Go from Autism to Asperger's

Post Reply New Topic

Hi,

I hope I don't get blasted for this but I am just really curious. Are there any people out there that were considered to have Autism as toddlers or young children but as they grew, fit more of the profile of Asperger's? Or have a child that developed and "moved up the spectrum"? For example, someone that talked late and were repetitive or more socially aloof or socially awkward but then eventually started talking and "outgrowing" some of their quirks (good or bad)? Thanks for sharing your experience.

hello

I dnt rily have anythng concrete to say abt it..howevr ive read that autism is a pervasive developmental disordr..wc means cases get worse in tym..
I hav a nephew who use to hav fleetng eye contact kinda awkward talkng nd cnt rily steady his hands..bt it must b caused by some traumatic event in his childhd bec he outgrew it

D only difrens i knw bet aspergers fr autism is that aspergers is lighter case w/o speech delay.

Thou u knw how i wish ther wud b some1 to tel us dat this cn b outgrown..im hoping it 4 my 2yr old son who was diagnosed w autism. Tho we dnt hav a history of it..

My only hope is in d one true God Jesus..who is above science nd everythng dat we see nd hear..i remain to believe in his healing. And that he will touch my son.

We are all simply autistic individuals and to me the labels are for the professionals trying to work us out, myself I will never fit a tick box. But the one thing I agree we can all learn from each other and I feel we should celerbrate diversity and difference not stress over it, with
understanding comes awareness, comes acceptance...

The spectrum quite complex and depends on many things upbring, co-morbid no 2 of us the same and so a label does not define but give some idea: Diversity of Autism Spectrum Disorder : http://asplanet.info/index.php?option=c ... Itemid=125

I like the 2222 posts so can not post any more

I guess you can say we can move up the spectrum, from low functioniong autism to high functioning autism. Although when I was really young ppl weren't diagnosed as readily as they are now, however I was as I go a little older, and with my parents support I was able to move up the spectrum. I'm now considered high functioning, and although life still can be difficult, I am married with 2 children

Me to , but I do not see myself as high or low functioning, I have some strengths and some weaknesses like everyone, imagine saying NTs are either high or low functioning there would be an outcry, we are all unique individuals and we all learn, grow, change, adapt in our own way, I am simply a autistic individual with quite a few neurology differences…

I was diagnosed autistic as a child. As an adult I fit the aspie criteria better, and would be considered a fully functioning member of society.

on whos terms, everyone has a right to function and be accepted on there own terms The diagnostic criteria is a generalized "norm" and in fact we are all different, with different life experiences and that impacts on how we react to our own traits and who we are and what ever labels we are given they are simply words, which help explain some of our differences as there is a real individual behind each diagnosis

By "member of society" I mean I do the boring stuff like work, pay taxes, cook, clean etc. I've even been happily marrried (and sadly widowed) which is something neither of my parents would have imagined when I was a younger kid, and am a happy Mum.

I think when I was a kid my Dad probably worried I'd end up in an institution of some kind.

I can't say I'm "normal", but I'm okay with myself. And you're right, we're all entitled to be who we are, no matter what the rest of the world thinks.

I was told by my son's diagnosing doctor (the Medical Director of Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services ) that the dividing line is simply whether or not the child was late developing speech (or didn’t speak) . This would be Autism. If they spoke, it was Aspergers. I don’t know if this is still the way it’s diagnosed, but I was told that both are spectrum disorders, and it’s simply a matter of having enough symptoms to tip you over from NT to being on the spectrum (at different degrees)

The DSM-IV TR criteria don't really fit the autism as a spectrum with subscales concept of autism that has emerged recently. I was diagnosed with atypical autism during the DSM-III (R) era but would probably be considered AS today according to the last psychologists I spoke with.

People with ASDs can improve in function and learn coping skills, essentially they can learn how to "pass" but there's not much point to changing diagnostic labels.

my ds at initial assessment was ASD and at nearly 4 it's now HFA/AS he has had portage (once every two weeks) which sadly now has finished and it brought him on leaps and bounds i think this has helped improve his outcome, we will see if this remains the case....

givemechocolate, what is portage? and how did it help him?

Do you think that having the child re-evaluated makes any difference? All we've done is look for ways to help him, programs, and such and discovered ways he responds, and then advocate those things at his school or on the side on our own. He is so amazing, once we had him on medication to help him with anxiety, as he was hitting himself and banging his head on the wall. When your son is hurting himself, it's not hard to medicate! But as he grew older, he was literally taught anger/frustration management techniques, which he actively uses, and hasn't had medication in... oh...6 or 7 years! His will is so incredible, I simply can't fathom him. I almost think he is super human.

He is still obviously on the spectrum, as he perseverates on things, Oh gosh, every morning he has to tell me his dreams in every detail and then ask me why they don't make sense or why this or that happened in HIS dream! Ugh! As if I'd know! LOL. He also learned to joke by saying outrageous things, dead-panning things like, it's good to eat glass as it has lots of vitamins" or something like that... After a while, no it's not funny and you have to wonder, is he joking? He is joking but it's getting annoying after about 2 years of this. But it's a side of humor that he and his friends find funny.

