite that my functioning level outside of academics was several years below what it should have been (I guess it would fall into some progressive equation like fahrenheit-celsius conversions or something--at present I'm 28 and, when compared to my peers past and present, I seem to be more like 22).

So for me I see three possibilities:

1.) A socially skilled, "extroverted" AS (which basically presents as mildly introverted)

2.) A very strange, immature NT with mild stims/tics, sensory and anxiety issues, extreme childhood hyperlexia, OCPD components and executive dysfunction

3.) Something entirely different that hasn't been considered

Not that it really matters, I am as I am and I'm perfectly OK with that. But it's like I can't truly relate on either level, and while I don't fundamentally need that, it'd be nice to find some common ground somewhere.