Asperger's Syndrome: Yea or Nay?

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Hello, this is my first post on this forum. I'd never really thought much of Aperger's Syndrome or any similar type of mental disorder/condition/archetype, but my mother suggested it as a possibility a while back. I'm not sure how much my life and current condition fit in with it though; I thought the people here would be fairly knowledgeable on the subject.

When I was young, I would frequently focus my attention on one thing at a time. Dinosaurs, bugs, pokemon, whatever other stuff little kids always love. I'd become very knowledgeable in the specific (and rather narrow) fields, and I had a tendency to ignore unrelated things. From that point on I became a little less tunnel-visioned, but I still had various things that I would obsess over (shows, games, politics, etc). My grades weren't particularly good, as I would always put off or lose my assignments while thinking about something else, or spaced out in the middle of class thinking of other things. My teachers generally gave me the whole "not living up to potential" thing on my report cards. During the summers I had little to do, and I would mostly just keep to myself. I really only socialized when it was in relation to something I was otherwise interested (card games, gameboy, things like that). During the school year I would pretty much go to school, go home, and play on the computer or PS2. I had a few friends during this time, but they were mostly just people I talked to in school. I didn't go over to their house or anything.

High School wasn't great for me. I started to get fed up with what were pretty pointless classes (4/5 of the time I already knew everything the teacher was talking about). I did meet up with an old friend, so that was good, as we remain pretty good friends to this day. He left the high school during my senior year, which made that year pretty boring (lots of eating alone, etc). Then I went on to college, and my freshmen year was not the best. I had no friends who I didn't know through my roommate, and I didn't really have any idea how to go about getting friends. I spent nearly the entire year in my dorm, usually surfing the net or doing other things by myself. I did start talking to people over the internet, so maybe it wasn't that bad. During that year, my mom brought up Asperger's Syndrome. I pretty much ignored it, figuring that the last thing I needed was some psychological issue complicating my life. Now my freshmen year is over, and I'm starting to think back to it.

The main things that seem to indicate that Asperger's isn't my problem would be eye contact and voice inflections; I currently have very little problem looking people in the eyes when I talk to them, and I'm good at avoiding talking to people in a monotone voice. However, I specifically remember reminding myself to change the pitch of different words when I talk, to try and hold people's attention better. I also think that as a child I wasn't as readily making eye contact while talking, although It's never been a huge problem for either. Also, when I'm distracted or tired I tend to make less eye contact and talk in a more monotone voice; I think this is true for everyone to an extent though. I'm mediocre with facial expressions. I do make them, but they tend to be done with active thought more than intuition. I'm also not great at interpreting the facial expressions of others, although once again, I'm not terrible at it. I tend to gesticulate with my hands a lot when talking, although I don't know if that's common or uncommon to Asperger's.

I'm not a great speaker if I need to think about what I'm saying as I talk. I tend to either stumble over words (getting them mixed up in order, making a new word out of two words I was originally considering using, that sort of thing), or take somewhat noticeable pauses as I think out the sentence clearly before speaking it. If I'm stressed or excited I'm worse at it, although again I think that's fairly common. In terms of manners and reciprocity I'm pretty good, although that may be due to erring on the side of caution in those situations. I have a tendency towards politeness when it's not really necessary when talking to strangers, and I do tend to respond to "Happy Birthday" with me wishing the same for the person who said it to me.

I never have any problems with sarcasm or metaphors; if anything my sarcasm tends to go over other people's head. However, actual lying tends to throw me off, even if I should be expecting it. Ulterior motives are annoying as hell to me, although they're usually so pointless or childish that I don't think it's an unjustified reaction. I don't lie very much myself, but I usually don't have any reason to either. Also people actually using words incorrectly infuriate me. ("Literally" being a time-tested example, that I'm sure infuriates quite a few others. "Ironic" is a bad one too.)

In general, I suppose my problems have more to do with actual socializing than with communication. I have a hard time making small talk, as I never know anything about the subject at hand (the weather, sports, some sort of gossip) and other people aren't generally familiar with whatever I'm more interested in that day. I don't like talking to new people even if they're friendly towards me. Social interaction tend to take most of my attention, and even after talking with friends for long periods of time I tend to get mentally tired until I have some time by myself. I always hated group projects in school, especially if you had to find your own group or partner (I was usually the leftover kid that the teacher had to put in a group, unless I had some friends in that class). Also, I hate talking on the phone, especially with people I don't know. Setting up an appointment or doing any other type of business over the phone really tends to screw with me.

I don't know that I have extraordinary pattern recognition ability. I get amused when the clock says "12:34" and stuff like that sometimes, but that might just be because I'm bored. I'm not extremely detail-minded, although I do tend to notice stuff more than many people. As a kid I would have a tendency to look at the patterns in wood grain or times, although that was once again stuff I usually did while bored. I've never done that "hand-flapping" stuff much. I do rock back and forth once and a while, and have since I was young. I usually do it while bored or sometimes while listening to music. I do pace frequently, especially while thinking.

I don't really like talking about myself in social situations, and I'm certainly no fan of trying to describe my emotions. Then again, I generally don't think my emotions are relevant to whatever's being discussed. I usually don't have an emotional reaction to news that I only know about intellectually; for instance when my Grandma died, I didn't have much of an emotional reaction until the funeral; prior to that I was mostly saddened by her death on an intellectual level.

