Ask someone with Asperger's syndrome.

[GrandizerII]

To what extent do people with spectrum disorders in childhood 'grow out' of them?

Looking back, I think I was on the spectrum as a kid (and maybe still am), but I am much more social now. I had to *decide* to pay attention to social cues.

Depends on what you mean by "growing out" of autism spectrum disorders. I know, from personal experience and observation of some others, that it is highly possible for someone with autism (especially high-functioning) to become better (with the passage of time and experience and insight) at picking up on social cues, to empathize socially, to develop a better Theory of Mind, to display the "right" body language and have good presentation -- or, in other words, generally become better at hiding characteristic traits they used to "helplessly" display when younger.

But such improvements do seem to require quite some reflection and training (whether it's by oneself or with guidance from others), and as Tony Attwood (an expert on autism) argues, even when people with autism do become better at socializing with others, they use intellectual means to do so, rather than doing so in a flexibly intuitive manner like neurotypicals do.

An example I can give you about myself.

When I was a kid and later an adolescent, I used to be really, really bad at making eye contact with people. Then, after repeatedly being told to make eye contact with people when interacting with them, I started making the decision to make eye contact anytime I interacted with people. The first many times, whether it was practice with family or in real life, I would do it wrong and either stare intently at the person's face without looking away every now and then or awkwardly move my eyes away from their face just to "tell" them that I wasn't intending to be creepy, lol. Eventually, I became better at it. I've learned to "soften" my facial expression and to blink and not focus too much on one spot on the face or whatever, but I still struggle regardless, and I know that neurotypicals don't have to struggle with any or much of that. And it takes a lot of mental energy, so eventually, I have to withdraw to some isolated spot in order to recover before going back to socialize (when I have to).

I could also go on about social smile as well (and other social difficulties), but I guess the above example is enough for illustration.

So, in my opinion, I think it's most likely that such a person will never completely grow out of this condition, but with training, some of us can certainly become a lot better at hiding our autism from the public.

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In my experience, it’s more a matter of learning to mask and compensating for the disorder than growing out of it. Also, on that note, why didn’t I think of this?

You're free to answer questions here as well.