Growing out of it

Post Reply New Topic

Has anyone found that as theyve grown older they no longer actually meet all the diagnostic criteria required to be on the spectrum. This is mainly for people who havent had intense therapy and support. Im not asking whether youve been cured, just whether you meet only 2 of the symptoms in section A. (Section A requires 3 symptoms)

I've heard of this happening (purely anecdotally) and tend to take such tales with a grain of salt.

Here's what the NHS has to say on the subject, for example:

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/01January/P ... utism.aspx

This is recognized, that as high functioning people get older, they learn new coping skills, even new ways of thinking, and how autistic they seem can fade.

On YouTube there are vids of people who describe themselves as having become successful, made careers for themselves, they're independent, have become public speakers like Alex...

But they still ID themselves as autistic. They're just doing better.

It's also been found in the brains of autistic kids (I don't know how) that as the kid ages, the massive, abnormal number of neurons and their random, inappropriate connections to each other, can change. It's been described as the brain actually fixing itself, and as the number of neurons drops closer to normal (tho how close I don't know) and the connections become a little more like NT ones, the kid's symptoms can lessen.

I've told my therapist that I'm afraid the high functiioning autism he and my doctor suspect (and that I've suspected for many years, but never told them), may not be diagnosable now, because I've gotten older and am doing better in dealing with things....and people. I'm afraid what's really going on inside might be masked to such an extent it won't be recognized.

The therapist says that won't happen if the person is really qualified. "They'll see thru that," he says.

We'll see early next year. I'm gonna try again.

I don't really think I have... I've gotten over some of my old habits, but I'm still an Aspie at heart.

People may learn coping skills as they get older, but sometimes those coping skills aren't exactly healthy and cloud the ability to diagnose correctly since the criteria seem skewed for observing children.

I haven't grow out of mine as far as special interests are concerned and I hope I never do. I thrive on the intensity of my special interests and I like to celebrate my autism because of that. I also enjoy the intense energy that I get and how it stays even after I do an intense self-made workout. I also enjoy how I can get an intense joy out of the smallest things. I can be very creative as well. I also have a very unique way of looking at the world that I enjoy.

I was such an incredible actress for decades that I ALMOST fooled myself. But I reached a place where I hit the wall so hard that I could not pretend anymore. Autistic burnout is so REAL. And devastating. Obtaining acceptance, I believe, will prevent most of it.

I agree that most people just get better at pretending to be normal. However I do seem to have grown out of my OCD-like tendencies. Almost every ritual I had has faded away. I also cope with change a lot better than when I was kid.

Willard & Vicky: I *strongly* identify with your experience with the changing ways AS evidences itself throughout *all* of life's stages - including the Elder Years. My experience:

1. Childhood & Teenage - confusing and frustrating, as there was no real understanding of ASD in my day.

2. Young Adult - good progress toward moving more effectively in life through continuously improved coping.

3. Mid-Life - a steady state of enjoying and refining the learnings of my young adult years.

5. Elder-Life - the normal age-related cognitive declines cause increased "burnout". The ASD coping tools of Cognitive Behavior Therapy become more and more difficult and draining to use as cognitive abilities wanes.

Asperger's is so newly understood that I find very little work, and even less common understanding, of how it presents in Elder-Life.