Developmental Delay.

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Does general developmental delay occur exclusively in classic autism as opposed to Asperger's syndrome (I am in the UK so we still have AS here).

I am diagnosed with high functioning autism by a neurologist. I had a mild speech delay as a child. I could read before I was potty trained. I couldn't do a lot of the things other teenagers could do at secondary school, such as tying shoelaces, looking after money properly, going out to places by myself, buying food from a shop, using a hoover or do the ironing, answer the phone, etc. I had to be "looked after" a lot more than the average teenager.

Now I am 25 and I still cannot understand how to manage finances, I can't fill in forms without assistance, I still can't tie my shoelaces, I can't call strangers on the phone, I cannot organise things like trips out and I still can't go to the shops alone, among dozens of other things. I needed to be put in supported housing for 5 years to learn how to do basic cooking, cleaning the house, etc. and I still need support workers to help me do things a 14 year old could do with ease.

Is this developmental delay a part of my autism and is it something that wouldn't be found in Asperger's (even though I'm not AS I'm HFA)?

Can developmental delay go backwards? I've lost the ability to go out on my own but not sure if that is to do with sensory / visual issues putting me in danger every time I go out (usually being hit by cars or causing accidents)...

I am intellectually very advanced but I can only apply intellectual abilities to science, maths and logic problems. I cannot seem to learn how to cook or open a bank account.

Another question is, is there a way I can reverse this deterioration? I'm fed up of being stuck in the house for days at a time, not even able to go to the newsagents on my own due to there being a main road to cross to get there.

Hi SteelMaiden. I remember that you were having safety concerns about local thugs in your neighbourhood whom you had been bullied by when you went out before and that naturally was very worrying for you. Who wouldn't be anxious in that situation?

To answer your question, I think as anxiety builds up, our mental skills are less sharp than they usually. There is a critical mass point for anxiety where it severely disrupts function. (There are graphs for this that you could probably find on Google depicting that relationship). And you have had so much stress this year.

I hope you have had some good moments over the Easter Break. If that has not happened, I hope you will soon know better days and live in a much safer area in the future.

Thanks. I will move out next year maybe (this is my dad's second house - he lives abroad) so I'll be checking crime statistics for different areas in the same borough.

You're right about anxiety. I have a lot more these days than when I was younger. And severe OCD too.

Some developmental delay can "go backwards", like something called Childhood Disintegrative Disorder. Even if there was no name for it, it'd still be possible, like everything is.

But like B19 said, it could be anxiety. My anxiety caused me to forget things. It could also be medication. Once I was on so much medication I had to write down phone numbers and dial one digit at a time, looking at the paper in between. I forgot my own and my son's phone numbers. I forgot what medication I was on. I was practically passing out. I talked nonsense, like gibberish or just word salad or nonsense. I didn't remember stuff that happened either. And I was too tired and lazy to get up, let alone do much.

Good point. When I am under extreme built up stress and anxiety, I start to lose things (keys etc), drop and break things, forget things - it's a real warning sign to me to do something to address the accumulated tension.

I suffer from chronic migraines (basilar type with occasional hemiplegic migraines). I am on quite a few medications. I think primarily the migraines make things hard for me. Ever since I started having them three years ago I have found myself struggling with things I used to find easier.

I had migraines too but didn't take meds for them for very long. It was my psych meds for bipolar disorder that made me forgetful and dysfunctional. Maybe I did have migraines still tho and didn't know it; headaches aren't the only symptom. You can have a migraine without pain but with other symptoms, like feeling something inside your head, or not being able to see out of an eye for a few minutes even though there is nothing wrong with your eyes or brain aside from the migraine.

I know. Headaches are rarely my primary symptom.

True. Thanks.

I am intellectually very advanced but I can only apply intellectual abilities to science, maths and logic problems. I cannot seem to learn how to cook or open a bank account.

If you can understand bell's theory or Fermies equation

why are you hanging around here?

You know there's this place in California called Silicon Valley ?

Everyone's like us there except they are as smart as you

you get a waitress to take your order and a bank manager to handle your tax evasion