Can Autism Symptoms 'Improve' ?

[moira199]

Following on from the ' Can it get worse' thread - Has anyone found that any problem got better with time!

 

Here's Hoping! Apart from no speech, I would say that there has not been regress or progress in DS, we are in a holding position for now. Although some minor sensory issues have gone away so I suppose that is progress.

 

 

Moira

[Lucas]

The problem is with how behaviour starts to get interpreted from my point of view. One common reason why babies stop crying is not because they're become more content with time but because they've been taught that crying is ignored, a good thing or bad depending on a lot of variables but can still be interpreted wrongly.

 

I stim so I can divert my sensitive attention onto less painful stimuli, but if I'm on a building site and it's impossible to block the noise, textures and smells out and I have been taught that complaining about this won't change anything, I'll stop stimming. But being in a place that is overwhelmingly uncomfortable does not improve me.

 

I would say that an outward sign that I am feeling better is when I tend to stim in private, but not neccessarily stop stimming at all. The kind of stim is important too, there are 'happy' stims like spinning.

[Bullet]

It's difficult defining what's improving or not, since it really depends on how the ASD person feels about things. For example, when I was a child I did a lot of handflapping in public and was unaware it was seen by many as different. Then I learnt that people thought me odd for doing it and I stopped. I also used to be very hyperactive when outside as well. Then that too stopped and I became very withdrawn. Now, when I go out somewhere crowded and noisy, or to somewhere new, I go very quiet a lot of the time and when I do talk I find things very difficult. But because I'm not letting my emotions out I get very upset when I'm home, very anxious and irritated and wound up. In private I will pace up and down, flap my hands, smell paper, eat paper, lightly bounce my back against walls and bang my elbows and my wrists together and I feel quite invigorated. So because I am not doing anything that might attract attention in public people would think I'm fine, but I feel a lot happier at home when I can let all my things out.

[LizK]

I think children on the spectrum can move along it in either direction. People tend to see the spectrum as fixed when in reality it is a more fluid entity. Certainly with my son we have seen his functioning go up and go down. I think this is in relation to external factors that either cause stress or make his life easier as well as internal improvements in his brain development.

 

This is just anecdotal but a colleague who works for CAMHS has found that at puberty some children with ASD improve dramatically whilst others find their autism harder to manage. There is a spurt in brain development at puberty and it's possible in some kids that the brain rewires itself.

 

Lx