Do those who are diagnosed as children, do better...

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Do those who are diagnosed as children, do better than those who are diagnosed as adults?

On one hand the children will have earlier help available to improve their skills, on the other if it took so long to diagnosed, maybe initially they weren't as bad.

I was diagnosed as an adult, and I wholeheartedly believe my life could be different right now if I was diagnosed as a child.

Well, in my experience, DS has come on in leaps and bounds since he was diagnosed 6 months ago. I am well aware that part of this is developmental but certainly assistance because of therapy, being in a great kinder programme and our awareness seems to have helped so much. DS is very high functioning and doubt that 20 years ago he would have been diagnosed - he probably would have been labelled as quirky, with a little OCD and attention issues.

I believe so. I have heard of autistic kids being high functioning or losing their diagnoses when they are older because they got so much help. Then there are some who don't seem to be better despite their early diagnoses.

It is not possible to tell yet if people who are diagnosed as children do better than those who are diagnosed as adults until years have gone by. Those of us over 30 were likely diagnosed as adults because Asperger's was not generally known as a diagnosis when we were growing up. The world in which we grew up was less accepting than now of aspie behavior. Now that Asperger's is known, hopefully odd kids will get a better break than we did.

I think it helps a lot if parents have the attitude, play to strength, be matter-of-fact about any deficiencies.

I wouldn't know, I'm still in adolescence.

I was diagnosed as a child, though.

I am waiting to be diagnosed. My brother was diagnosed as a child and he probably has done better than me. However, that's his only diagnosis and I don't think he has hyper / hypo sensitivity.

I think you might be right. I was diagnosed with both AS and Dyspraxia at age 8, and I had special support all through school, and each year the teachers noticed signifficant differences in my behaviour and social skills, until by the time I got to year 11 (my last year of school) I was confident....compared to what I always used to be as a schoolgirl. I wasn't the shy kid any more.

I think it is too early to tell. Asperger's was only recognized in 94, kids born that year are just now turning 18, and there aren't that many now-adults who got diagnosed as older kids like I did. Even among aspies, I am a minority.

I was diagnosed as a child, but an older one. I was almost 12. Asperger's was so new, no one knew the correct thing to do for me. I just ended up abused instead of helped. So I think the kids who are diagnosed now at age 11 will probably fare better, but we won't know until they grow up.

I know someone who's daughter got diagnosed with AS at age 2, then when she got to about 7 or 8, they found she wasn't on the spectrum, just had some learning delays but was otherwise rather NT (she's 17 now and I know she isn't Aspie). So I don't understand why people would want to diagnose their kids so early, unless they were showing signs that were really signifficantly different to the point where it's concerning, but even then, 2 years old is still young because some toddlers could show quite strange signs then grow out of it and turn out as a typically developing child when they start school. Just because a 2-year-old really loves Thomas the Tank Engine and watches is every day, doesn't mean they are Autistic. Just because a 4-year-old has learnt to read, doesn't mean they are Autistic.

Sorry, gone slightly off-topic there.

Impossible to know, I think. Imagine 4 types of aspies:

a) Diagnosed as a children; had a good evolution

b) Diagnosed as a children; not had a good evolution

c) Not diagnosed as a children; had a good evolution

d) Not diagnosed as a children; not had a good evolution

What is the problem? Is that the group c) is largely "invisible" for studies and statistics - if they were not diagnosed as a children and had a good evolution, much probably they will never be diagnosed. Then, a comparison between people diagnosed as a children and people diagnosed as adults is, in practice, a comparison of groups a) and b) with the only group d), what can create an illusion of early diagnosis being more useful than whar really is.

Given my age, a dx would have been impossible as a child. However..
I sincerely believe there are a good many resources existing today for AS/HFA children. Our strengths are known, just as much as our weaknesses.
Had I had the things available to the younger generation(s) I think my life would have become a somewhat smoother ride..
Of course, in my childhood, I likely would have been institutionalized and forgotten about. A sad fate for Who Knows How Many back in the 1960s.

Sincerely,
Matthew

Depends on the help.

If you had help as a child in a caring nurturing environment by people you trust, naturally the results are going to be positive. Especially if the parent takes the time to explain things through.

If you are bombarded with interventions, being told you are different and you must change yourself to fit in with other children, spotlight always on you and treated as though you are a charity case then that is going to end up negative. The real question is. Would any child like to be treated like that?


Some children may fare better off being diagnosed early on depending on how the parent takes it and what actions the parent takes.

While another child may feel unaccepted, unloved and treated like some scientific experiment.

If you think that is bad, remember how we older ones were treated. Either of those outcomes would be MORE positive than what I went through.
You have no idea of how horrific things were for children who were different back in the 1960s & 1970s. You would be dx, and then discarded. A hopeless basket case. Etc..
And bullying was accepted by adults, including your parents? Just imagine that..
I do not have to, because I suffered through it. A lab rat can have a better life than a scapegoat. Afterall, you get cheese at the end of the maze. In my childhood, you fought every minute just to stay alive it seems. With no allies, no understanding, no acceptance. Only rejection, threats, sticks & stones (literally), etc.

Sincerely,
Matthew