How many of you here on WrongPlanet are bloomers?

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According to a study (that was published earlier this year Some Autistic Kids Make Gains , 10% of autistic children make huge gains from being severely affected at original diagnosis to high-functioning at the onset of puberty. People in this group are referred to as bloomers(B). Other groups of autistic children that were looked at were as follows (based on level of functioning at original diagnosis: [1] High-functioning (HF)[2] Medium-high functioning (MF-HF) [3] Medium-functioning(MF) [4] Low to medium-functioning(LF-MF) [5] Low-functioning(LF). Just to clarify, children diagnosed with an ASD who were included in this study were assigned into these functioning level groups based on four areas:

(i) Social functioning at original diagnosis(i.e. diagnosis at 3 years of age)
(ii) Communication functioning at original diagnosis
(iii) Frequency of Repetitive behavior at original diagnosis
(iv) (i), (ii), and (iii) about 10+ years after original diagnosis

Areas (i)-(ii) had functioning scores that ranged from being 0 (complete inability to function in that area) to 100 (no difficulty at all in functioning in that area).

Judging from the graphs that corresponding to the four areas mentioned above, I could gather the following information:

Social Skills Functioning (Age(yrs.): 3-5-11-14)
HF 50-75-80-90
Bloomers 5-28-70-65
MF-HF 35-50-60-60
MF 20-25-40-45
LF-MF 8-10-20-20
LF 0-0-5-5

Communication Functioning (Age(yrs.): 3 - 5- 11 -14)
HF 45-70-88-90
Bloomers 22-32-80-80
MF-HF 42-52-69-70
MF 35-40-50-60
LF-MF 23-28-32-35
LF 15-16-18-20


I am just wondering how many people here on WrongPlanet consider themselves to be 'bloomers' given the above information. I am asking this because I consider myself to be a bloomer in the sense that I was considered to be 'severely autistic' at original diagnosis (as a preschooler) by the doctor who diagnosed me and 'high-functioning autistic' in my later years of grade school (i.e. 4th-5th grade) as well as adolescence.

I am going to just let anyone who was clinically diagnosed on the autism spectrum at some point in their lives answer the poll question. The people answering the poll can still assess their level of functioning at the ages I gave based on their memories and what they have been told by their parents even though they might not have been diagnosed on the autism spectrum until much later than 3 years of age..

Last edited by chssmstrjk on 09 Dec 2012, 2:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It's well known. Even Wing has one person in her original case studies [from her paper on Asperger's] who showed typical Kanner's as a young child but improved dramatically (no known cause for this, and that's in most cases too).

I guess I would be, due to having delays in verbal ability plus being far more aloof as a child. I gained decent speech overnight around 4-5. The only part where I know for a fact that an external cause was the reason for improvement was arduous training regarding reading and writing; I was slow with that, and it was something that didn't come in an instant like speaking.

Most of this is from my mother though, as I can barely remember much from when I was in my capital A autistic and aloof period.

I wasn't diagnosed until an adult though. Doctor's just said boys were quiet when I was little.

I don't understand why you are limiting it to people who were diagnosed pre-grade school.

I'm not a bloomer though.

That is a good question. I can think of a couple members who were not diagnosed pre-grade school who were bloomers.

My daughter was much more impaired when she was diagnosed at 2. I would have put her at the cusp of moderate-to-severe. She is 7 now and only mildly autistic. If anyone met her today and knew nothing of her past, they probably wouldn't pick up on it. They might notice she has some quirks, but I don't think anyone would think "autism" when they saw her. They did when she was a toddler, though.

Because the study followed the kids since they were originally diagnosed at the age of 3 years old. It wouldn't really mean much if the people who were answering the survey were not diagnosed on the autism spectrum until in their teenage years or even adulthood in some cases.

Why wouldn't it mean much? That study could follow children who were diagnosed at the age of three years, and you have access to people who were not. If you just want the results reconfirmed, there was really no purpose for a poll in the first place.

Why not? autism is a lifelong condition people are born with......its not as though those not diagnosed till adulthood or teenage years were born neurotypical and developed autism.

I think I fall into the "bloomer" category, though I'm 25 and was formerly diagnosed literally last week.

my life actually got a lot worse when I developed social skills, because I developed social anxiety and major depression to go with it, which has derailed pretty much everything I've tried to do for the last 10 years. before I was aware enough of other people to be nervous around them or suspect them of judging me, I just wandered about getting perfect scores on things, wearing shorts in the snow, hoarding the acorns I gathered at recess instead of playing with others in my desk at school...I went from obviously on the spectrum but high-performance-as-hell with no signs of distress over my lack of social life, to reasonably social but brooding, emotionally unstable, and extremely anxious and frequently dropping out of school.

Not having the diagnosis doesn't mean that people don't know what their life was like then though.

I wasn't diagnosed at 3. I can tell you that I was highly verbal. Talked more than my neurotypical sister did at 3. However I really only interacted with people I knew well. I was very obsessively polite.

I was showing sensory abnormalities before the age of 1. At 3 my communication was limited in who I interacted with, but in many ways people who interacted with me frequently didn't notice anything other than shy. Teachers were impressed by how polite I was by the time I was in pre-school, not knowing that I had no other way to be, because I wouldn't do anything wrong, and was obsessively following rules.

So what if I wasn't diagnosed. I can tell you my developmental path. It actually is that I've gotten "worse" as I've aged on average I'd say. But without any major regressions.

Last edited by Tuttle on 09 Dec 2012, 8:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

Well I don't quite meet the definition of "bloomers" that you've posted here but I did improve dramatically in terms of social skills and communication at puberty.

I'm the opposite of a bloomer....

A bloomer is a loaf of bread.

I was never considered severely autistic or anything, but I did used to be much worse as a child. I remember it wasn't incredibly uncommon for me to go an entire day without saying a word. And when I did try to have conversations, I had absolutely no clue how to do it properly...I remember just walking up to people I hardly knew and rambling about my dad's coin collection lol...in hindsight they probably thought I was crazy or something. My kindergarten teacher thought I had fairly bad autism as well and wanted me to get tested and sent to a special school...my parents didn't believe it at the time though and got really upset with her for making the suggestion.

It really wasn't until I hit like 16 or 17 that I really began to truly develop social skills. A lot of that was just through intense effort on my part, I was pretty fed up with always being alone, so I made it my sole goal at that time in my life to learn how to socialize and make friends. I may not have succeeded as well as I had hoped, but I certainly improved leaps and bounds! Nowadays while I do still have some issues, they are nowhere near as bad as they were earlier in my life and I know for a fact that I can overcome any of them.

I thought it was old-fashioned underwear.

Doctors thought I had autism in my early childhood and my parents thought it was a bunch of BS. I had a severe speech delay and autistic tendencies. I would say I was always mild and by the time I was eight, they were not as prominent. Then when I was 12, I was diagnosed with AS and my parents just accepted it. I bet if I didn't have a speech delay, doctors wouldn't have thrown the autism label at me and they would have overlooked the characteristics. But my mother thinks mine was environmental because I had hearing loss as a toddler and it effected my development. I had poor social skills and then they got better all of a sudden in my teens. I was an adult when I finally started getting a social filter. Something that should have been developed over ten years ago. Boy am I slow.