Are "they" sure AS doesn't get worse with age?

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E. you may still have these ToM problems associated with ADHD. I believe there is weak memory of something here that fades away without good social practice. At 27 you might not have much to and fro interaction and you become rusty. (As we age the social circle diminishes.)

I've yet to read of a rock solid stable performance in ADHD over time. Everyone that I know gets off the meds and they do fine for a time, but have to restart this. And the cognition vacillates with or without it. One paper stated that executive function ranges over time -- good/bad.

It's strange because I remember facts well, but I experience delays in social cognition without good practice. It's possible that our non-verbal memory is weak in and of itself, or the time away from interaction causes this.

Introversion could solely do it alone by our alone times. But I somehow doubt this, though, because the rustiness here in this department squeaks in a short time.

Just for the record I am self diagnosed, and I read the same article. I have definitely gotten worse as the years go by, my social skills r getting worse, and I might be developing a bit of paranoia. But, all I can say is that the older I get, the more comfortable I am with being different. I know I am different, I know that people find me to be weird, but I don't care anymore. This is who I am. I am comfortable in my skin. I don't feel the need to be approved or to be "normal". It will never happen, but as I always say, at least I am not a beige sheep.

I noticed my autism is getting better as I age or I've just learned how to cope but the ptsd and ocd has not gotten better.

Hmm... I've been noticing certain symptoms of mine becoming worse, recently.

Diagnosed AS/HFA as a younger child; I have not been to a psych or anything in over 11 or 12 years though, and my diagnosis came about 17 years ago - I have no idea what diagnosis I would get if I were to go in now.

Age is in the right area - 23. I've noticed much less ability to converse with others, among other things. Humor is an area I am having more difficulty with now - I feel like I'm understanding jokes less, and I just less often find things funny.

Another area of difficulty - socializing that I find useless or pointless, i.e. smalltalk, any social interactions I deem pointless, even including things like "good morning." Another one - when someone states the obvious. Not only am I having difficulty -doing- these things, I'm finding it sometimes unbearably irritating when someone else does.

There's a bunch of other stuff, but I don't really have the energy to keep typing stuff up tonight. I might make a second post later.

My symptoms have definitely gotten worse over the years. I suppose it's my increased social anxiety, and as a result less social contact.

Aspies can learn to imitate NTs to some degree, but that requires regular social interaction. Apparently, it works the other way around too. Without social interaction, one unlearns social skills.

164-200 aspergers
55-200 NT

Gee, surprise surprise lol

I hope not. At the moment I feel I am getting better, more mature, my social skills are becoming better, and I can keep certain behaviours under control a lot better than I used to.

So will I lose all this when I get to middle-aged and be severely Autistic when I am an elderly lady???

When it comes to our "modern" medicine, I am in complete agreement with Dr McCoy! I don't take their word for anything, unless it makes sense and leads to a genuine fix. I seldom even consult medical authorities unless I need something from them -- My thyroid doctor says I do my homework O:-).

I've noticed that as I get older, while my ability to hack my hardware and programming to make it do what I need it to do improves, my responsibilities, and resulting stresses, continue to increase to the point that they continue to threaten to overwhelm anyway. For the most part, I do manage to avoid meltdowns in public now, and even, for the most part, avoid or quickly work through shutdowns.

It is possible that light and sound sensitivities may get worse with age.

Speaking for myself, having AS never gets any easier but I don't think one automatically becomes more autistic as they age.
I think that the circumstances you find yourself in as you age will be the biggest factor in how you progress or regress.

I've learned to manage my anxiety more effectively over the years, but it is still a huge drain on my energy and my life as a whole

I've always read that "classic" autism tends to get somewhat better around midlife; often worst in the early adult years.

If AS = AD (just severity differentiating the two), then you might find that this holds true.

It certainly got better for me. It depends on the person, I guess.