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Autism severity can change substantially during early childhood, study suggests

health.ucdavis.edu

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Re: Autism severity can change substantially during early childhood, study suggests

#31

Post by bondarchuk »

watwut wrote: post #27
SubiculumCode wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The gender disparity in autism prevalence is one of the big mysteries of autism since genes associated with autism risk are not generally located on the XY sex chromosome. There are a number of hypotheses out there for the disparity of prevalence. One hypothesis is that the disparity is more apparent than real: That girls are better at masking/adapting to their symptoms, and thus more frequently escape diagnosis. The…

I think that question is, why are girls better at masking/adapting symptoms? Regardless of whether autism is more prevalent in girls, what it is about being girl that makes you mask better.

I've always wondered about this one: symptoms of autism are closer to the expected behaviour of girls than that of boys.

Re: Autism severity can change substantially during early childhood, study suggests

#32

Post by SubiculumCode »

lionheart wrote: post #13
SubiculumCode wrote: post #2

I am part of the research team that collects and analyses this dataset, although I am not an author on this particular analysis. Feel free to ask me any questions.

Were there any correlations in this study between changes in severity of symptoms and therapies such as ABA?

This dataset did not include a controlled therapy intervention. Community therapy of a multitude of varieties probably occurred.

Re: Autism severity can change substantially during early childhood, study suggests

#33

Post by TeaDrunk »

watwut wrote: post #27
SubiculumCode wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The gender disparity in autism prevalence is one of the big mysteries of autism since genes associated with autism risk are not generally located on the XY sex chromosome. There are a number of hypotheses out there for the disparity of prevalence. One hypothesis is that the disparity is more apparent than real: That girls are better at masking/adapting to their symptoms, and thus more frequently escape diagnosis. The…

I think that question is, why are girls better at masking/adapting symptoms? Regardless of whether autism is more prevalent in girls, what it is about being girl that makes you mask better.

There is significant pressure on girls to behave in a manner that an adult might (quieter, more sociable, smiling, tolerant of situations) and significant pressure not to behave in an outwardly or rowdy manner (stimming, being hyperactive, responding in upset at being overstimulated, responding to sensory displeasure by rejection, etc).

Re: Autism severity can change substantially during early childhood, study suggests

#34

Post by tw000001 »

alexandercrohde wrote: post #22
tw000001 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Normal people are extremely sensitive to deviations from social norms. There's even a word for it, "coolness" and more modern derivatives. Human social interactions are extremely complex, both verbal and otherwise, and people will subconsciously become uncomfortable or disinterested when people deviate too far from patterns. The weird kids get bullied because they are legitimately weird. But pretending to be normal i…

I really like this idea. I agree the average person responds to unusual behavior with the same innate revulsion we fee to a physical deformity (perhaps to a lesser degree). However I think both revulsions do dissipate with time. I think what doesn't dissipate, is the distaste for when somebody doesn't follow important and healthy social codes. For example, there's a stereotype of "nerds" pedantically interrupting eve…

>In summary, I find a lot of what makes a good conversational isn't following arbitrary norms of the era, but a strong empathy/understanding for the emotional effect of every topic and bouncing between those emotional states with grace.

I think the problem is that norms actually encode this information - it's not just empathy and understanding, it's empathy and understanding that is appropriate as per the zeitgeist. The normal range of responses is entirely defined by local culture and not only is this the kind of implicit, abstract set of ideas that autism can make difficult to learn, but this discussion itself is also a social grey area which is only appropriate with a minority of people; and then only if they're already familiar and comfortable with you.

When you lack internal boundaries, it is difficult to navigate those of others when they are not communicated to you explicitly.

Re: Autism severity can change substantially during early childhood, study suggests

#35

Post by mattigames »

kstenerud wrote: post #3

> The study also found that IQ had a significant relationship with change in symptom severity. Children with higher IQs were more likely to show a reduction in ASD symptoms. This is important information. People of higher intelligence would be more likely to learn things, such as how to mask effectively. I learned to mask so well that most people are shocked to learn that I'm autistic. It takes about 6 months of cons…

Second guessing behaviors that left a livelong impact on your life is the most human thing there is so I wouldn't overthink it, and I'm glad you can articulate your thoughts and have a drive to share them on platforms such as this one.

