As someone who previously fit the diagnostic criteria for PDD-NOS as a child and no longer does - I wonder how much of the described effect comes from a potential, sparsely documented trait of HF autism spectrum disorders that starts a person at a lower cognitive level but has more potential than others to overcome such a handicap?
I'd love to see more study in this - at age 15 (whilst heavily medicated) I had the social skills of a 9 year old, generally because of the lag of having to find processes that worked for me where neurotypical kids had a naturally good environment to learn these things. Since striking out and finding my own path I've grown leaps and bounds and many people I respect as having good social skills and emotional intelligence call me charismatic.
My hypothesis is that autistic kids /require/ a rational framework with which to work in dynamic situations, but while young do not have enough well-developed/healthy cognitive maps or experience to achieve a workable one until later. Couple that with low expectations and special treatment - necessary to stave off active pain but eventually turning into a crutch - had I stayed on medication/done what the doctors/teachers/parent said I have no doubt I would probably be on some sort of disability or at the very least not have the skillsets that have given me success today.
All that said, I'm certainly a firm believer of being able to grow cognitively at any age. There's just a hell of a lot of inertia that is very easy to get into - habits die very very hard and require a lot of effort to overcome. When you don't have the ability to do a hard reset and move away, get out of the space you're in it gets harder.
I'd love to see more study in this - at age 15 (whilst heavily medicated) I had the social skills of a 9 year old, generally because of the lag of having to find processes that worked for me where neurotypical kids had a naturally good environment to learn these things. Since striking out and finding my own path I've grown leaps and bounds and many people I respect as having good social skills and emotional intelligence call me charismatic.
My hypothesis is that autistic kids /require/ a rational framework with which to work in dynamic situations, but while young do not have enough well-developed/healthy cognitive maps or experience to achieve a workable one until later. Couple that with low expectations and special treatment - necessary to stave off active pain but eventually turning into a crutch - had I stayed on medication/done what the doctors/teachers/parent said I have no doubt I would probably be on some sort of disability or at the very least not have the skillsets that have given me success today.
All that said, I'm certainly a firm believer of being able to grow cognitively at any age. There's just a hell of a lot of inertia that is very easy to get into - habits die very very hard and require a lot of effort to overcome. When you don't have the ability to do a hard reset and move away, get out of the space you're in it gets harder.