symptoms of asperger syndrome really defined

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You asked for all the symptoms in a single post - so here they are:

1-difficulty in accepting criticism or correction, this symptom is usually mild to moderate

2- difficulty in offering correction or criticism without appearing harsh, pendantic, or insensitive...this symptom is usually moderate to severe

3-pouting, ruminating, fixating on bad experiences with people or events for an INORDINATE length of time........this symptom is moderate to severe

4-abrupt and STRONG expressions of likes and dislikes......mild to moderate symptom

5- difficulty with adopting social masks to obscure real feelings and emotions...moderate to severe symptom

6- low to medium level of paranoia.......mild to moderate symptom.

7-failure to distinguish between private and public personal care habits: i.e., brushing, public attention to skin problems, nose picking, teeth picking, ear canal cleaning, (lol) clothing arangement..........mild to moderate symptom

8- RIGID adherence to rules and social conventions where flexibility is desirable................mild to moderate symptom

9-social isolation and intense concern for privacy.....symptom moderate to severe

10- flash temper....symptom mild to moderate

11- difficulty judging other peoples space..symptom moderate to severe

12- limited by intensley pursued interests.....symptom mild to moderate

13-Limited clothing preference;discomfort with formal attire or uniforms.....symptom is moderate to severe

14-Preference for bland or bare envioronments in living arrangements...symptom moderate to severe

15- excessive talk...moderate to severe symptom

16-tantrums.....mild to moderate symptom

17-low to no apparent sense of humor; bizarre sense of humor...symptom is mild to moderate

18- known for single-mindedness...symptom moderate to severe

19- often percieved as "being in their own world"...symptom moderate to severe

20- discomfort manipulating or "playing games" with others......symptom moderate to severe

21- difficulty in forming friendships and intimate relationships; difficulty in distinguishing between acquaintance and friendship........symptom moderate to very severe

22-difficulty with reciprocal dispays of pleasantries and greetings....symptom is moderate to very severe

23- "Serious" all the time........symptom mild to moderate

24- constant anxiety about performance and acceptance, despite recognition and noteriety...........symptom moderate to very severe

25- shyness...symptom is moderate to severe

26 naive trust in others...symptom is moderate to severe

27-bluntness in emotional expression.......symptom mild to moderate

28- immature manners.symptom mild to moderate

29- problems expressing empathy or comfort to/with others: sadness, condolence, congratulations, etc....symptom moderate to severe

30- difficulty in percieving and applying unwritten social rules or protocols.............symptom moderate to very severe

31-"flat affect".symptom mild to moderate.............this symptom goes with the"bluntness in emotional expression" symptom

32-low or no conversational participation in group meetings or conferences....symptom mild to moderate

33-using social masks inappropriately (you are "xv" while everyone else is ????)...symptom mild to moderate

34- apparent absense of relaxation, recreational, or "time out" activities...............interestingly they said this symptom is NONEXISTANT...........i don't know if they are comparing aspergers to regular lower functioning ones or what??! !

thanks tough

Hearing - even relatively slight background sound distracts me terribly. I find it hard to hear individual sounds clearly in a mixture though......like speech when there's background noises going on or a lot of reverberation. I've got better at that because of years of practice, and doing a lot of sound recording engineering has helped, but it still gets me sometimes. I don't hear background sounds clearly but I know they're there and they often really upset me, unless they're very constant sounds.

Vision - I've been short-sighted since I was about 8 years old, and I've been longsighted as well for about 6 years now. But I'm quite sensitive to bright light such as strong sunlight, though I like small, bright, colourful objects, and can look at a computer screen for hours.

Smell - My wife can smell things that I can't, but I think she's very unusual in that respect. I have quite a sensitive sense of smell, and I hate it if I can smell petrol fumes, smoke, most chemicals, paint, bleach, air "fresheners" (what a stupid name!), stale sweat (though fresh sweat is OK and I don't mind the smell of clean people who don't use deodorants), curry or other spices, various well-known bodily stinks, most commercial perfumes, most new plastic, or wash powder.

Taste - I like well-fried and baked food (though I avoid it these days because it's full of acrylamide) and most fresh foods, but I hate spicy, acidic, or salty food. Raw onions are the work of Satan, but when cooked they're fine. Rice is too bland for me, but mostly I like lightly-flavoured food. I don't like fruit but I like fruit juice . I find most junk food tastes awful - oven chips, Mac-burgers, ready-made pies, etc. Boiled sweets hurt the roof of my mouth, but I like sugar. I don't like food that's piping hot, or chilled stuff like ice cream.

