Children Growing Out of Autism

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http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingne ... 81286.html

I just stumbled upon this report in the Irish Examiner reporting that some kids who were diagnosed years ago now show no signs of being affected. I certainly know that I usually show few outward signs in public compared to how I was age 6. Being able to better conceal a condition does not, to me, indicate that it has gone. Still, it does sound like they were trying to measure impact beyond simply they way the subjects choose to present themselves.

What do others think about this?

My thoughts:

Either they're really good at hiding it, or they never had it in the first place.

Some kinds of "Intensive Therapy" are probably synonymous with brainwashing, although not all.

I believe this is yet another false hope for parents that their kid will be "cured" of their "disease" instead of accepting it and realizing they CAN live good and productive lives. But I speak on behalf of many adults with Asperger's and don't know what it is like to raise an autistic child. I don't think my parents found ME difficult, at least not until I became a teen and didn't act "normal" for one, anyway...

Let's remember that the diagnostic criteria require:

This is a mandatory criterion. If you don't present clinically significant impairments, you're not an Aspie.

You never outgrow your neurology, but you can develop skills that will mitigate your impairments and reduce their significance to sub-clinical levels.

This is article is either
A. (as lost said) another false hope for parents or
B. the children weren't diagnosed properly to begin with

I agree with your statement. No matter what, I'm pretty sure you can't outgrow your autism. Just like ADHD. Your brain can possibly re-wire itself to cope, but completely seems impossible.

I think 2 things are happening:
1. The brainwashing in behavior is working. Not actual changes in the brain though because that is ridiculous, so they're still autistic. But then again, all cures and all attention has always always always been on external factors that is not even half of what autism is really about so no surprise there.
2. The criteria is based on autistic CHILDREN. People that fit it when children wont fit it in the same way when they are adults unless they are stunted. The criteria must be changed to include more adult autistic behavior too.

My diagnosis is made according to the ICD-10. That system require that the social difficulties can't be outgrown since it would conflict with another diagnosis (reactive attachment disorder) with very similar symptoms but whose social difficulties can be outgrown. So I believe that autism which one is able to outgrown never has been autism.

Agree with everybody here. The NT researchers haven't quite caught up with the fact many of us develop the ability to cope and mask our autism over time. They think this is a discovery!

I just saw this on BBC news site and thought I would let anyone who hadn't seen it read it, quite frankly I cannot believe they would say this, next they will be claiming that those who were born with no hands or whatever due to thalidomide can and will spontaneously grow limbs in the future.

It is idiotic.

No it can't be "outgrown", that would imply natural effortless actual diminishing in "social difficulties" and an impossible change of brain structure - but masked, hidden, cognitively learned. Some won't have the intellectual ability, some won't have the desire, some won't have the resources, some will not be able to grasp it anyway - not based on intelligence but on it being too alien. But many adult autistics do learn some form of social coping mechanism/s. And looking at behavior is not an indicator of having social difficulties or not. Always this focus on what is seen by others... And then there's the differences in normal autistic child behavior and normal autistic adult behavior without having to factor in any coping mechanisms at all.

1+
What's the next big news?
"Study shows many NT adults do not behave like when they were children! They have outgrown NTness!"

LOL! or to put it another way, we can now report that all NTs are developmentally delayed before adulthood! I really hope the NIH don't fund studies like this in future.

I was pointing to the social intact skill in reactive attachment disorder (RAD) which because of the disorder does not 'work', making a kid with RAD looking similar to a kid with ASD. And I tried to explain that this kind of difference which may hard to spot may result in a wrong diagnosis in the first case. People with ASD are by ICD-10 not able to outgrow the impairments, as people with RAD are as they was born without the impairments:

"Five main features differentiate this condition from pervasive developmental
disorders. First, children with a reactive attachment disorder have a normal
capacity for social reciprocity and responsiveness, whereas those with a pervasive
developmental disorder do not. Second, although the abnormal patterns of social
responses in a reactive attachment disorder are initially a general feature of the
child's behaviour in a variety of situations, they remit to a major degree if the child
is placed in a normal rearing environment that provides continuity in responsive
care-giving. This does not occur with pervasive developmental disorders. Third,
although children with reactive attachment disorders may show impaired
language development (of the type described under F80.1), they do not exhibit the
abnormal qualities of communication characteristic of autism. Fourth, unlike
autism, reactive attachment disorder is not associated with persistent and severe
cognitive deficits that do not respond appreciably to environmental change. Fifth,
persistently restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests
and activities are not a feature of reactive attachment disorders." (ICD-10).

Haha yes that one was better! It might happen

I'll join you in that one.

Yeah, it's just more bull-- "Some children learn to mask the observable symptoms that are so bothersome to us, so we consider them 'cured' and do a little self-congratulatory happy dance."

Never mind what's going on on the inside. Are they happier, these children-- or do the NTs they have to live with just feel happier watching them??

In sociology and anthropology, ethnocentrism is considered a massive failing in research. Too bad we have not learned to think the same in psychology. Though I suppose it would be called "neurocentrism" or "typicocentrism" or something, since it does not relate to a specific ethnic group.