Do most aspies grow out of having intense special interests?

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yeah that sounds about right for me too.

That's exactly the case for me. At this point, I'm kinda like, "Who cares..." but that also might be depression.

It'd actually be more accurate to apply the term, "growing into it".

In the early years of life, the prototypical individual with AS won't display the all absorbing narrow interest compared to when they hit the beginning of school and then on (it's most likely there in the early years, but it won't be talked of as much).

The intinsity of my special intrests just grows as I get older. I think it's because I don't have to hide them or feel ashamed of them anymore. As an adult I've developed this attitue where "if you think I am weird or don't like me you can just get lost and go jump in a lake."

I don't know how I can grow out of something that actually defines who I am.
I am my special interests.
They shift and change in terms of which one owns me at any given time. The main one just left a couple of months ago for a hiatus. It will be back. In the meantime I am pursuing others and these are just as intense as the main one.

I'm the same way with my main special interest ~ it's a different band though. And I'm 52 ... so probably won't outgrow it during this life. I was way more into it in my 30s though, for a few reasons.

However.... loved your avatar yesterday, "CockneyRebel".... I saw a show from that tour in St. Louis, probably 1975 and they were all dressed up in those little green suits for the first set... the shorts, just adorable.

Also, I had that album and I used to play it a lot.

..now they seem
so far
away.....

I saw the Kinks quite a few times (6-10?) but the most recent was probably in the early 80s, if not 1979. So, I haven't thought about it recently until you just reminded me.

All consuming topic

My special interests pervade my awareness in the way suggested by Zeichner.

I have noticed this since I was very small, since I was first aware of myself.

I had text-book special interests up until my early to mid twenties. They seem to be a bit milder lately, but I think that has more to do with the fact that I am now interested in coming up with original ideas in my areas of interest, as oposed to memorizing enormous amounts of information on a narrow topic, so it may be that my interests outwardly seem less intense (but still present).

I think that it really depends on the Aspie, how well they are aware of themselves, and the ways they have grown and changed over the years.

Mine are definitely less intense. Replacing some of these interests with socializing and taking an anti-anxiety/depressant have helped my obsessive tendencies to fade, and so I'm less gravitated to my special interests as I once was. They still exist though, and I'm not saying that doing these things will eliminate them completely.

I think that some Aspies definitely have waning intensity of special interests as they age, because AS symptoms sometimes become less severe with age. This is not the case with me, though. I'm in my 20s, and I'm still just as crazy about my special interests today as I was years ago. I can't imagine that my special interests will ever decrease in severity. This is especially true because of how special interest obsessiveness does not seem to be linked whatsoever with my OCD. I have my OCD under control now with medication, but nothing seems to quell the obsessive thoughts linked with special interests. And I wouldn't want it to.
-OddDuckNash99-

No. They may just change slightly over time, and they do vary over time depending on how much there is left to do on something, and how motivated I am to do it. I would rather say my special interests have grown over time.

What are text-book special interests?

Have had my special interest since I was 12 or 13.

I've definitely put away a lot of special interests over the years, and I've come to feel embarrassed about some of them.......I think I sometimes notice that an interest is/was taking up more time than it was worth, so finally I get to the point where I daren't involve myself with this or that any more because I have a strong fear of wasting my life, whatever that means.

One example is my music - I used to be a regular Mike Oldfield, recording songs completely on my own with the help of a multi-track recording machine. But I did it to excess, and, surfeiting, the appetite sickened and so died. Well, it didn't quite die, but I keep it in better perspective now. There are some disadvantages of recording alone, and I also came to hate the loneliness of the thing. These days most of my music projects involve other people, which causes me a lot of annoyance because I get less than 100% personal control over the result, unless I get bossy which is a trait I despise. But I see it as a higher way to do things, and it alleviates my loneliness a little, so I stick with it.

But I think I'll always tend to have just two levels of interest in any given thing:

1. Completely fascinated.
2. Bored to tears.

I can see advantages in establishing a middle road there, and I try to do that, but only time will tell whether my wisdom or my nature wins that particular battle. One of the main reasons I crave early retirement is that I will then be as time-rich as it's possible to be, and so perhaps I'll be able to "waste" more time without feeling so bad about it.

My obsessive interests are:

Psychology
Current Events
Philosophy
Science/Technology
Conspiracy Theories
Nine Inch Nails/very limited music

And so far they haven't really changed much for over 5 years.
I owe my life to science because without laser surgery on my mother, I wouldn't have been born.
I'm not sure if that's some kind of subconscious reasoning behind my preoccupation with all science.

I don't think that this is the case with me, even though my special interests seem a lot less intense than they were when I was a kid. At least, I don't think that my obsessions were substitutes for social interaction, because I used to always play outside with my next door neighbors, and I had both good times and bad times when interacting with the other kids at school. Now in days, it seems like my obsessions come into the form of repetitive thoughts, rather than special interests. (Though, I do sometimes go through phases where I obsess over new songs that I download.) Who knows, it could be that I have mild Asperger's, or that others view me more obsessive over certain interests than I think, or that I have multiple special interests.