Classic Autism Thread

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That's great about your epilepsy disappearing

Before age 18, I was often selectively mute. If I wasn't talking about my special interests or answering a direct question or asking something, I really wouldn't talk at all. People would often ask why I wouldn't talk and I didn't have an answer. I only learned social skills from watching many many hours of sitcoms and using online chat features in video games.

My epilepsy disappeared as well when I was a child. Doctors said I just grew out of it. No seizures for 25 years.

I would appear to an average person that I function better than I actually do as I am fully verbal. I don't do stereotypical autistic stims because I had my autistic behaviors repeatedly shamed and criticized growing up so I have learned to mask them or hide them (ie. I repeat words and phrases to myself as a verbal stim but I whisper so only I hear myself speak). My executive functioning skills are terrible. I am usually the last person to know what is going on, where I am supposed to go and what I am supposed to do. I find menial tasks that NT's would find so easy, for me are incredibly difficult and mentally tasking. I tried many different jobs but could not hold them. It would take a best case scenario for me to live independently, I would struggle with daily living skills of eating 3 meals a day, keeping groceries stocked, keeping my living space clean etc. I was selectively mute as a child but eventually learned some social skills in my late teens by assimilating speech from 1000's of hours of sitcoms and chatting in online game forums.

I used to have severe autism until the age of 8 when I became moderate which I still am moderate today.

I have always been moderate and I still am.

I was basically moderately autistic until sometime after (maybe a few years) being treated with ABA.

I'm Asperger's and I was really good friends with a boy who had classic autism between the ages 9 and 13. While the other kids made fun of him for not keeping himself clean or jumping up and down, I would have contests with him to see who could jump the highest. Both of our sisters were in Brownies, so I wanted to run around with him while us and our mums would be waiting on the other side of the curtain with the rest of the parents. My mum would stop me every time that I tried to do so. My mum would always tell me that I know better but he doesn't. I was just trying to connect with him. I hated my mum for that but I eventually got over it as time went by. I still think of him to this day.

Welcome to WP. I would love to learn more about you and especially your talents as well as your struggles. I think it is very important for those who are considered LFA or classic to share their talents with us equally as their struggles and it is also important for HFAs to do the same. I really want to know what it is like for you guys and to understand not only our differences but our similarities as well. And understanding one another will help us be better supports to each other.

I am happy about your epilepsy disappearing. I am also curious about it. Do you know what changed to make it disappear? My seven year old cousin also had epilepsy and his disappeared as well, which is great, but I don't know why it did.

Wow, that is great!

What was the ABA like for you? Are you happy that you had it or was it at all hurtful to you?

That is a shame that your mum did not understand. That kind of thing is so hurtful.

I was both more and less fortunate than others on this forum. I was more in that no physical force was used (I'm never violent during meltdowns) but less in that I was basically psychologically tortured as an alternative.

It "helped," but in a dark and twisted way.

I am moderately autistic now. I used to be severely autistic when I was a very young kid until I got ABA and it helped me a lot. I feel happy at the current level I am at now and I don't think I am held back as a person. There are some parts of my autism that hold me back a lot but same can be said for almost all autistics. Remember the label of mildly, moderately, and severely autistic can be inaccurate at times and it really just depends on the person because some people with moderate autism can live on their own while others can't. I like being autistic.

That is really interesting. There is so much debate about ABA that I would love to hear more about what is was really like from people who went through it. I can see both sides of the debate so it is very difficult for me to really have a conviction about it. It is important to hear the stories of those of you who went through it so that we can understand much better what happens to you when you have that kind of therapy. I am glad that I did not have any kind of therapies because I wonder if they would have prevented me from developing my own instinctive coping mechanisms which keep me alive. I hope you guys who had ABA can share your stories. I really want to learn more about this.

Oficially I have AS, but I don't relate to it. Also my current psychiatrist claims that I have more classical autistim traits, but I'm quite good at hiding it (because of completely unaccepting and ignorant environment, so it's very pricey). I wasn't even mumbling (not sure if this is the correct word) before 2 years old, even later I had regressions to completely nonverbal autism (or do AS also have this?). I have some anomaly/problem with very high level of triglicerides, and my doctor claims people with AS don't have this (or maybe he's wrong?). I also have signs of coeliac disease (during diagnosis), and allergy for milk proteins. Also autisticly curved spine, if you know what I mean For what I could find these are all classic autism traits. Can you also relate to this?