Touch - My skin is quite sensitive to labels in clothes, tight stiff collars, waistbands and shoes, rough material, plastic settees, imperfections in the sewing, watch straps, the sharp corners of objects, coins etc. in my pockets, heat, cold, and anything that tickles or irritates in any way. I've had phases when I've been sensitive to clothes or sheets brushing slightly against my skin and makes me itch terribly. I had to "overwrite" the sensations by scrubbing all over with hot water and a stiff brush, followed by a liberal application of "deep heat" cream.


I used to when I was a child, and couldn't stop even though my parents kept trying to stop me (I was usually quite obedient), but I grew out of it. But I still sometimes "trim" my nails using my thumb and forefinger. I don't like the feel of them when they're getting too long for my liking. Same with toenails, bits of hard skin, and stubble or the occasional hair that's longer than the rest - I just have to trim everything down to size, and seem to prefer to to that using fingers, teeth, or scissors - anything but the correct tool for the job - but I've learned to use the right tools most of the time, if they're within easy reach.



Probably, yes. I don't think I stand, sit or walk "correctly." I probably should have some lessons but it's too much bother.

1 - strong sensory sensitivities: touch and tactile sensations, sounds, lighting and colors, odors, and taste
The first time I listened to one of the folks on YouTube explaining what it's like to be an Aspie, when she broached the subject of sensory sensitivity, I was surprised and thought to myself, oh you too eh? But later when she implied that this was something else that Neurotipicals don't have to put up with, I was thinking, "...and what hole have you been hiding your head in?"

By then, two or three years before I had read much of Elaine Aron's research on Highly Sensitive Persons, and had no difficulty determining that I thoroughly qualify. Her research revealed that 20% of the general population of both animals and people experience this. I wonder if Temple Grandin would confer on that. I don't know if I am speaking of two different approaches to the same problem, or two different conditions with the similar symptoms. Most of the folks that I encountered on forums for people who are HSP, were also very emotionally sensitive, were fascinated by all things spiritual, and many also experienced ESP like attributes.

Sight: I too cannot endure bright sunlight, but I can't seem to find a way to end up with sunglasses on me when I need them, so I have glasses that get dark in sunlight, which improves things a little. In the past, on days when I ended up in bright sunlight without any sunglasses, I have used a technique that involves walking with my eyes closed except for opening one eye every four or five steps, and then use my visual memory change the image in my mind of my surroundings as I walk, and then refresh the image when I open one eye. My left eye is more sensitive to bright light, than my right eye, so I use my right eye to take in the glimpses. Some people assume I'm nuts for attempting this, and it has gotten me into problems. Once I sprained my ankle because of stepping off of the side of the sidewalk, and one of those bushes with pointed leaves broke my fall.

But I also feel people with my eyes. When my Dad passed away, when I saw his body in the funeral home, it startled me. His body felt like a vacant house when I looked at it. I mean, you are taught as a child that when a person dies, their soul leaves their body, but I wasn't expecting to actually be able to feel his soul's absence. Many people have color. By that I mean I see some color in my mind's eye when I think about them. Sometimes the color turns out to be the person's favorite color. Others who experience this, tell me that they see royal blue when they read my words. There are others who swear that the color of my vibe is that of moon light.

Hearing: When the beep of our oven timer goes off, I need to hold my ears. Last night we purchased a balloon bouquet for a birthday party, when the worker released the helium into the balloons, the noise was excruciating. I love contemporary Christian music, but live performances are hard to endure. There are many modern churches around her that I would love to attend, but I would have to wear earplugs to endure their worship services. I have problems tuning out background noises, so I wear headphones at work. Playing music while working also improves my focus with many tasks, so that kills two birds with one stone.

I don't think I experience any kind of extra sensory things involving hearing, other than these rare occurrences where I hear in my mind's ear, the sound of someone speaking to me when the person speaking is in another state, or another continent, but that has to be some sort of telepathic experience. I usually experience this when I am half awake/half asleep, but not always then, and I have validated the experience with the person whose voice I was hearing. They told me they were actually speaking as if to me, when I heard them. I have also experienced this going the other way, where another person heard me when I was speaking out loud to them as if they were with me.

Touch: I guess on this I am mostly like most everyone one else here. Some textures are calming, some are stimulating. Tags in garments are hyper irritating. I have a high threshold for pain, but once that threshold is crossed, I am hyper sensitive to it.

