Do Aspies get worse with age?

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Does Asperger Syndrom get worse with age? I read on a topic that someone said Tony Attwood believes that Aspies get worse with age... I had no idea this was a progressive thing....

Most actually get better with age. At least until they reach a certain point, then it gets a little stagnant. Look at Temple Grandin.

On ASPartners a couple posters said that Tony Attwood says that Aperger Syndrome is progressive

Some people get "worse" depending on how you define it. At some point people get tired of acting and decide to be themselves, this can look like an aspie getting worse to the people around him. I've suspected that my uncle has AS for a long time and he's certainly getting "worse" as time goes by. Typically Aspie children can appear to be perfectly normal for a few years after birth and then they can start getting "worse."

I know I personally have gotten significantly better with age.I guess the Aspie traits will always remain but I have much more awareness about how to work around them and lead a happy content life.

it is a complicated subject for me, in that while i am more addled [or less able to hide it] i have also accumulated experience-based workarounds for some of my specific addlements. i am happier now than when i was younger and more superficial. i am progressively closer to matriculating back into the bright world above, so i have more reasons to smile.

I personally don't feel Aspies get worse with age. I think they may become more self aware of their limitations and accept them. I am the same as I have always been except that when I was younger I was not aware of my being an Aspie and I was always trying to fit in.

I think that one reason why it could appear to get worse is that our abilities may not increase at the same rate as the demands that are placed on us.

I haven't gotten worse with age. I just know what my limitations are and what my strongest traits are. My special interests are my strongest traits. Oh, well. Instead of suppressing them, I wear a T-Shirt that has the logo of my favourite band. I'm a verbose aspie. I've solved that puzzle, as well. I go to Toastmasters once a week to get that out of my system before the rest of the week goes on. I have anxiety and depression. The way that I solve that is by sitting in a dark room with some LED lights on after I take some natural remedies and I have a cup of Sleeping Tea as soon as I'm finished that big bottle of water that I buy at Army & Navy each day. Today's world wears me thin at times. When I'm worn very thinly, I'll have a Kink a Thon where I listen to The Kinks for a good 5 hours. When I see myself getting stuck on that, I'll listen to two different artists or groups between Kinks CDs or deluxe sets and I could end up listening to up to 7 different artists or bands in a day, that way. If I haven't spent enough time with people, I go to Stepping Stones. If people get on my nerves, I stay home. I avoid the things that make me anxious on whatever weeks. I also go swimming a lot, because the water relaxes me and that's why I haven't been on WP as much. Bathroom issues I can't do much about.

I'd agree with the others that we actually get better with age. As time passes we learn how to compensate our lack of ability to detect cues with the ability to read other types. It won't be anywhere near perfect, but it is an improvement over our base abilities before compensation.

For instance, even though I cannot read people's emotions I've learnt to read their thoughts and intents to some extent. From that information it may be possible to back-guess their emotions.

I think aspies get better as they age, but a few things may make them appear worse.

1. More responsibilities being piled on at older ages that may just be too much

2. They may careless as they get older

If you subscribe to the idea that ASD's are, among other factors, the result of toxins (as I do) then yes. I have been getting physically worse, more sensitive and less able to connect with other people.

HOWEVER, as others have stated above, I have also learned so much about how to be in the world and am grateful that I have pretty much found my "niche" so the physical/emotional stressors are not so apparent. One could say it is a little like hiding from the things which used to freak me out. In a sense it is hiding but it is also a wisdom which comes with age.

I doubt it's progressive but I think aspies, like EVERYBODY, tend to get more set in their ways as they get older. As rigidity is already classed as an AS symptom, this natural product of getting older could be perceived as a worsening of AS. Don't believe me - check out the social goings on and how people behave at retirement villages... it can be worse than high school. Some people get very self centred as they get older and start behaving worse than most kids.

I'm significantly improving. Don't see that changing. Ever.

Whoever you talked to on ASPartners, they're wrong. You can't hate them for it or anything; anybody can be mistaken; but you've got to check these things before you believe people about them.

Do you have access to a journal article database? You can get access through most university libraries; that's what I do. Take a look at the research on autism and Asperger's, and see how kids with AS progress when they're monitored in these studies. You'll see that invariably they make progress as they age--learn new things, become better at socializing and organizing their time and doing lots of stuff.

Gonna be blunt here: Is this the sort of site where you see a bunch of people who hang out complaining about their AS spouse? People in bad relationships often feel very validated when they can go somewhere and rant; but when AS is in the middle of it, often times things get blamed on the AS that shouldn't be. It can end up giving you a lot of incorrect or misrepresented information.

Regarding AS improving and marriage: If you love someone with AS, you have to love them whether the AS changes or not, same as they've got to love you whether or not you start to get geekier and more AS-like yourself. If you just tolerate their AS, you probably won't be happy together--it's pretty much got to be part of what you love about them.