Lately I've heard a lot about autistic children who have certain skills but then lose them at puberty. Is this something that happens a lot? What is the correlation? Is it hormone related or something?
Well in my experience (my DD is now 15) this did happen. In her case her psych feels she has an underlying mood disorder which he said is common when reaching and going through puberty. This has gotten in the way of her "learning" and also plays a big part in getting in the way of what she has already learned. Up until about age 12 she was making such great progress. She was always in a 12:1:1 special ed class and they thought she would do very well in middle school. Well it was just the opposite.....she has slowly gone downhill.
This is just our experience and I understand it's very common while children go through puberty. We are currently trying to find the right medication to control her moods so she can again be able to focus on learning.
Again...this doesn't happen with all kids.
Thanks
Phyllis