Autism Severity Can Evolve Markedly During Childhood

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I have read this statistic before. It is true that some are able to learn to mask so well that their autism does not show. There is also an understudied phenomenon where it all falls apart later in life with disasterous results known as autistic burnout. While some are able to recover from this burnout, others are not so fortunate. These kids are taught to look and act normal so the system can claim success. The system takes no responsibility for when it all falls apart, even going as far as suppressing the burnout phenomenon as acknowledging it shows that autism is not cured only managed.

How can parents get the best for their children, while avoid such a situation further down the line?

I do not know. Burnout needs to be studied, and society needs to understand that autism does not magically disappear on the 21st birthday.

We have the same situation in the UK re once you reach adulthood the help and support can be thin on the ground .

There's a place in town for people with learning disabilities(intellectual disability) and autism . I think it's for those who fit both categories. There are meetings in two nearby towns for people on the spectrum , but there is no way I could get to them on my own. My stepdaughter would take me if she could but working full-time as the manager of a care agency, and the fact the times of the meetings can vary,basically means that's a non-starter.

Shame that of course, this study, like everything else is only about children. Autistic adults are very affected by the same issues.

My autism severity has remained stable my whole life. I’m 30 now.

Having burned out at 14, I think it's true that the problem with these studies is that they focus on trying to cope with the problems rather than learning how to deal with them. Because the problem with me was i tried to cope with everything. But I guess my case is a bit more extreme cause it's not just autism. I can't act like i was receiving support or that. What I can say from experience is that trying to fix things never helps. See when i went to OT it didn't help with my various problems all it really taught me was to keep trying till i can do it. It didn't teach me when i should accept that my problems might not be able to fixed. That along with the fact that none of the schools cared about the personal distress they were causing me. Because, I didn't fall behind academically. See the problem is they teach children to hide their problems and try to fix them not accept that they are there and try to deal with it. Since, I didn't act out. See the problem with these studies is that they try to fix what can't be fixed. and Teaching kids to do that can cause bad things later in life. How do I know this cause i'm one of them who experienced it. See when you have someone do something over and over again till they get it right you really are teaching them that it doesn't matter what frustration they are having. The only thing that matters is learning to do it right. To try and try again till they get it right. Which is a very unhealthy mindset cause while it may resolve problems temporarily long term. It messes with your head. I guess i can't blame that entirely on the OT or act like everyone's going to react that way. But Instead of focusing on trying to fix the issues and make them normal. Instead of focusing on fixing those issues they should focus on how to get help with those issues. Now I can't entirely blame that on OT. As other people in my family take similiar approaches to disability. Which willing your way through disabilities can work temporarily or if it's not severe. The entire mindset of trying to fix ASD is damaging to the individual. Now that being said. I'm an extreme case cause i've had to deal with more than just ASD. I was also neglected and physically and emotionally abused till age 10. Autism isn't Depression where you can work through it and it goes away. Autism isn't a Mental Illness you can't cure it. It doesn't magically go away. But the entire mentality is stupid. Hey, you're concentrating intensely so you can deal with your motor difficulties. Welp, Guess they magically disappeared. Must've never existed in the first place. Okay that was a bit of a rant.
TL;DR
It's stupid to act like the severity just disappeared. I don't think i actually talked about the topic of evolving severity. oh Well

True at any age.

My autism became steadily less "severe" through my life--which just means I got better at masking. By my 30s I could usually pass for NT, though I was the same person inside. Then, around age 50, it all fell apart and I seemed to become "more autistic". No, I was exactly the same person, but faking normality had become too stressful and exhausting. Not a conscious choice, by the way. That's burnout.

In my case... Severity is the same.
It's my compensation capabilities that changes a lot.

The expression of severity just happened to be overlooked by the favorably passable physical abilities I happened to have -- that includes the means of speech and "behaviors".
Definitely why I pass the OT's assessment.


Burnouts can make me forget, unable to use a lot of mental tools and set back a lot of things.

But my sheer physical ability to blend in, and somewhat verbal workarounds that happened to favor the appearance of passing had yet to be stamped out at all.


And still -- while my body can keep up with my mind, my mind can't always still keep up with my senses, my throughts, my emotions and everything beyond.

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