But my sense of touch goes beyond my fingers. If my wife and I get separated in a department store, I can feel her standing a there a few isles over, and that tells me which direction I need to walk to find her. But this is a learned technique. I used to waste much time looking for her when we got separated, and one day I got separated from her in a large mall, and I had a little talk with my intuition. I said, "I know that you know where she is, and I know that you are able to share this information with me, and teach me how to access it myself." and in that instant, I felt and also saw an image that looked kind of the size and shape of a potato sack without the lumpiness, and I knew that image was my wife, and inner knowing revealed that she was in J C Penney's and she was looking at linens that were on sale. Many times in my life, my intuition has stepped up to teach me things about how to be me, when I asked it to.

Olfactory: My wife also can smell things that I can't, but I still smell very faint odors, some that she does not smell. It's weird. For me many odors also have color, but I have never experienced the opposite. Only odors have a smell. Colors have a feel, sounds also have a feel, odors can illicit memories and all of my memories have a feel, but odors somehow I missed out on that.

2 - nail biting I missed the boat on this one, mostly. I never sucked my thumb, and I never bit my nails, except when I need to cut them off when they are bothering me. If they are too long, or if they have a rough surface, it drives me bonkers. I wish I could remember when I'm at a store to purchase some emery boards. I would think that would save me a lot of frustration, but I somehow only think to buy them when I am not near a store that also sells them.

3 - unusual gait, stance, posture I don't know if I qualify for this. I think not, other than the heels of my shoes tending to wear uneven. There was a thread on the INFP forum where several people there complained that people accuse them of having an unusual gait, or a strange way of walking. I might just look different. I am short waisted, but have longer than typical arms and legs. Maybe I look like I have an unusual gait, I don't know.

over all very mild
Sound rarely, I do find it hard to listen to people when it's loud, but I don't feel pained by it or anything, actually I really like loud music in parties and stuff. But if there's an alarm in the same room as me then I feel like cringing, but that's it.
Sight only when the sun's bright. Not strobes or flurescent though, I actually like strobes.
smell yeah, I have an acute sense of smell, which can be both a good and bad thing. And I also confuse people when I say things like "this shop smells like *insert something irrelevant*"
touch definitly. This is the only one that has caused me any problems. i'm picky with clothes because I don't like anything tight or anything that touhes my neck and I hate things digging in me like labels and stuff. And I can get uncomfortable when people touch me/hug me, especially my mum for some reason.
Taste I'm pretty average there.


my only severe trait. My nails grow really fast so I've always got plenty to chew on, and I bite the surrounding skin too.


I'm not sure. My mum tells me I walk like I want to get away or I'm suspicious, but I never noticed I did that. I do walk heavy footed aswell, but it's not that obvious.

physical manifestations of aspergers...cont


4-clumsiness...symptom moderate to severe.......definitely as a child and through puberty.....i was akward and bumped into everything............though as a young adult it stopped............my problem is that i am rather strong and don't know my own strength

5- balance difficulties.....symptom moderate to severe.....can't remeber this..as a kid i climbed trees like a cheetah, lol.....can't say i have any of this...though i was clumbsy and awkward as a kid,i never had balance issues

6- depression....symptom moderate to severe............i have only had mild bouts throughout my life.............they never last very long and i get over them quickly.....i never medicated and let nature take its course....however i was rather depressed in middle school when taunting and teasing are at their peak ......and in my late teens (but depression in late teens is common in nt )

I laughed for some reason when I heard that Michael Jackson had been rushed to the hospital, and I laughed some more when I heard he was dead, and I laughed when I heard that Farrah Fawcett died on the same day, and I alughed when I heard that yet a third celebrity was sick. I don`t know why I laughed. I didn`t find it funny. At least I don`t think I did.

willmark, you forgot to mention taste.

I don't recall how I was when I was a child.....and until quite recently I'd have said I wasn't clumsy at all. But when I took a closer look, I started to see that I can only appear to be not clumsy because I carefully control my environment, arranging things so I don't trip over them - so I insist on clear gangways and all the saucepan handles on the stove have to be turned around so they don't stick out - I always thought I was just being sound-minded about safety. Also I do a lot better in environments I know very well. I'm very skilled with my hands, which probably comes from playing musical instruments....that also made me feel that I wasn't clumsy - at work I can carry several test tubes or small bottles from one lab to another, they fit between my fingers. Everybody thinks I'm going to drop them but I never do. But I'm always having minor accidents - currently I've got 2 small wounds on my hands through clumsiness and "not thinking." I've got minor bumps all over my head where I've banged it. I can control it if I concentrate and really slow down and do everything very deliberately, but I can't speed up unless I know the environment well.



