It’s true that autistic people have the brain/mind of a child even when they are older?
Nope, that’s an outdated conceptualization of autism and has been for quite some time.
I’m actually very fascinated by this, but you seem to have forgotten your context. I have a severely autistic brother in law with down syndrome. He’s non-verbal but definitely comprehends much of what is going on around him beyond how a child reacts to the world. Can you tell me where to read more about this? Honestly, I’m not sure what I would google to find this study.
I don’t have a professional understanding of the subject tbqh but I frequently talk to people who do and while we both kvetch about work, they often mention how autism spectrum disorders are understood much more granularly now and focus more specifically on the types of cognitive impairments or areas of difficulty. Someone can have poor audio processing but still be able to visually identify and categorize stimuli. They may be able to process information easily in the moment but struggle to retain said information. In the past, this would simply be categorized as child-like, but that doesn’t really give a good understanding of what’s happening in the person’s brain.
As far as further reading… I can’t really make any recommendations, but I know there’s a great deal more study now than there was, say, 30 years ago.
Ah that’s fair, I appreciate your straightforwardness. I am definitely going to educate myself further on this. The human brain is fucking wild.
He’s non-verbal but definitely comprehends much of what is going on around him beyond how a child reacts to the world.
How do you know what he comprehends if he hasn’t told you?
How do we know anything? I spend a lot of time around him, observed his behaviors and interactions with the world, and have taken away that he is more capable than some people understand. I’m not making a general observation, just a personal one, hence why I am asking for further studies to imperically show me the general data.
As a bit of a rant, what you’ve said is pretty silly in any context. Are you telling me body language and physical interaction are not inherent forms of communication? We evolved and worked together for millions of years without spoken word.
I confess I misread your comment; I thought you said he “comprehends much of what is going on around him how a child reacts to the world.”
As an autistic person, no. Not in any literal sense anyway.
If you’ve only ever been exposed to the depiction of non-verbal, extremely sensitive-to-stimuli, routine-oriented, potentially-violent, autistic kids, that you see on TV, you could be forgiven for thinking this.
But, no, that’s only an exceptionally small window of what autism is. Most cases of autism aren’t so severe, and most people learn coping strategies as they grow up that let them live relatively-normal lives. Even severe cases can do this, but it tends to take more time, and more focused, expert care.
You probably know autistic adults, and aren’t even aware. Or, potentially, you just write them off as being loners or not good with people or having some other character flaw, that ultimately stems from their coping mechanisms.
No.
Some of them do. See: Elon Musk
Some of them don’t. See: Albert Einstein, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Dickinson, Bobby Fischer, Bill Gates, Lionel Messi
You forgot Dan Aykroyd
It’s a spectrum for one thing, you’re not going to have any broad generalizations like this across the population
Autistic adult here:
I do feel like I have a more childlike appearance sometimes, less so in recent years. I think that because of the seriously messy place my mind was in from the very start, it took me longer to interact with other people enough to develop the social awareness I needed to “fit in”, and not “fitting in” is often equated with being childlike, IMO. I still occasionally mutter to myself in public, have odd movements and posture, and generally act in a way that diverges from the social norms of the people around me, for better or for worse. Medication has changed all this around in ways that are too complicated to get into in one comment.
My mind never stopped developing. My brain chemistry changed as I went through puberty, and then through adulthood when the prefrontal cortex starts doing its thing. I kept gaining new knowledge from my surroundings and my peers and that changed how I thought about things on a basic level. There are certain specific areas in which I was always considered “more mature”.
My experience doesn’t necessarily reflect those of other autistic people who’ve had different hands dealt to them. I’d be happy to answer any other questions you have.
Welp, someone has been listening to RFK…rip.
Did rfk actually say this? Those worms in his head are hard at work.
He said they will never hold a job or go on a date, and of course they will never pay taxes
No. I’m in a community of about 300 people on a discord server (we play games and such together) and quite a few of them are autistic, and for most I didn’t even know until they told me they were. The ones I did notice it was more a pattern of fixation behavior and such than ‘wow that 30 year old has the mind of a 12 year old’ or whatever.
It’s true that people can be children at heart, and there’s nothing wrong with it. They have jobs, but at home they snuggle plushies and bathe in slime because they bought those things with adult money.
No, but I can understand why you’d ask that.
Statistically, an autistic adult is more likely to have “childish toys” like dolls and stuffed animals than a neurotypical adult. This, and other traits that could be described as childlike, could lead someone to believe that they have a child’s mind, but my own personal theory (not professional at all, just some personal experience with autistic folk, and a suspicion that I might have a touch of the 'tism myself) is that they just don’t care about the norms as much. Most of us decided to give up childish things even though we still enjoyed them, we just felt pressured to “grow up”, but autism makes it harder to understand social norms, so they just keep doing what they do because that’s what they enjoy and how you feel about it doesn’t really matter.
Answer: No.
Also I think this would have been a better fit for the No Stupid Questions community, but I also believe it doesn’t deserve this many downvotes.
It kind of degrades my respect and trust for this community. The fact that we need a completely different subreddit so people can try to educate themselves on sensitive subjects is pretty sad. I’d get it if this guy was asking in bad faith, but it seems like a sincere question.
I think the down votes are due to the phrasing, saying it’s instead of is it.
I think it’s a better fit for the Stupid Questions community.
