How many of you here on WrongPlanet are bloomers?

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I have heard of this happening. Personally, I lost my intense interests and repetitive movements in my early 20's, but enough social difficulties and other quirks remain when combined with my history to meet the criteria for ASD/HF PDD-NOS (not AS); however, if I had not been homeschooled/isolated for my first 18 years, who knows what the result there would have been? Possibly better, possibly worse.

My social ability/functioning goes up and down in waves depending on the extent to which I am in a favorable environment. It spiked after I got out of college and has probably fallen since I have been in law school. Whenever there is homework to do, which can cut into evenings and weekends, being the procrastinator I am, it is unlikely I will do much socializing. Also depends on whether I am around people who can put up with me.

I think if I were in an optimal, controlled environment, I would no longer meet the criteria for PDD-NOS after a year or two. But good luck getting in that environment ... it takes social skills to build social skills, in some ways.

This is true for anyone who is in law school. They pretty much study 90% of the time and spend the remaining 10% either socializing or doing the things that they need to take care of themselves.



That is also true.



I can also agree with you there. Certain social skills are required to run into social situations that require more complex social skills (i.e. asking a stranger that you like out and she accepts ==> going out with that stranger and play the "smooth talking" game with her).

I'm not sure if you could call my daughter a bloomer. Developmentally speaking, she was ahead of her peers on most things. She's very high functioning and very intelligent. But, he never ever did a thing she was told and her sensory issues had a huge impact on everything she did. She's only 7yr just now and only time will tell what sort of adult she's going to turn out to be. So far, so good. She has never regressed and, in recent months, she has blossomed, in all areas. Life with her is much easier now, although we do have moments. She's much happier, less likely to be in a mood and just a pleasure to be around and to take anywhere. School's going well, as are her out of school activities, especially her singing workshop. In a year, she has gone from being the child who crawled around the floor, acting like a dog, in the junior class, to the one who stands out for being the perfect student, in the senior class.

In terms of development, she doesn't seem like a bloomer. She seems like she was high-functioning to start out with. But in terms of academics and school behavior, she seems like a bloomer. Since the study talked about bloomers in terms of social and communicative functioning, I would say that your daughter is not a bloomer in that sense. Rather, she is a really high-functioning child.

Not officially dxd here, but since I was non-verbal for over 2 years, I guess I would fit into that "Bloomer" category.
I can claim to be a Boomer though, b-day was 2/25/62.
I have seen my share of history.

Sincerely,
Matthew

I was diagnosed with Severe Autism when I was 2 1/2 years old, 2 years later, I started to shed symptoms. When I started speaking at the age of 5 1/2, which I didn't speak that much because I was still learning to speak at the time. At the age of 13 1/2, My Autism symptoms bloomed dramatically which I have less tantrums and I started to use eye contact while the teacher was speaking. At the age of 17 1/2 years old, Few symptoms disappear along with stimming, which I became a bloomer also, I became Independent, forming friends and also I'm learning social skills. So as of now, I acted like a Neurotypical with the score of 75% on my test.

1997 - Severe Autism.
1999 - Symptoms started to shed.
2000 - Diagnosed with PDD-NOS and started to speak.
2008 - First Progress Boom (Symptoms improved Dramatically)
2012 - Second Progress Boom (Symptoms improved Dramatically) and Became Independent
2013 - Closer to be Full Recover.