Lack of pretend play?

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Despite the fact that I identify strongly with almost every other aspect associated with the very high functioning end of autism, there's always one or two "major" criteria which seem to disqualify me.

Such as the lack of imaginative play as a child. I was the opposite of this, actually. All I ever did was "pretend", whether it was reinacting a scene from a movie, taking on the persona of a certain character and reciting their lines, pretending to be a dinosaur and attacking people, playing with toys (though I was bossy), and even standing up on a table and reciting incoherent, made-up stories to my parents. Most of my play throughout elementary school was centered solely around my special interests, for example- I'd pretend to be a dinosaur, only want to play with dinosaur toys, only draw dinosaurs, etc. I would not want to play if I could not somehow incorporate what I was interested in. I was known by my family and teachers for being artistically gifted and for having a "huge" or "overactive" imagination, and that was definitely true.

But even though my "special interests" always had to be involved, does the fact that I played very imaginatively with other kids (perhaps more imaginatively and intensely than other kids, to the point that I annoyed them, especially other girls, since I was not interested in "girly" things at all) disqualify me from being on the autism spectrum?

I'm the exact same way, I used to pretend play all the time, even with other children. Asperger's isn't going to affect individuals in the same way. As you said, Autism is a spectrum, so the absence of one or two traits isn't going to take you off of that spectrum, but it may be enough to prevent you from getting an official diagnosis of Asperger's.

To quote myself from a recent topic:

Not necessarily. You may still really, actually be on the spectrum. Afterall, the official definition is the work of a committee, right?

I have a very vivid imagination, too. I sometimes 'adopt' movie lines. And I would also sometimes drive agemates crazy over-harping on a topic, although I learned to do this with light touch where that became part of the joke.

I really think this is an example where the official diagnosis actually becomes clumsy. In fact, I think the following spoof definition of Asperger's-Autism Spectrum is better than the official one!
http://www.journeyswithautism.com/2009/ ... or-autism/

For example, the official definition, besides having clumsy parts such as "as manifested by at least two of the following," does not mention sensory issues at all. It's really remarkable once you think about it. It's like these very august psychologists and psychiatrists have not talked to autistic persons, or have not really listened.

I have always had a very vivid imagination and I engaged in pretend play when I was a child, but I was still diagnosed with Asperger's. In fact, on the section of Tony Attwood's site that talks about females with AS, it mentions the fact that females with AS commonly use escape into imagination as a coping strategy: (click)

Imitation is quite common amongst aspies. Imitation is not quite the same thing as pretend play.

Jason

I never lacked imaginative/pretend play either. Everywhere I went I was always pretending something. It was very unusual that I was not. My imagination was always on the go, it hardly ever stopped to rest, only very occasionally.

I'm not a fan of so-called "roleplays" because they do not seem very creative to me. I find this kind of stuff pretty odd.

But I engaged in pretend play when I was a child. I'd always play with my dolls.

Lorna Wing, the "inventor" of Asperger's Syndrome, about pretend play:

It is not necessary to have every symptom or trait of an illness or disorder, in order to actually have the disorder or disease. Everyone is different, so no two people will have an identical case of something.

Your description of play, is imaginative and pretend play. Some of us have been into that, and some not. We are all different. You can't diagnose disorders and diseases with a cookie cutter.--Everything inside the shape qualifies, and anything outside is disqualified. It is not that simple.

I have always had a very active daydream life, and have no plans to stop.--I am in my early 50s now, and still doing it. When I was a kid, I would sometimes play with others, but not much. I did sometimes get "bossy" because I would sometimes try to insist that others follow the "pattern" of the pretend play I was creating and playing. However that doesn't work too good. Everyone else has their own ideas on what pattern should be followed, so conflict is inevitable, unless it is a formal game with well established rules.

If you have many spectrum traits then you are probably on the spectrum. You don't need all of them to be on the spectrum. Trust me, we won't kick you off the team.

I had lack of "normal" pretend play, I never was able to pretend play with others, and my pretend play, which suddenly appears at around 5-6 years old, was more to do with an imaginary world where I was queen. There was no other versions of this however.

I remember I was obsessed with the show Digimon when I was young(around 8 years old.) I was almost so obsessed that I was under the delusion if I tried hard enough I could get my own Digimon like the kids in the show. So for about a month, I pretended this one rock that I painted on was an egg, and if I cared for it long enough it would hatch into a Digimon. It's quite odd, remembering the feeling. It was as if I believed there was a chance it could happen, but I knew deep down that it wouldn't, and I was disappointed.

I also pretended that I was a dog or pokemon(particularly Charmander and Houndour/Houndoom) a lot. Actually, when I was in first grade a kid asked if Pokemon were real in Japan when a Japanese woman came to our school to talk, she sarcastically joked that they did exist there, and for a long time I thought Pokemon actually lived in Japan.

All of these activities were specifically for me though; I wouldn't ever had played them out with others. Mostly, because I knew I'd be made fun of, but also because it was something special that only I liked.

Edit: Oh and a friend and I, when I was a bit older(9 or 10) were fascinated by vampires, mostly because we read a lot of scary stories. So we used to pretend to be vampires lol.