So he is a quirky Autistic, definitely. But smart as can be, self controlled in so many ways, it makes me realize there is a lot of potential in these kids! You should have seen him when he was 3/4 years old, nothing like today! Just amazing!

givemechocolate, what is portage? and how did it help him?

Do you think that having the child re-evaluated makes any difference? All we've done is look for ways to help him, programs, and such and discovered ways he responds, and then advocate those things at his school or on the side on our own. He is so amazing, once we had him on medication to help him with anxiety, as he was hitting himself and banging his head on the wall. When your son is hurting himself, it's not hard to medicate! But as he grew older, he was literally taught anger/frustration management techniques, which he actively uses, and hasn't had medication in... oh...6 or 7 years! His will is so incredible, I simply can't fathom him. I almost think he is super human.

He is still obviously on the spectrum, as he perseverates on things, Oh gosh, every morning he has to tell me his dreams in every detail and then ask me why they don't make sense or why this or that happened in HIS dream! Ugh! As if I'd know! LOL. He also learned to joke by saying outrageous things, dead-panning things like, it's good to eat glass as it has lots of vitamins" or something like that... After a while, no it's not funny and you have to wonder, is he joking? He is joking but it's getting annoying after about 2 years of this. But it's a side of humor that he and his friends find funny.

So he is a quirky Autistic, definitely. But smart as can be, self controlled in so many ways, it makes me realize there is a lot of potential in these kids! You should have seen him when he was 3/4 years old, nothing like today! Just amazing!

A psychologist who follows the diagnostic criteria can only move a child from the regular autism diagnosis to PDD-NOS, to another non-autism diagnosis, or to no diagnosis at all, not to Asperger's.

Since autism and Asperger's are diagnosed by history, technically it isn't possible to move from one diagnosis to the other. If you had a speech delay, or delay in learning self-help skills, you will always be diagnosed regular autism; if not, you will always be Asperger's. Of course this is completely ignoring that AS is not always "higher functioning" than regular autism, especially after early childhood; and that it's often hard to tell the difference between the two, like in my case and lots of other Asperger's cases where technically the person also fits criteria for regular autism.

As for "looking more like Asperger's"? Well, if you consider becoming more independent and learning to communicate better to be "more like Asperger's". Kids learn, given a friendly environment in which to do so (read: Love your kid and don't lock them in a closet, and they will learn). Though of course there are Aspies who aren't independent and auties who are. Actually, I know a guy who has regular autism, and is living on his own and has a job as an engineer; and I'm still getting disability money and really shouldn't have been on my own 'til about two years ago. I also know a 40-some-year-old guy with Asperger's who is still living with his sister because he can't make it on his own at all.

Gaining verbal skills is quite common for autistic people. About 90-05% of initially non-verbal youngsters will gain speech, and almost all of the rest can learn to use some non-spoken method of communication.

Unfortunately, we don't know what percent of autistics who take advantage of today's improved therapy will eventually become independent, simply because the outcome studies being done now are being done on kids who were diagnosed 20 or more years ago--meaning that these would be the most severe, most obvious cases, raised mostly before recent developments such as the ADA and IDEA, as well as technology like voice-output communication devices and the widespread use of systems like PECS.

We do have a relatively low employment rate, ranging from 12% to 30%, but frankly I think that is not due to inability to work, but to unwillingness to employ and stereotyping that says, "But he's disabled! He's autistic! He can't work!" Those numbers should increase, as we learn to accommodate autistic people in the workplace.

The category you're in really doesn't matter much. Kids diagnosed with classic autism do improve, in some cases so much so that they "lose" their diagnosis.--though in my book they will always be autistic, since their thinking style will still be the same.

That's what I understand, hit the nail on the head.

Quote:
....recent developments such as the ADA and IDEA, as well as technology like voice-output communication devices and the widespread use of systems like PECS.

Gosh, I don't know what any of that is... I hate acronyms! I guess I need to look all that up to see what these recent developments are?? Thanks!

Ok, looked it up, rights and protection acts, and technology to help communication I'll get there in the end

I thought HFA paed says asperger, but do not think it makes much difference, as long as he can have support. My dad is definitely asperger and I see my ds being v. similar. Portage, it's designed for pre-schoolers with any special needs, the portage worker comes to your house and spends 50-60mins playing with your child, depending on there level of mobility or interaction, we were doing colour games, jigsaws, stacking, beading. but she was so positive, patience, and she just opened him up more and he learnt to slow down a bit and think for a second longer so now we can do things we him that previously we could hardly do any activites with him.

He did not start talking till nearly 3, but i have heard speech delay is regarded as 4. From what i read in the research the difference is minimal, with aspergers have a slightly quicker recall in some area of the brain, cannot remember the details, but i can probably find it again. Do you think it makes a difference if people are classed HFA or asperger, though i like the term aspie.