Not sure. I'd need some specific balancing tasks to be able to tell - can't think of any. I hardly ever fall off my bike, but I've been riding it for so long that's hardly surprising.


Not sure. I don't think I'd easily recognise depression if I had it. I was amazed when a (real) psychiatrist described (the character) Basil Fawlty as depressed. I'm sure I'd behave much the same (apart from sucking up to rich people) if I didn't know it doesn't go down very well. There was a time when I've felt so low that I've felt almost paralysed, and gone very quiet. Other times I'd get this horrible feeling when I got back from weekend visits to my girlfriend on Sundays, I suppose that was depression, kind of an unreal, all-pervading sorrow, very different from just missing somebody, I had to really struggle to do anything at all. I've never seriously contemplated suicide - death and pain scare me too much, and I can't say I've ever totally given up hope of at least becoming happy. If depression is judged by whether or not a person is engaged in constructive activity, I'm hardly ever depressed. I noticed a long time ago that when I was feeling down, I got a lot out of simply being active, so I always use that to keep the blues away, if I start feeling rough then I just find something constructive to work at.

But maybe I'm mildly depressed most of the time. I don't have much levity about me a lot of the time. It's as if I'm bearing an undue weight, I don't feel I can quite relax until the most important of my problems are solved, so there's always a slightly grim and serious aspect to the way I feel and the way I am, as if I haven't quite made it home yet. I can't easily put my troubles to one side, I'd rather work on them than play now and pay the price later. But I'm perfectly capable of being very flippant and silly, it depends on the people I'm with, how I perceive them, and whether life's cares are on my mind too much.

I love black comedy and satire, and minor chords on music. I write songs but most of them aren't happy.

Is that depression? I looked it up on Wikipedia but somehow the explanation wasn't very satisfactory.

mild-moderate. I have a bad habit of breaking alot of things when I'm fiddling/stimming with them. And I was always terrible at PE, I wasn't good at catching balls, throwing them far, hitting balls and I had bad coordination in things like dancing or aerobics. I do bump in to thing and people but not as much as I used to, and I drop things alot too and I also have loads of bruises and I never know how I got them because of my clumsiness.


mild, I don't have that good balance and I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 13 and even now I can only ride on flat surfaces. I am also not that good at ice skating or skate boarding.


mild, I do have times where I'm really really down and I think about dark things for a while, but I usually perk up again. So for me it fluctuates, my moods change alot.

4 - clumsiness I have never been particularly athletically gifted. I was always the last person picked when the teacher asked two people to choose teams to play whatever. But I don't consider myself to be clumsy. I have very good eye/hand coordination. I only do clumsy things when I am zoning out.

5 - balance difficulties I don't experience any balance difficulties at all, except right after a water aerobics class, when I am exhausted.

6 - depression I don't think I experience what would be called clinical depression. I can have very high and very low moods. The low moods are often in response to encountering a lot of frustration, but often they are an indication to me that I am paying too much attention to me again. For me anyway, shifting my focus away from myself, and working instead upon trying to be helpful to others is what pulls me out of those slumps.

23- "Serious" all the time........symptom mild to moderate
Yes, I’m definitely a serious person. I’ve heard that everyone has 2 modes, serious mode and play mode, and that the longer you have been in one of the modes, the more likely you are to switch over to the other. That’s not true for me. I am very little ha-ha-ish. I don’t laugh a lot. I enjoy certain series, movies, videogames and books, and I have fun on the inside when I do, but I doubt that anyone looking at me when I do, could tell. They might see that I’m very into it. Lol, come to think of it, I was once given a video called ”The best of ’Friends’ ”. It really disappointed me because not one of the episodes were among my favourites. They had only chosen the most ha-ha ones while my favourites are those that actually touched me.
Oh yeah, I’m serious; I even look for seriousness in comedies!

