Mdyar
emuegg
Joined: May 29, 2009
Posts: 2514
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 Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2012 11:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Moondust wrote: | I find it hard to believe that someone can have an "almost" ("borderline") different-from-the-majority neurological structure, but who knows.
As to your brain's structure having changed over the years, I find it even harder to believe possible.
It reminds me of back when homosexuality was in the DSM as an illness, some homosexuals managed to adjust to a heterosexual life in some sort of way, and believed themselves cured. |
The Broader Autism Phenotypes are sub clinical. E.g., Parents of autistic children can have it all, but are able to socially cope and work, but have trouble - it's there but undiagnosable.
That being the case, this would move further away toward neurotypicality, and conversely; to the direction of Autism.
I had trouble with this idea myself, but I found a few papers that highlighted this with good anecdotal evidence.
As far as "getting better" I'd surmise it centers around interest, exposure and lightness of symptoms. If you are in NT land 24/7, and you have an interest in it; maybe out of sheer curiosity, one can watch it and learn about it. For me, say at a group picnic; the mutual bonding that people do really is not needed on my end. I eat, maybe throw a base ball around, and find somone to talk to about something. It can be a theatrical spectacle, depending on how you look at it.
But, I couldn't do this at 21.
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anomy
Blue Jay
Joined: May 23, 2012
Posts: 96
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:13 pm Post subject: Re: Aspergers and Age |
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| Aspinator wrote: | | If you are born with any type of autism you have it for life. You don't grow out of it, you just learn coping skills on how to get along. |
I tend to agree with this. |
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MindWithoutWalls
Aspie-Dyke
Joined: Oct 26, 2011
Posts: 1377
Location: In the Workshop, with the Toolbox
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:54 pm Post subject: |
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I've gotten better with some skills and used to making better responses to certain things that I've learned to recognize. I've appeared better in some ways because of help I never used to have. Understanding what I'm dealing with also helps me. But my sensory stuff seems worse, now that I've allowed myself to be aware instead of suppressing it all. I can't always successfully suppress my reactions anymore, though I can still mask enough to get myself out of a situation before I start to become unable to cope. Also, because I'm being assessed and learning so much, I'm going through a period of uncertainty, and everything is harder. In addition to everything else, I'm not sure I'm always correctly gauging how much better or worse I might be at some things. So, this is kind of a tough question. But I suppose changing circumstances might make some things harder for a time, and that's different from the age issue.
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Wayne
Deinonychus
Joined: Nov 16, 2009
Posts: 365
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 7:49 pm Post subject: |
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I think I'm getting worse as I approach 40.
My energy is less. I used to love to go for long cartrips... now, not so much.
I've also had a family of my own for 17 years. That's getting harder. She's got health problems now, so she's finding it far more difficult to have any sort of patience with my difficulties.
Part of it may be that not only do I know what's wrong, I also know that everyone else can see it too, even when they don't say anything. Which is quite discouraging. What's the use of pretending when everyone can see through it?
The kids are getting older, and I'm finding them every bit as difficult to connect with as I found my teenage classmates back when I was their age. |
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Shellfish
Velociraptor
Joined: Nov 07, 2011
Posts: 416
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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| Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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I have spoken to several people who have told me that they feel like they may have had aspergers (or at least traits) as children, who have outgrown some of the behaviours. I can definitely believe it knowing them now as they still have 'trace elements' but I have come to believe that there are far more people around who are somewhere on the spectrum than people realise.
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Mum to 6 year old DS (AS) and 2 year old DD (NT) |
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bnky
Velociraptor
Joined: Nov 20, 2011
Posts: 479
Location: Kent, England
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| Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 4:17 am Post subject: |
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Without wishing to cause any undue worry to 20ish year olds who're saying they've gotten better as they've gotten older, I too had some relief from various ASD related issues in my 20s and 30s. Beyond then, however, I seem to've lost the will or energy to be constantly masking to not stick out in NT public. As a result those issues have returned.
That said, I wasn't diagnosed before 45. Hopefully, with the interventions or whatever help you may have received since diagnosis, this may not be the case with you. |
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bettalove
Raven
Joined: Mar 16, 2012
Age: 25
Posts: 118
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| Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 8:21 am Post subject: |
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I'm 25. I feel I still have the same intensity of issues, but my coping skills have changed. As an adult, I am more able to control my environment and remove myself or make changes when I need to. As a child, I had more melt downs because I was frequently stuck in situations beyond my control. Adults around me didn't understand I had a legitimate problem and told me to "suck it up", which is something I obviously couldn't do.
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TheHouseholdCat
Phoenix
Joined: Mar 01, 2012
Posts: 667
Location: Berlin, Germany
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| Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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| cammyyy wrote: | | I wondered that too. When I was a kid I was TERRIBLE in social situations and got in a lot of crap in school because of how odd I was. Now I can say I'm pretty "normal", as I have my own car and am going to college and later university. I'm only 19, but I feel as though I mostly "grew" out of Aspergers. |
Well, I definitely know much more about social situations now than I did as a kid. Now I have to deal with depression and anxiety, I don't know what is better. 
I am annoyed by social conventions. Now I know more about them, but I still don't see their point.
One of the things I have learned is that I shouldn't talk a lot. Because if I do it mostly goes wrong. This gets me put into the "shy" box by many people, but at least they don't think I'm as weird as people used to.
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EXPANDED CIRCLE OF FIFTHS
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tall-p
Velociraptor
Joined: Dec 26, 2010
Age: 71
Posts: 483
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| Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:14 am Post subject: |
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I'm 70... I'm still totally inept, boring, friendless. I'm far less emotional about most things now than when I was much younger. I realize now that one of my major differences was that I never wanted what most people want. I did a lot of faking to get along. How do you learn to want stuff you don't care about? It was a miracle that I found work that made good money for over 20 years.
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Everything is falling. |
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