Is it true an Aspie's intelligence continues to increase in

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adulthood? I find myself to be far more intelligent than I was one and a half years ago. I find that my intelligence increases when I am in accelerated classes and when I have something to stimulate my mind.

I haven't validated any of this, but I certainly feel more intelligent than I was a few years ago. Not just more wise, but able to solve new problems and understand new ideas and concepts faster than I ever was before. Maybe that's just a product of having learned some new methods of problem solving that I'm not conscious of, or maybe my intelligence is gradually increasing. I'd like to think that I'm getting smarter, it makes it more fun to imagine how smart I'll be if I make it to 80.

This will definitely come in handy for when I get into medical school. I learn and solve problems more quickly than I ever have (although I was always relatively fast at both).

ordinarily, you get increases in problem-solving ability, and general work on your brain improving until you hit your 20s or so, then it's all downhill from there...

I am 21...

That capabilities continue to increase in adulthood is true for everybody. It may be especially striking for people with delayed development, such as autistic people, who are usually delayed in one or more areas, or people who are very motivated to use the skills they have, again, such as autistic people (if a special interest isn't a motivation, I don't know what is!). Anybody with a high need for cognition will continue to improve his mental skills, just like someone who likes to use his physical body will continue to improve his physical skills. Bonus: People who like to do mental activities will not get Alzheimer's and other sorts of dementia nearly as easily. Apparently, being mentally active tends to strengthen whatever Alzheimer's damages.

Your brain is like a muscle -- the more you exercise it the better it gets. This is true for everyone, not just Aspies.

You don't get your more-or-less final brain configuration until your late twenties, anyway. That's when the frontal lobes mature. And that's if you're neurotypical; autistic, and all bets are off--it may be later. I personally think that people with AD/HD don't get their full brain development until their thirties as a general rule, and have to use a lot of outside aids to organize themselves because they are basically about as good at it as an average teenager well into their twenties. I have the same problem, which is part of the reason why I strongly suspect ADHD is part of my own configuration.

I want to read more about brain developement, especially with a focus on the Autistic spectrum.

Any suggestions for books or websites?

I tend to agree with this ... (my opinion is based on life experience).

With age and life experience comes wisdom, and with this wisdom comes an increase in the ability to problem solve. I would like to think I am a hell of a lot smarter now than I was at 21.

I think that most neurologists today believe that you reach you highest intelligence point between 20 and 26 years of age with respect to processing information but that the brain continues to make new neuronal connections at the rate of tens of thousands per day for your entire lifetime. This may explain why many people who are what is considered the 'genius' level seem to peak out around mid twenties with respect to 'new' ideas but continue to contribute to their fields and refine their original ideas later in life.

yeah, I feel like my problem solving abilities have sharpened much in the last couple weeks (especially in physics and math). Though my IQ from age 10 to age 18, visual spatial at age 10 was about 140-150 and verbal about 110-120, and at age 18 verbal was about 90 and performance was about 77. But while I have more significant disability with certain areas of life, that in certain areas I do as well or better.

I wonder whether my IQ decreased instead?

That is mainly because, the older you get, the more you're demanded to have learned so far. Maths, general knowledge, vocabulary... all school stuff.

Anyway, I can't say I have gotten much of the standard stuff even though I was in the best schools around here. Being autistic and ADHD made it hard.

I have a very book-ish education that my peers do not have, but solving certain maths problems for example, general knowledge on history, German and such is something I missed by not being there in the class-room or not being able to keep up with the words when they taught it.

Same HERE! I see people like ginnyisdacoolest, who speaks of being VERY bright when she was young, and people musing at where she will end up, and her progress slows down a LOT, as others start to improve. The result is that her performance is less stellar. But if I was not so much into my interests, etc... I might have agreed with others here. Who knows?

Anyway, things are supposedly myelinated VERY early, and new memories can be created even at over 100 years of age, if you are healthy. They still CLAIM you lose brain cells at an incredible rate, but the last pruning supposedly happens in your early teenage years. So WHO KNOWS?

Can second that. Everything seems to go down the drain after passing the twenties. I was much more social back then, but I still feel that I grow intellectual. One gathers more, walking down the road, so to speak. But I think the social part, as a human being, is getting worse. Cause, like all the failures in life, it seems to be more difficult to learn from them who involves social issues. Eventhough one becomes quite an actor as time goes by.