Symptoms of autism appearing at age 4 or later

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There was a news article recently (I can't seem to find it at the moment) about an autistic young man who can't speak beyond one-word responses to questions, whose parents say he was "normal" until some time after his fourth birthday. Meaning he could have conversations at the level expected of a three-year-old, etc.

It seems that anyone with that sort of history is quite "severe" meaning that they would not be expected to use social media, etc. including a forum such as WP. However quite a few WP users, as I understand it, have symptoms that would seem quite obvious if you met them IRL but that aren't especially evident in their interactions here.

Is there anybody here who can say that their autism did not develop until such an age that they could theoretically recall not having had it at one time? What is that like?

I think I was neurotypical up until I started school. My mum kept a report from preschool (all parents got a report from this particular preschool to say how their child is developing outside home), and it says that I joined in all of the group activities even when given the choice, I enjoyed song time, I was good at sharing toys with the other children, and I was affectionate (I liked holding hands with another child I was friends with). The point of this was to get themselves and your parents to decide if you were emotionally and socially ready to start school, and if you wasn't they could opt for you to stay on in preschool for a few more months until you were ready. The preschool worker and my parents decided I was socially and emotionally ready to start school (along with the other children) in the following September.
But on my first day of school I lashed out; I was disruptive, couldn't sit still, wouldn't play with the other children (even though they were the same children I went to preschool with), and the teachers and my parents were worried because they totally didn't expect me to be like that. It turns out that I behaved like that because I was frightened of school.

So yeah, I started off normal. I reached all my milestones when I was a baby, made eye contact from birth, was sociable and everything, got on well at preschool, was interested in other children....then when I was 4 years and 5 months I suddenly became this broken problem child overnight.

I would say it’s only with Aspergers that symptoms are sometimes not evident until preschool age.

That’s one of the reasons why I feel they should have kept the Aspergian diagnosis in the DSM-V.

In classic autism—of whatever severity—symptoms are almost always evident by age 2. Most of the time before then.

I was diagnosed with severe autism, but I showed those traits at the earliest age they are noticeable. I am moderate to severe now, but I know of a few still severe who have communicated on social media. Like the person decribed I pretty much only speak single word responces and didn't talk at all until I was 8.

I have heard of the normal kid who suddenly becomes severly autistic around 3 or 4, but I have never come across such a person.

So you know who I'm talking about? I couldn't find the article this morning.

I've just herd of such a thing in the past. Not the article/person you are referring to.

There are well-documented cases of kids losing all their abilities up to about 2 1/2 years of age...when they originally had those abilities.

I have noticed that with whatever condition I have be it linked to aspergers or I am a BAP (Traits but not on the spectrum) etc... I have noticed that the symptoms worstened when the masking started to break down after successive burnouts. I have never completely burnt out to be a bit like a vegetable, but what I have experienced later in life has exposed any traits in a more noticeable way.
When I was a young child... Up to the age of about five, I used to have extreme temper fits. I would be soo wound up i side. My Dad used his had "Gently" on my behind and these events dissapeared, but since about the age of 7 onwards I have been having partial shutdowns and shutdowns instead.

So there have been noticeable changes. I was also told that as a baby I would cry and scream and cry so much and so frequently that my poor Mum reached a point when she nearly threw me out the upstairs window!

What my sister got from my parents (She is 3.5 years younger than me)

I don't know what happens with very young "recessing" children but I've seen the "moment when expectations exceed capacities" kind of recession in myself and in my daughter.
It's all about inability to process more stress after reaching some point. So you stop talking, withdraw, stop doing all the "normal" things that you were able to do at some cost - you are no longer able to pay the cost.
I think the phenomenon has been even included in DSM5 description of ASD.

OK I found the article:

A Mom Has Gone Viral After Sharing The Heartbreaking Question Asked By Her Autistic Son

There's also a rare condition called "childhood disintegrative disorder" (CDD) involving sudden and severe regression.

Under the DSM 5 it's considered to be a form of ASD rather than a distinct condition, as it was under the DSM IV. But that's a controversial decision, and in the case of CDD I'm inclined to agree with the critics.

Brain scans, eye-tracking tests, etc., on people with CDD have shown their neurological functioning to be more like that of NT infants than like that of most autistic people, according to The most terrifying childhood condition you’ve never heard of, Spectrum News, July 2016.

I believe it's rare that symptoms start after 3 years of age in Childhood Disintegrative Disorder.

There were many case studies I read in the 1970s---which were from the 1940s and 1950s---which detailed, well, CDD (though these kids were considered to have had "infantile autism" back then).

Growing up, I knew, very well, a child with severe, nonverbal autism. He didn't have CDD. He never developed speech. He never regressed from a "higher point." He wound up in a decent group home.

One of my sons did show some minor sensory issues at 3-5 years, but nothing considered a red flag. At age 7 he had a sudden regression over the course of two weeks. His doctor called his presentation atypical, but not unheard of. He is now 9 and continues to regress, but at a muck slower rate. He was recently moved from the mild/moderate class to the moderate/severe class.

Yikes! I'm very sorry to hear this.

Sounds like Childhood Disintigrative Disorder (see article linked in my previous post above). Most kinds of autism do not involve that kind of regression.

I am aware that some presentations involve abilities such as speach appearing to develop at the usual rate until around three or so and then the abilities dimishing.

I have a conjecture I would like to put out for testing.
Does the age where the skills appear to be lost co-incide with the sensory system becoming fully developed, but not haveing the corresponding filterinf circuits between hearing, visin, smell, taste, touch, proprioception etc,meaning that the procing sections of the brain are now being overloaded with dealing wirh sensory infirmation coming in continually ?