My little guy's is one that seems like he outgrew it, but I'm not making any claims whatsoever. He wasn't forced into it and there is nothing repressed about him, which isn't to say that couldn't be the case for some other kids.
He didn't speak until five or so and wasn't consistantly understandable until six (his improvement was extremely rapid). His two older brothers are Aspies, no doubts. Little guy used to have a lot of melt downs and restricted behavior. He was diagnosed as PDD-NOS at five, at about the same time he began speech therapy. Now he speaks as well as any kid his age, has the melt downs under control, and isn't quite so restricted as he used to be. He still scores "clinically significant" for restrictive behavior but otherwise doesn't score as in the spectrum usuing Gilliams scale thingy or the Australian whatchadoodle. Those scales are pretty subjective. We know for sure he's not NT, but the PDD-NOS might have been a misdiagnosis, or he could be compensating somehow and just doesn't *look* autistic anymore. Could he be teaching himself social skills? He's definitely got the brains to pull it off and is extroverted enough to want to. Maybe that's what's going on with some of these kids who "outgrow" autism, except maybe some of them are being forced into it while my little guy pretty much did it to himself with some support, but he's totally in charge of his own development (he's an unusual little guy).
I do know parents who force their kids to fit into their own ideals of what kids should be in a way that totally overlooks their child's actual abilities, gifts and happiness. I find it distasteful, regardless of neurological status or the technique used. If ABA is used to help an extroverted Aspie develop the skills they need to meet their social skills, I'm all for it. Like any tool it can be used well and appropriately, or like a club to force a round peg into a square hole.
21 Jul 2010, 10:44 pm
