An article in the i newspaper on 11th October caught our attention. Academic Rebecca Ann Charlton of Goldsmiths, University of London, described research being undertaken in conjunction with the Autism Diagnostic Research Centre in Southampton into what happens as people with autism age.
“If you mention autism to most people they will think about children, but it is a lifelong diagnosis. Children with autism grow up to be adults with autism. Little is known about how the symptoms change with age. This is because autism is a relatively new disorder, first described in 1943 and not regularly identified until the 1970s. It is only now that those people first diagnosed are reaching older age that we can start to learn whether the disorder changes over a lifetime. There have been some suggestions that symptoms may reduce as people get older. These reports, describing fewer difficulties with older age, are often from people with autism themselves and from their families. But how much evidence is there for this? Our latest research provides some answers, and also raises some new questions.”
The initial finding of the research was introduced as follows: “Our analysis showed that age and severity of autism were linked; that is, as age increased so did the severity of autism symptoms in social situations, communication and flexible thinking (such as coping with change or generating new ideas or solutions)”. But there were many complicating factors. For example, early or late diagnosis of autism seemed to have affected cognitive functions in the adults investigated.
The research (of a neglected aspect of autism) continues. Rebecca Ann Charlton’s description of her research and its early findings can be found here.