More adults are wondering if they have autism. Here are tips to seek a diagnosis

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https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/adults-wondering-autism-tips-seek-diagnosis-118891579

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More adults have sought insight on their own neurodiversity in the last decade — often after their children are diagnosed or after seeing social media posts. A study published last year in JAMA Network Open showed a 452% increase in autism diagnoses among adults age 26 to 34 from 2011 to 2022.

Some traits of autism can go unnoticed until adulthood, when there are new social demands. Others may have learned how to hide certain behaviors, known as masking.

“Adults have learned to compensate over time,” said Whitney Ence, a psychologist at the University of California San Francisco who works with autistic adults. “They may have learned like ‘I can’t display that in public, and so I do that in private.’"

There's also an overlap of symptoms between various disorders like ADHD and OCD that can complicate an autism diagnosis due to difficulties with nonverbal social cues or executive functions like attention span, working memory and problem-solving.

More at link.