My sense of hearing is very sensitive; I have difficulty concentrating if there's a distracting noise nearby, and it's nearly impossible for me to sleep in those situations. Loud sounds also startle me easily, and people dropping by when I'm not expecting it annoy me to no end. I can be slightly paranoid, and have a tendency to lock my door when it's not necessary. I also don't like driving, especially if there might be traffic. I have a horrible sense of direction.

So what do you think? Does it sound like I have Asperger's Syndrome, or just a collection of quirks and personality traits that are somewhat reminiscent of it? The communication thing is where I'm a little fuzzy, because it seems like I do okay, but I do have to be paying attention to it to do so.


Also, the Autistic Quotient test put me at a 33/50. The RDOS quiz put me at 140/200 for Asperger's Syndrome and 62/200 for Neurotypicalcy. I don't know how strong of evidence these things are, though.

Welcome to WP!

after reading your small book, i'd say it's likely you're on the spectrum. the thing about aspergers syndrome is that it's a syndrome. most of us don't have all the tell-tale signs. further, many of us who were diagnosed later in life have adapted in ways that may make us seem more typical in certain respects. eye contact and varied tonality in speech, for instance, are two things that gave me reservations about even going into an assessment. these are things i didn't really teach myself for their own sakes, but rather my speech patterns and eye contact "modes" (because it's something i do consciously) are traits i have appropriated from people i respected.

12:34 is a favorite time of a few aspies i know and a joke about it is usually a miss around my nt friends. personally, i keep my phone on 24 hour time so as to enjoy seeing 1337 from time to time.

i also consider myself expert in metaphor and sarcasm but also find my meanings missed or misinterpreted. i eagerly await dsm-V to see what they have to say about things like abstract speech and empathy, because i think that it's a misrepresentation to say that we don't understand abstract speech or don't have empathy. i think it's more accurate to say that we understand how these things work, but are misunderstood in our expression of them because we make too much sense (in a world of estimation, the exact answer is a waste).

i'm perfectly fine with someone using a word that isn't in the dictionary (writers who work for joss whedon make me happy) as long as it makes sense. "i'm going to entrapify that spider" is an ify waste of three letters, but i'll accept it because i feel it changes the mood of the word while still respecting its meaning. "i'm so hungry i could literally eat a horse" is just stupid. ...and they say we're the ones who don't get metaphors...




but as far as aspergers syndrome goes, i recommend looking around wrong planet. read about other people's experiences, challenges, adaptations, etc. i am firmly against self diagnosis for just about everything except the common cold. aspergers syndrome is another exception, however, because it's something that we've basically been dealing with our entire lives. we've been adapting to everyone else's world on their terms without any idea how to cope other than what they tell us. it's like someone with a thyroid condition being told to cut calories and exercise more. it kinda works but it's not addressing the problem.

you may just be quirky. the last statistics i saw put people diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders at about 0.75%, or 1 in 150. think back through your life and look at how many people you could really relate to.





scary? don't worry. either way you're not alone.

The odds are that you're afflicted with something like Aspergers syndrome. Sorry...

The fundamental signifier, in my opinion, is a small delay in responding to other people's somatic signals. Not looking at people's faces is secondary - you can learn to do that if you're prompted often enough. Not getting the right information from them is primary.

To WrongPlanet!! !

Greetings, Knarloc, and welcome to the Wrong Planet community.

well bud i gotta say your little novel was probably as close as anything i have ever read to a mirror of my own childhood experience, though i found mine a little more violent due to misunderstandings stemming from my own social problems though myself i have always been told i have aspergers syndrome as i inherited it from my father (figures i'd be the only one out of 4 boys who does). this is my first post on this site too and i would probably sya it does sound like you do have some level of the syndrome

My main problem seems to be getting an accurate perception of myself. Sometimes it seems like I'm actively thinking about what to do in social situations, sometimes it seems less so.

I suspect there's a difference between how I react to close friends and family and how I react to strangers. Maybe I should try and pay more attention to how I act in social situations.


That could be.


Yeah, I don't have a problem with that either; after all, I doubt "neurotypicalcy" is going to be found in any dictionary.


Pun intended?


Well, I've been looking at the different posts here, but I'm still having trouble with looking at my own life, and whether or not I'm actually fitting into these definitions. I worry that I'm either exaggerating some attributes to try and better fit the condition or dismissing some things as normal when they really aren't.

It's possible I don't have anything, or I have something else (social anxiety seems to be a possibility). I don't know. I always get cold feet with anything important.


Yeah, if I'm right about my not getting signals as well as others I think that would certainly strengthen the argument for Asperger's. On the other hand, I can't generally tell whether or not there are signals being made that I'm missing; I might just be paranoid.


Well, it's good to know someone can relate to me. I generally was able to stay out of people's radar, so I didn't run into much "bullying" in that regard. A little ostracizing once in a while, but I generally kept to myself anyways.




Thanks for the welcome.

What does 13.37 refer to ??

Wow, that's pretty much exactly how I am. Welcome aboard.