What are the traits common to all aspies?

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• Major deficits in social interactional skills
• Pedantic or overly formal language
• Gross and/or fine motor coordination problems, including dysgraphia (bad handwriting); unusual gate or posture
• Intense focus on often unusual or circumscribed interests
• Oddities in display of emotion (lack of eye contact, little or no facial expression, inappropriate outbursts of emotion)
• Self-absorption or egocentrism (obliviousness to others' needs or opinions; poor ability to construct a reasonable understanding of what other people probably know, are thinking, are feeling, etc.; focus on own thoughts, experiences, and desires)
• Self-stimulating mannerisms

Sensory processing issues.

I have a theory. Hear me out.

My theory is that all autism stems from an abnormality in the way the brain processes sensory input. Aspies develop coping mechanisms to varying degress, ranging from some "overcoming" the abnormality so well that they do not report any problems at all to others having obvious symptoms remaining. They really haven't overcome the problem, though, their brains are just good at working around them.

This coping process, which starts at birth, in turn causes their brains to develop certain areas more than normal and others less than normal. Their brains soon become wired in an atypical way. Probably by the time they are a couple of years old, these become permanent, ingrained habits. As they grow up and try to figure out the world around them, Aspies begin to exhibit certain traits as a result of this strange wiring.

All other traits are a result of this. For example,

resistance to change: you have this set way of working out what is going on around you (remember, you cannot process your sensory input normally, so you are using a workaround). If your environment changes drastically, then your old workaround may no longer work. Confusion results. You prefer to stick to a routine and what is already familiar.

thinking too much: your brain has to do some extra processing for so many everyday activities, so you get used to thinking all the time. It seems like the right way to approach everything.

sleep problems: with all this thinking, it is hard to settle down to sleep.

social interaction: this one is complicated. A lot of it seems to come from the fact that you are expected to act illogically. To talk for the sake of talking, rather than having something to say. This goes against the Aspie thought patterns. Also, there may be visual cues we should be picking up, but if we do not know where to look for them, we will miss them. Not knowing where to look could be a result of coping with vision abnormalities.

This is just a short list off the top of my head. I haven't really finished this theory. Just remember, each Aspie is different, because the exact level and style of coping is different for each person, but certain patterns emerge, so we see many traits in common.

Social impairment
Narrow/focused interest

That's for Asperger's.

Obsessions. U must have them. Routines also. Feeling like a ' stranger in a strange land'. Always judging yourself. Never feeling good enough. Never getting whats so funny to others. Climbing a mountain to think of the right thing to say only to realize at some point that everyone has left the room:). Just some random rambling......my friends.

Isn't inability to make eye contact common to all aspies/auties? I have had to force myself to make eye contact, but it doesn't come naturally. I would prefer not to make eye contact but that would not be socially acceptable. I also have the dygraphia, no matter how hard I try to write neatly it looks like chicken scratch.

I think it would be having a certain number, but not all, of a list of aspie traits the DSMV thingy should be widened to include.

Some people, like me, have interests which are not as intense, but more social impairments and some sensory sensitivities.

There are also people like my father for example, who have few to no sensory issues, but intense special interest absorbtion and social impairments.

Weirdly i think i got my sensory issues from my mother who seems more NT socially but is very rigid with schedules etc.. and very hyper.

its just not clear cut, especially when 2 different parent's genes are involved. They will carry some AS-centric genes and also NT genes and you will get your own special mix.

Not good at picking up nonverbal communication. All the subtle social nuances and unspoken, hidden meanings behind almost everything said.

I think crushedpentagons really onto something with that analysis of how AS manifests itself into problems in a world where most others brains are simply wired differently. I'm fairly sure I have this condition after scoring 132/200 on that test. I think the part about expecting to act illogically really hit a nail on the head for me. I can't get my head around mindless small talk and chit chat and when im in a group of people doing it it really defies my own personal sense of logic. So I think thats a good one for definition

Perceiving youself acting against your own internal sense of logic and rationale when attempting to conform to conventional social behaviour

Interests that are unusual, either in type or intensity, or those which are out of place for a person of a certain age. In my case, all of these apply. I am an over-the-top "crazy cat lady" and I like Roger Bannister, even though I'm only 43 years of age.