This NBC video purports that we can "recover from autis

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Not in a thousand years is this possible.

Early intervention can make an autistic child high-functioning, not "cure" or "recover" from autism itself.

I went through all the theropies and doctors like every autistic/aspie child. I still have autism but I am high-functioning and can do many great things.

The kid in this video did "not" recover, he became high-functioning thanks to his parents.

Of course it wasn't mentioned until the end that he was diagnosed "moderately autistic" as a small child. It's not surprising that a moderately autistic boy could become high-functioning by adolescence. He didn't seem entirely "neurotypical" to me, but he looks like a happy kid. I just hope he doesn't feel the need to repress any remaining autistic traits, so as to seem "normal."

I think that people can overcome certain challenges related to their autism, or learn how to cope, but I wouldn't consider them being cured of it.

And I agree, you could still tell he was different.

I think you would need an understanding mentor, like Dexters dad in the TV series "Dexter". True, Dexter was more of a psychopath, but you get the idea.

I have now done the WAIS/AQ test(s) myself, i scored just below the cutoff point for AS on the official test (27). Before that i took the test on the net (wired) and got 29 points both times. After a counsel with my psychologist, i retook the AQ test from the perspective of how i was and behaved when i was a kid, i then scored 36 points, a bit above the cutoff point. So yes, i think it is possible to "grow out of it" to some extent.

However, "recovering" from ASD would be impossible since that imply that you once were NT and caught an ASD like a flu or something - it is not a contagious disease

Improvement vs. recovery...

I like the word improvement better than recovery. Which has got to do a lot with how I see kids picking up on them.

Having recovered sounds as if something really big and mysterious happened and you just sat it out and let the change happen. Having improved however - to me - denotes that you worked, that you were involved in the process of change and that you got better by your effort or the effort of others.

You can always improve in life and get better even when new difficulties arise, but you can only recover to a firm point and from a couple of things but no from others.

If I tell a kid they improved in behaviour or whatever they are proud. They start to point out things to me that they did well too (or think they did well hihi) and get happy and become motivated to work on something real hard suddenly.

If I tell them they recovered from something bad such as cold or bad behaviour or worse they start to worry about what happened to them and tell me about all the bad things that happened to them and how they totally almost died. No smiles, not motivation, no true confidence.

I'm really one for positive reinforcements and this improvement/recovery things is one of them.



Besides, if we could recover from autism when why the hack do I still have moderate to severe symptoms?

Or am I recovered by having become so utmost hf?

I know I haven't, but that's because I have a lot of insight into my self. I guess that while I can do (and just look like your a bit strange, highly IQ, sometimes unsure person in the past months to a lot of people) that still means that I'm different from the kids that recovered from their autism?

I know it's very rare and atypical to drastically improve when you're autistic. I get that all the time from professionals.

It's a shame that most of those kids and teens who recovered don't have a lot of insight into their autism. That makes their experiences pretty useless for me because I totally figure out why I behave differently, why I did strange things as a toddler and child and all that.

If they had some sort of insight into themselves, they might be able to tell us what they think caused their behaviours which in return give people a better idea of why their autistic children behave the way they do and also give other autistic people an idea if there's a certain type of disorder that's diagnosed as autism and that's different from others types.

But as long as those recovered people don't have insight, I don't consider them when I talk of autism.

I can improve but never recover. If they can recover, then they do not have my autism. That makes me glad being diagnosed with AS (it usually annoys me when people go like, oh, could be HFA) because then people don't treat me as if I could recover and expect me to somehow recover when I already need to try to hard to improve.

Very confusing. As I said above, I wish they had some insight. But they have, like, none. Very depressing and annoying.

...and now I have to soothe my inner monster of routine. Because I'm utmost hf but my symptoms remain moderate to severe, even if you don't notice them anymore because I'm awesome or if you do, you think they're 'super mild'. Yeah right, I wish.