Professor finds autism symptoms can become less severe..

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Professor finds autism symptoms can become less severe over time
Washington University Assistant Professor Paul Shattuck has just published a paper showing that symptoms of autism, like repetitive motion, interaction problems and impaired communication skills, can improve with age.
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Like Duh!! I guess time heals some wounds.
Did anyone see Jenny McCarthy on The View stating that she recently cured her son of Autism with diet and the help of boyfriend Jim Carrey. Another Like Duh!! The things that come out of peoples mouths still astounds me.

I have a different experience. My symptoms are cyclic. Which kind of makes sense given that it is something I can't control and my environment plays a big role. If I'm in a school setting I'm the most normal I will ever be. Normal in that I actively particpate in class andI hang out in political clubs and pretty much have a social life. That was two years ago.

Today I feel I have hitted my biggest regression since seventh grade. I don't transit very well and hence I feel myself flying backwards. I think Aspergers like any other disorder or chronic illness is managed not cured. I am glad that word is getting out that people with autism tendencies aren't damaged goods.

Granted I'm not a big fan of McCarthy's but I am jealous that more information on the subject is availible today than there was in my childhood when my mom just felt that she was cursed with the most socially inept child on the planet. It wasn't very long ago where family members (mine) would only whisper among themselves that when I was a child everyone worried that I was "autistic" as if I was almost diagnosed as having some kind of leprosy.

I am not sure why he feels this is some big revelation. Isn't this something that a lot of us have known for a long time?

This is the 3rd or so paper I have read that stated that autistic individuals generally improve wth age. Im willing to bet the majority of ppl who post on WP could have said this years prior to these papers being published. I dont know how they can consider such 'doscoveries' to be 'groundbreaking.' It is because of this that I will second the DUH!

Well, DUH! We make coping skills or we don't survive. It's that simple.

yes,but some people need to hear it from those who have got dr or professor in front of their name.

everyone from lfaers,to mfaers,to hfaers to aspergans improve to at the least-minimum,over their lives.


am like othila,in that am have regressions,although have less of them now than did as teen and younger,think they have got less due to improvement of holding onto these skills.
verbal/language,awareness,and academic ability is worst hit by this,am have to do things very often otherwise it's lost and like it was never learnt.


if people can be professor for knowing that,can all wpers be professors? or have some other letters after name?

oh, kewl.. I am pushing 60 and if I live to 120 I will be CURED!! !

Merle

yeah, just think. . 50 years ago when I was a small child, I was considered an ungrateful brat and just plain spoiled so I needed to be spanked and beat to be brought into line as no one had a clue what might be up with me. They whispered in the night when I was cramped up in my legs and arms from magnesium deficiency they didn't know how to treat (give that kid a BANANA!)
My mom kept me on a leather harness with a detachable leash, my cousins tried to lose me in the woods and tossed me off a boat and almost did me in when I 'fell' out of the car because I, too, had the 'autism' leprosy, but they didn't have a name for it back then.

I have also toyed with the idea of being jealous at the bright future the young people diagnosed in this age have. . but I really don't know if this is productive to anything but a bad attitude, so I won't go down that road.
so. .tell me, how is that jealosy workin' for you, Othila?

No kidding! Next thing you know, they'll find out that hair tends to get grayer as one gets older.

With the right kind of help, and people on our side, we can improve our functioning and reach our full potential. It is simply called growing up. It is not a "cure," per se, but a bringing out of what is inside us.

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[i] LOL Now I few embarrassed by my expressionism. It's just a figure of speech that me and my friends use in an almost complimentary sense. Kind of like "oh I wish that was me but it's not" sort of deal. When people start using the same expressions or slang words around you all the time it's like osmosis.

So in response to your thread. I am not seriously jealous. And I do see this autism awareness thing as a double-edged sword. Sure more "experts" have more case studies and knowledge of what works and doesn't to help a lot of peoples lives. So I am all for the science end of it. But i do think that this awareness puts a lot of the pressure on the parents which isn't fair. I also don't like how the media tries to "dumb down" autism both literally and figuratively. I undestand the media's mentality of getting the most viewers by simplifying everything down to grade school level but it still irritates me. When are they going to stop comparing a fictional character (Rainman) as the poster child of autism that just iannoys me on the logical level. Savants are so rare it's ridiculous to think your child is one.

In short I just wish my mom wasn't so caught up in this mentality of thinking that I will some how outgrow all my aspie symptoms. She chooses to see and hear what she wants to see and hear, not what is right in front of her. It was easier to believe I was dumb when I was younger just like it's easier for her to believe that I suffer from depression or some form of mental illness in my adulthood.

Maybe doing research and making it look new and on the cutting edge gets grant money so that's why they repackage old stuff.

Exactly.

In fact, when I was tested the psych told me to think back to behaviors I had as a child because they may have improved over time to the point where they weren't quite so noticeable, etc