Do autism symptoms worsen over time ?

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My 6-yr-old son has shown progress in many areas, and is one of the hardest working little fellas that I know. There are things that he can do today that I did not think that he was capable of 2 years ago.

HOWEVER, some other things seem to have become a lot worse. For instance, the lack of interest in the world around him, and the stimming. I don't grudge him his stimming at all - he has these visual stims when he looks out through the corners of his eyes almost all of the time and finger flicks at the sides of his eyes. He sometimes sees me watching him, and grins at me, and I can't help but grin back, though I wish I knew what he was trying to tell me (he still can't say a word ). I posted about this a while ago because I was scared that he had vision issues that he could not talk about, but his last eye exam showed that he can see reasonably well.

He also seems a lot less interested in the world around him than he was 2 years ago. Previously, he would look up when people entered the room and would smile back (sometimes) when smiled at, but he ignores people completely, and seems really really lost these days. There are times when I am standing right next to him, and he seems oblivious to my presence. He also does not like holding hands anymore, and will only sit in my lap when he is really tired and is about to fall asleep.

Can you folks tell me if it's par the course for moderate to severe autism for their symptoms to worsen / intensify over time ? There's absolutely no sign of speech emerging, but that's because of the apraxia not his autism. It now appears that he also suffered from peripheral nerve damage just before / at / shortly after birth, so he's dealing with a lot and is a little soldier. But I do worry and wonder if at least some of the symptoms will ameliorate over time ? Also, what does that finger flicking at the sides of the eyes do for him ? While I've seen him do this with both hands to both sides of the face, it tends to mostly be the left hand to the left eye. He seems obsessed with this stim these days.

Help !

Autistic kids develop at their own pace, with different "parts" of mental development going significantly faster or slower than expected from 'normal' kids; this might give the impression that the symptoms are worsening.
Really, before he is around 10, there is not a lot of useful information to be drawn from his development/symptoms, other than him definitly being on the spectrum (and even then, 6 is quite young to be sure)

They can get worse, but it's not a general rule.

There are a number of reasons why this could happen. This article gives a lot of potential causes of regression, though your son is too young for many of them.

Since you've said he's made progress in some areas while getting more autistic-seeming in other areas, it could be that those two things are related. Stress from working hard to master new skills can make it harder for him to do other things he used to do - maybe he doesn't have energy left over for interaction with all that he's working on. Plus, stimming can enhance functioning, so maybe it's because he's stepped up his stimming that he's making so much progress.

That's one of my stims, too! I don't know about him, but I can tell you that for me it's all about an enjoyable visual sensation. Movement in my peripheral vision tends to catch my attention, but when it's movement I fully control, it's kind of exciting and enjoyable. Especially since I've got extremely pale skin (my ancestry is Northern European) so if the light is shining a certain way my skin gleams.

I've recently been getting DBT for my PTSD, and I've realized that mindfulness meditation and stimming bear a lot of similarities. Some forms of mindfulness meditation involve taking one sensation and focusing all your attention on it, such as ringing a bell and listening until you can no longer hear it ringing. It really helps to focus the mind and relieve stress.

Thank you for the heads-up, Ettina. Also, he continues flicking his fingers in the left hand when the hand is down, even when he is working on something else and not actually engaging in a visual stim (such as when he is doing a puzzle with his right hand etc). Is there anything else that he can do that will provide input very similar to the finger flicking to the eyes, at least in public ?