Drooga
Emu Egg
Joined: Apr 13, 2008
Age: 20
Posts: 6
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 Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:02 pm Post subject: can anyone be aspie only for a while in their life? |
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| Just that: Can anyone be aspie only for a while in their lifetime? Like in their childhood for example and then became NT? |
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NArt
Butterfly
Joined: Apr 11, 2008
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Individual circumstance could cause someone to have many of the traits. If these circumstances change they would most likely change along with them. However I'm not sure it is possible for someone going from diagnosed Asperger's to NT. |
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Ryn
Phoenix
Joined: Apr 10, 2008
Posts: 512
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| Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:13 pm Post subject: |
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| I think that there are probably people who become so high-functioning that their Aspie traits aren't noticable, but no I don't think an Aspie can "become" NT because it's the way the brain is wired. |
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SierraBell
Phoenix
Joined: Aug 24, 2007
Posts: 635
Location: My secret lair, or anywhere near animals, books, and macs
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| Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:14 pm Post subject: Re: can anyone be aspie only for a while in their life? |
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| Drooga wrote: | | Just that: Can anyone be aspie only for a while in their lifetime? Like in their childhood for example and then became NT? |
Yes! I was diagnosed on the Autistic Spectrum as a child and I suddenly got off that just by maturing. So yes, I believe it can happen.
I know other people might say there is no cure for Autism and all of that, but if they really stopped thinking about their diagnosis and just focus on themselves being like every other person, they more than likely won't have that diagnosis anymore.
People think I have AS but I don't believe I do.  |
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spudnik
one year older, and not much wiser
Joined: Feb 20, 2008
Posts: 4176
Location: Calgary, Alberta Canada
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| Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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| I wish it was like that but no, would be nice to have a switch aspie on aspie off |
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DanteRF
Sea Gull
Joined: Apr 15, 2008
Age: 23
Posts: 229
Location: Mars, PA & Slippery Rock University
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| Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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| As most Aspies get older they have begun to masteror close to it how they should act given some situation |
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The_Cucumber
Phoenix
Joined: May 05, 2007
Posts: 665
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| Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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The outward signs of autism and Asperger's Syndrome naturally fade as age increases.
This is why autistic adults don't get much media attention, they're symptoms are much less noticeable, and hence don't generate pity which in turn means less donations to pro-cure organizations.
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The improbable goal: Fear nothing, hate nothing, and let nothing anger you. |
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anbuend
Oak-Type Autie
Joined: Jul 06, 2004
Posts: 4025
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| Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:04 pm Post subject: Re: can anyone be aspie only for a while in their life? |
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| SierraBell wrote: | | Yes! I was diagnosed on the Autistic Spectrum as a child and I suddenly got off that just by maturing. So yes, I believe it can happen. |
I've met a lot of people who seem to have an autistic sort of neurotype but not enough problems to get diagnosed under current criteria. Especially women with autistic relatives. And they have similar stories. I'm not sure if it's really about "being on the spectrum then moving off" though, as much as the spectrum being a many-sided thing that we don't fully understand yet, that of course could shade into "undiagnosable" (on a professional level anyway, currently) in some parts.
| Quote: | | I know other people might say there is no cure for Autism and all of that, but if they really stopped thinking about their diagnosis and just focus on themselves being like every other person, they more than likely won't have that diagnosis anymore. |
I actually did that for awhile. I tried very hard to believe I was "normal" because I didn't want to be some "bad sort of different" that I was afraid I was.
It never really worked. I suppose it works for someone who is so obsessive about it in the wrong ways that they actually create more problems for themselves. But it never worked too well for me.
Actually it worked spectacularly badly, and I was bewildered at the fact that I couldn't really do a whole lot of things, because, well, wasn't I "normal" and don't people "just do this stuff"?
I eventually did catch on to the fact that not only was I autistic, but a lot of physical problems were going on too, and that expecting my body (brain included) to work the way other people's worked was a pretty destructive act.
There are all kinds of ways that I identify with "normal" people though. That's because most characteristics are shared between all of humanity regardless of neurotype, body type, etc. That doesn't (for most of us anyway) change the fact that some things vary pretty widely, as well, including the things that get a person labeled autistic.
