Optimal Outcome

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Hi Guys,

I came across a study by a University professor who claims that some children grow up to reach an "Optimal Outcome" and are no longer considered Autistic because they do not show any social difficulties or repetitive behaviours that differ from Neurotypicals.

Personally I believe one can gain control of the condition enough to pass perfectly fine as NT but the there will always be that niggling urge to engage in a "Special Interest" even if this "Optimal Outcome" group strongly suppresses it to the point where they even convince themselves that are NT. I am not an expert but I think articles like this could be very misleading. Here is the link, there is more information regarding this scattered across the Internet:

http://spectrumnews.org/opinion/q-and-a/questions-for-deborah-fein-defining-optimal-outcome/

I agree very much. I'm told that I still have ASD but I've adapted so well that ithe seems as if I don't. But I don't lose my diagnosis.

I didn't think socialising was important but now I know it is I do my best with people, because it's a requirement to get on in life.

For me I can read emotions, understand sarcasm etc but I still have special interests, although I can curtail them to a large degree if I want to. Now I'm just a bit quiet in groups at times, as it's hard to keep track with such irrational, fast moving conversations but lots of people are quieter in groups. Still the fact I showed marked Aspie traits when I was kid would hardly mean I'm suddenly neurotypical now.

The thing is sometimes we can practice something so much it actually does become instinctive and for the so called "Recovered" group that probably includes socialising.

I resent the idea that becoming NT is 'optimal' for an autistic person. I'd rather have my kid grow up to be Temple Grandin than Joe Normal, personally.

They are trying to make excuses for not recognizing autism years ago.
This will make things more difficult for Adults with autism than it ALREADY is.

The consensus of the ignorant out there believes that autism is something kids "grow out of".

So if an adult can string together a coherent conversation, they are not autistic.

This is bad news for adults with autism, since it re-enforces the "just grow up" attitude out there, making help harder to find.

The big part of the problem is that most believe autism is som ekind of disorder, or syndrome, a "problem" or "mistake",....
NO!! ! This is how we are, those people can accept a rainbow flag but they think autistics are some kind of genetic error to be "cured"......
You all know where they can stick that.

We are just different people who need to learn how to live on Earth differently, let us be world, stop trying to force us to "conform".

Learning to prosper in society doesn't mean that you are no longer autistic in any way. Also the unimaginable pain that trying to achieve success causes means that you shouldn't really have to.