24- constant anxiety about performance and acceptance, despite recognition and noteriety...........symptom moderate to very severe
Yes and no.
Yes. Thinking back on the tests I did and the projects I turned in, I never felt sure it was good enough, not even in the subjects I knew I was good at. Especially in the last 2 decades. I never have any idea how I’ll do, what response I can expect, even though I knew that I did thorough research and did well choosing the points I did, or that my stories were as good as I could make them. Ever since first grade I’ve been told that my stories are good, but I never believe them because more often than not, I see no greatness in them. Among my most hated experiences is reading them aloud for whatever class I was in at the time. And I know I s**k at performance because I always get the feed back that I don’t look at people, I don’t try to engage them and I just read it. Well, of course I do! All my life I’ve found that kind of performance to be nothing but theatrical and annoying. I’m not doing things in ways I know I hate when I see it done.
When someone stands behind me, looking over my shoulder, I tend to stiffen and hold an arm over whatever I’m writing. I can’t concentrate and I can’t share before I’m done.
No. I always get defensive when criticised. And I honestly don’t see their ”correction” as improvement so I don’t go for it.

25- shyness...symptom is moderate to severe
No, not really. I’m very introvert but that has nothing to do with shyness. It’s my nature; I’ve been introvert in the ca 30 years of my life that I can remember. When I have felt like it I have been less quiet around my parents (and my maternal grandparents when they were alive.)
I can’t do conversation but that’s because I can’t think of anything to say (see points 21 and 22), not because I’m afraid to. I sure have no problems protesting or expressing anger. I can at times be insecure and awkward but being shy is different.


26 naive trust in others...symptom is moderate to severe
Yes, to some degree.
As a child I would often get in trouble because other kids made me say and do really stupid things. It landed me a heap of trouble in elementary school.
I’m not as naive as to hike with someone, take someone else’s luggage past the checkpoint or something like that.
But I still have the tendency to believe in what someone says/writes because I use words myself to say how it is/how I see something, and never to mislead. It’s been known to happen that I get confused and wonder if someone was serious or trying to be funny, or what they really meant.

27-bluntness in emotional expression.......symptom mild to moderate
I’m a little uncertain what this points means. I’m unable to tell someone that I love them and I never volunteer to hug or touch someone, if that’s what it means.
I don’t lie, I don’t tell people what they wish to hear, I tell them what I think if they ask me. I am never anything but blunt, but I seldom volunteer information. I usually keep my opinions to myself unless asked directly. I’m very introvert by nature and yapping on doesn’t come natural for me at all. If I’m asked I am always blunt and to the point. I think I’m about as subtle as a nuke!


28- immature manners.symptom mild to moderate
My first 12-15 years I was told I was mature for my age. After that I have heard both that I’m mature and reflective, and immature. I can definitely be childish at times!

This assessment is pure speculation, based upon possibly fitting known patterns. Perhaps your intuition sees a pattern there that it recognizes. My wife insists that these kinds of things always occur in threes. Another pattern that might be present: I discovered while I hung out on a forum for personality type INTJ, that folks with this personality were drawn to what they called "morbid humid". They found humor in many things that emotionally sensitive folks might find overwhelmingly tragic. These things might explain your experiences, but like I said, I'm just speculating.

Ha Ha. I was really tired I guess. I kept counting my sense list and thinking that's just four, what's my problem? I have never taken a survey on taste differences and compared notes. I certainly don't experience anything extra sensory related to taste. I would think that would be freaky. Some Epileptics have weird taste experiences just before a seizure. I don't think I experience taste sensitivities, except to spicy foods. I know some folks who actually LOVE eating hot peppers. I haven't a clue how they stand it.

The second one I can really relate to. People often tell me that I sound like a pedantic know-it-all but it's only because I'm trying to inform them about something so that they know it for next time. I'll correct someone for their benefit, not for mine, but people still think it sounds rude. I don't get it.

physical manifestations of AS cont...

7-bad or unusual personal hygiene.....symptom moderate to severe.....when i was younger i did not brush my teeth often and did not care what i looked like..............however after puberty this changed..i have a great smell sense, and BO and bad breath sicken me, lol.........i have always been very conscious of the way i appeared and smelled, lol

8- sleep difficulties....symptom mild to moderate......i tend to take about a restless hour to fall asleep, but have no problems with a good nights sleep, only waking up once or twice but fall right back...even under stress, i can shut out the crap and wait until the morning, lol

9-low apparent sexual interest.....symptom mild to moderate.......lmao, no frickin way, lol

Nope, I have to have a shower everyday because I hate hate hate feeling sweaty and dirty, bleh.


mild, usually when my mind's busy with alot of thoughts, which is VERY often. and it's hard to get up in the morning's because I am not an early bird, I'm a night owl.


Quite the opposite