If the traits contained in the diagnosis could go away because a person didn't focus on their diagnosis, then all of us who were diagnosed unawares, or referred to a doctor out of the blue who ended up diagnosing us with something we'd never heard of before, etc., wouldn't fit the diagnosis. I imagine that most autistic people born these days fit that profile, given that most diagnoses take place in early childhood now.
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"In my world it's a place of patterns and feel. In my world it's a haven for what is real. It's my world, nobody can steal it, but people like me, we live in the shadows." -Donna Williams |
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anbuend
Oak-Type Autie
Joined: Jul 06, 2004
Posts: 4025
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| Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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| The_Cucumber wrote: | | The outward signs of autism and Asperger's Syndrome naturally fade as age increases. |
In studies, they stay the same or fade in somewhere between about 2/3 and 5/6 of the autistic population depending on how you count it. (About 1/3 seem to experience greater difficulties during adolescence, and about half of those end up gaining back whatever they lost.) But not in all of us.
(I'd say a few things faded and a lot of others got more prominent for me. I'm just posting this so that anyone who experienced what I did doesn't feel too weird.)
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"In my world it's a place of patterns and feel. In my world it's a haven for what is real. It's my world, nobody can steal it, but people like me, we live in the shadows." -Donna Williams |
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velodog
Glock armorer of the Aspie Elite
Joined: Mar 16, 2008
Posts: 1519
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| Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:09 pm Post subject: Re: can anyone be aspie only for a while in their life? |
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| SierraBell wrote: | | People think I have AS but I don't believe I do. |
Why would people think you have it, if you don't?
What reason do you have to be on this board if you are not on the spectrum?
Please do not read these questions in a confrontational context.
In reply to the OP's question, I believe that it is possible for a high functioning Autie to be diagnosed at a young age and become so adept at coping that the original dx becomes moot. But I don't believe that it is likely that any spectrum condition will just go away. |
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Izaak
Squeeky Bathtime Companion
Joined: Jun 11, 2007
Posts: 1294
Location: Perth, Western Australia
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| Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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Actually I would more likely suggest that whatever was causing such symptoms as to be a diagnosis in childhood (or any period of life) is more than likely to be a misdiagnosis.
There are plenty of things that could account for at least SOME of the traits. And in concert could mimic the autistic spectrum. I would suggest that it is more than something like that than a case of you "losing" your asperger's. |
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velodog
Glock armorer of the Aspie Elite
Joined: Mar 16, 2008
Posts: 1519
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| Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Izaak wrote: | Actually I would more likely suggest that whatever was causing such symptoms as to be a diagnosis in childhood (or any period of life) is more than likely to be a misdiagnosis.
There are plenty of things that could account for at least SOME of the traits. And in concert could mimic the autistic spectrum. I would suggest that it is more than something like that than a case of you "losing" your asperger's. |
This possibility makes a lot of sense to me. |
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rifler39
Sea Gull
Joined: Mar 17, 2008
Age: 71
Posts: 200
Location: Moses Lake, WA
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| Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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Tony Attwood mentions several times that many AS adults are so adept at camoflauge that they are virtually impossible to diagnose.
Going back to childhood functions can help a therapist diagnose AS in an adult, and that diagnosis can explain many of the personality problems that "camoflauged"adults have.
I know, in my case, some of the traits I have willed out of my actions are coming back.
I have been described as "So tightly wrapped you resemble a ball of rubberbands." I never knew what that meant until I discovered my (selfDX) Asperger's. For what it is worth, I noticed that some of my traits were reappearing BEFORE I discovered that there was such a thing as AS.
Pops
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Heron
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: Jan 04, 2008
Posts: 64
Location: Kent
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| Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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| I have a somewhat dark view of this. Could it be that that the older generation of Autistics are a distilled product, in that we are the survivors and our more fragile peers have died, commited suicide and succumbed to co- morbid conditions, all of which I mourn. What is left are those who appear to cope better and less diagnosed because there aren't so many of us? |
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The_Cucumber
Phoenix
Joined: May 05, 2007
Posts: 665
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| Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:28 pm Post subject: |
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I guess the bottom line is how you define Autism. If you use a purely biological definition, then Asperger's (or any other type of Autism) can never go away without physically reconstructing someone's brain. Which is impossible with even the most advanced surgical techniques known to mankind.
However, if you define Autism in a purely behavioral standpoint, then Autism can go away. Since the behaviors associated with it can be altered under the right conditions.
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The improbable goal: Fear nothing, hate nothing, and let nothing anger you. |
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