Can a child "outgrow" autism?

Post Reply New Topic

I'm trying to get treatment for social anxiety and my psychiatrist suggested that I might be on the spectrum. I've never even thought about it because I even went to psychiatrists as a child (for things like ADHD) and no one ever mentioned autism at all.

Now that I'm reading more into it I'm noticing that I had a lot of symptoms of childhood autism. Echolalia, sensitivity to noise (still kind of a thing but very mild), monotone, repetitive movements, etc. (though I didn't have any speech delays). However, these issues seemed to almost abruptly stop when I reached the age of 11/12.

Now that I'm a young adult my psychiatrist still doesn't think I'm on the spectrum based on what I've said and a questionnaire I took. I've taken a few quizzes and all of them are pretty low-scoring and the diagnosis for autism doesn't seem to fit me (my social seclusion is more the result of anxiety than an inability to socialize at all).

Honestly I'm scared that I might actually have autism (even if it's really mild). Even so, why am I not experiencing the symptoms of autism when I had almost all of them as a child? Can you "grow out of it"?

(I'm female if that's relevant at all).

Yes, your gender is really important--autism is often misdiagnosed females--you need to see someone with the proper expertise.

It's possible that a child can get better. But he/she will never be autism-free, even if it seems so. When I was younger, I appeared much more autistic than I do now.

that could be the very reason why you don't show any visible signs: self-consciousness, coupled with the cognitive ability to suppress socially undesirable reflexes that you have, and compensate for socially desirable reflexes that you don't have, in order to appear more normal (in which case, the price you pay for it is anxiety). "suddenly at age 11-12" means "puberty", which is when pretty much everybody becomes self-conscious. the whole scenario is not uncommon

you can take this possibility as good news though. as a child, you didn't have the ability to adjust your habits and your environment to prevent overload, but as a young adult you do. that means you would have a new perspective to help you treat your anxiety (without medication, which is a big deal, because anxiety meds always have big caveats, which often defeat the purpose of even taking those meds to begin with)

Welcome to Wrong Planet Culdesactaco.

I think there could be a couple of things that could be happening here. You could have experienced a time in your life after you grew up a little where your world was not as stressful to you and the things that were triggering your sensory overloads and echolalia might not have been as pronounced when you got older. The more stressed we are, the more pronounced our Autistic traits and symptoms tend to be. If we are in a place in life where we are doing very well and we are relaxed and have minimal amounts of stress, our traits and symptoms won't show up as much.

I found that it was the opposite for me. The older I got, the more my stresses got stronger so that caused my Autistic traits and symptoms to be much more pronounced and for me to have them much more frequently. That happens to a lot of us. But if I find a great environment that really meets my needs, they tend to kind of just disappear. Like if I am skiing an it's super quiet and it's early on a weekday morning and the mountain is pretty much empty except for the handful die hard skiers who have their weekday mornings free, or if I am hiking or kayaking in a beautiful quiet area, no one will know that I am Autistic at all. I will have no reason to have a meltdown or to suffer from sensory overload and I won't tend to have echolaia, at least not in an obvious way. So it could be that your life just got a lot less stressed as you got older.

The other thing that could be happening, is that if you had developed Autistic traits and symptoms as a child due to an external environmental factor, and that does happen, if that factor was removed from your life, your symptoms and traits may have been diminished or reversed. That also happens. But if you are Autistic from genetic factors, that cannot be outgrown. If your life just got less stressed, once you have real stress again, you will notice your traits and symptoms coming back.

Not really but as you get older you can learn to hide it better. As you get older the symptoms get less pronounced. It will always be part of you. You can never escape your past.

No. Autism is for life.

Yes, autism affects women differently than men. Because women tend to internalize more, whereas men act out, it can be harder to diagnose women based on behavior.

Autism cannot be outgrown. That is a common misconception. You can learn coping mechanisms and mature emotionally, which can minimize some of the more disruptive symptoms, but autism doesn't just go away. There's no need to be scared that you might have autism. A diagnosis doesn't change who you are, it's just a word you can use to explain to people what your problem is and what kind of help you need.

Never, Happened to me, Most (If not all) Mental Puberty difference, I.E. Interest in girls.. Self-Conciousness.. Never really happened. It's hard to tell if it is just a delay. Or, Not. If, anything it is getting worse. Not, Better. I don't really put on a 'mask' though.

What do you mean by internalize?

By "internalize," I mean that in general women are more likely to blame themselves or hide their emotions. They take things more to heart than men (again, in general).

They can according to Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_ ... #Prognosis

"There is some evidence that children with AS may see a lessening of symptoms; up to 20% of children may no longer meet the diagnostic criteria as adults, although social and communication difficulties may persist.[8]"

I'm an expert at blaming myself

I thought hiding one's emotions was supposed to be a guy thing. Women are generally more open with their feelings are they not?

I was taught to grin and bear it as a child. It's more acceptable for women to cry, but it's less acceptable for women to show anger or resentment. The opposite is true of men. So I guess hiding emotions can be expected of both genders by society.

I see

I believe they can. Sort of.

I don't think it happens by a mere passing of time. I believe it can happen via diet.

It's been my experience that altering gut flora via diet, supplements, cleanses, and probiotics minimizes my symptoms. While I'm still HFA and I know it, my symptoms are so minimal I would not be given a diagnosis. If I eat certain foods, stop taking probiotics, and take antibiotics etc I can cause symptoms to return.

As for children, my friend's son was diagnosed with a very bad infection at about 12 months old. He was given mass amounts of antibiotics. After that he exhibited infant ASD symptoms. (avoiding eye contact, lethargic, uninterested in people/toys that he used to be etc) Knowing what I know, I encouraged his mom to add probiotics into his diet. She did. He perked back up to life like a house plant that hadn't been watered in a month & has developed normally since. He's almost 5 years old now and doesn't have any telltale symptoms.

I believe kids who have "outgrown" symptoms have had their gut microbiota altered in some significant way. They possibly took a dose of antibiotics that killed off the undesireable things and let the right bacteria flourish. Or they had some significant source of probiotics added into their diet. Or both. That's how I believe we have so many stories of kids outgrowing certain symptoms.