Re: Autism severity can change substantially during early childhood, study suggests

#36

Post by kstenerud »

didibus wrote: post #24
kstenerud wrote: post #3

> The study also found that IQ had a significant relationship with change in symptom severity. Children with higher IQs were more likely to show a reduction in ASD symptoms. This is important information. People of higher intelligence would be more likely to learn things, such as how to mask effectively. I learned to mask so well that most people are shocked to learn that I'm autistic. It takes about 6 months of cons…

Hope you don't mind me asking this. How would you describe your normal behavior versus your masked behavior? What's different between the two?

That's sort of the problem. I don't have a solid baseline to work against. I observe certain behaviors like facial expressions (smiling convincingly is especially difficult), discussions about irrelevant things (except that they serve a social function), looking into someone's eyes (very difficult), certain postures that have meaning (you're bored, you're angry, you're... something) . It's a lot to keep straight in your head (both in your own exhibited behavior and observing and translating other peoples' behaviors), and if you have to think about these things consciously, it's exhausting.

Re: Autism severity can change substantially during early childhood, study suggests

#37

Post by surfpel »

kstenerud wrote: post #9
scandox wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably they're creeped out because they believe your emotional responses are simulated and that your engagement in phatic discourse is inauthentic? But how they can they tell the difference? And even if they can how do they know that this isn't also true of everybody else, only that others are superior fakers? How can they even know that their own responses are authentic? I ask because I'm really not sure about t…

In my attempts to discover the secret behind perfect social interaction, people I've spoken to have been unable to explain exactly how they do it. It seems reasonable to assume that the brains of social animals are specially tuned to learn social interaction quickly, as such individuals would more quickly form a cohesive group with better survival potential (historically speaking). The question of authenticity, thoug…

I have become close to several extremely social people and discussed this quite a bit. I realized that they approach socializing the same way I approach engineering and the like. At a party they clearly see the subtle or not so subtle effects of their actions and gauge the situation on a meta level without even really realizing that they’re doing it. It’s almost as though some of my neural circuitry originally intended for socializing was applied to an awareness of “things” instead.

Re: Autism severity can change substantially during early childhood, study suggests

#38

Post by orthosTD »

JacksonGariety wrote: post #18

I have high-functioning autism. Does anyone have some suggestions for making and keeping friends? When I meet a friend, things seem to go really well at first, and then my friend seems to slowly get bored of the interactions we have, and after a couple months I just don't hear from them again. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Is there a scientific way to find out?

They probably get bored because your relationship stagnates.

Basically after some time its kinda normal to share deeper stuff, be vulnerable(both you and him, it builds trust), maybe do a Weekendtrip together.

This can also sometimes backfire.. But thats basically how i formed my friendships so far

Do you change your behaviour after you know Somebody for some time?

Re: Autism severity can change substantially during early childhood, study suggests

#39

Post by mjfl »

JacksonGariety wrote: post #18

I have high-functioning autism. Does anyone have some suggestions for making and keeping friends? When I meet a friend, things seem to go really well at first, and then my friend seems to slowly get bored of the interactions we have, and after a couple months I just don't hear from them again. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Is there a scientific way to find out?

I experience a similar thing. I'm on the spectrum, and with new friends it's always an anxiety inducing countdown until they identify me as an "alien", after which we are really no longer friends - I am an other, to be ridiculed and/or avoided. It's gotten to the point where I don't really try to make friends unless I can detect that the other person is also on the spectrum.

Re: Autism severity can change substantially during early childhood, study suggests

#40

Post by surfpel »

JacksonGariety wrote: post #29
nicoburns wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's not a scientific way. But you can definitely improve on these kind of interactions. The chances that something you are doing something (or equally likely: not doing something) that you had not even considered is putting people off interacting with you. Do you have anyone in your life that you could ask for feedback? If not then you could look into Autism support services. There are people who specialise in ex…

> Do you have anyone in your life that you could ask for feedback? Unfortunately, I don't. It's a catch-22. > It's also worth considering if there are other groups of people that you may not be coming in to contact with who might be more interested in the same things as you. I'm really interested in philosophy. Since January I've been using Bumble to try to find people who share this interests, but I haven't had any…

Bumble is only slightly less shallow than tinder. Okcupid is much better suited for this task.
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