2 questions: hearing/memorizing, special interests

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Sorry for the strange title, there's not much space in that box.

First question: I'm just curious if anyone else has trouble memorizing things visually. I keep hearing of people on the spectrum with amazing visual memories/visual learners/visual thinkers/etc.

I'm the exact opposite. I can memorize things I've heard really easily. However, sometimes I don't really process what's being said. So, if a teacher asks what was just said, I can parrot back most things pretty accurately, but I still don't understand what's being said.

I also have almost no visual memory. If I see something and want to remember it, I remember it in words. I 'visualize' it in words, too, if I try to recall something.

Does anyone else do something like this?

Second question, I'm just curious if my interests are actually AS 'special interests' or just normal interests. I don't really have anyone to bounce this off of, I've got one friend who knows almost everything about me, but doesn't know about my suspected AS, who thinks my interests are very specific, etc. However, another friend who knows that I think I have AS but doesn't know me quite as well doesn't think they're very specific. However, he decided this after comparing me to his own interests (apparently, he's 14 and spent a month learning about one family of plants or something) so I'm not sure who to believe.

So, I ask you all.

Some examples:

In 4th grade, I loved pokemon (leafgreen). I wasn't good or anything, but I found it fun to play...and play...and play. For at least a few weeks, I woke up every school day at 5AM (I had to be up at 7) so I could get two more hours to play Pokemon.

In 5th grade, I was interested in books by Tamora Pierce. I owned 22 of her books. I sorted each of them into order by series, then each series into a larger timeframe. I built a bookshelf in Carpentry class for them. I once tested myself, if I closed my eyes and pointed to a book I could:
a) guess which it was by feel
b) tell which it was by its placement vs. the books around it b/c I knew my organizing system so well
I created two clay models of the Winding Circle Temple, one of the locations a series. I included five specific locations off the top of my head, and an additional interactive scene in one of them so I could act out the invasion of the pirates in the first book.
I named all my stuffed animals after the characters in the Winding Circle series
I would imagine myself talking to the four main characters in the books
Most of my thoughts other than schoolwork in some way revolved around those books/characters
I took all my Tamora Pierce books to camp because I couldn't imagine not having them
I carried around a quartet in my bag there and re-read them during recess every day of camp (three weeks)

In late 6th-early 7th grade, I was interested in Orson Scott Card books (still am, but to a lesser degree) Though, nothing really competes with my interest in the Winding Circle books by Tamora Pierce.

However, I think you get the idea.
My question is in two parts: First, would you say that interests such as Tamora Pierce books would count as being oddly specific/focused? Second, do interests still count if they're mostly focused on books/movies? (All fictional) If they're specific and focused, but never about anything other than fictional characters/stories/movies.


Oh, and on a different note, I remember playing when I was younger (6?) to maybe around 8 or 9, and was wondering if it was really imaginative. I can only remember playing with other kids in an imaginative setting twice. Both times, I simply told them their role in my pre-conceived storyline, which always went the same way, for maybe three years:
1)Set up Barbie's house
2)Barbie injures her foot
3)Wrap up Barbie's foot
4)Clean up
I never did anything more than this.
After that, I played 'school' with my dolls with myself. Yet again, it never deviated. I only played this with myself, after bedtime (I kept many soft dolls in my bed) By many, I mean 15-19
1)Line dolls up facing me, with the most important doll in a chair, her closest friends next to her
2)Take attendance
3)Find any dolls that fell off the bed/caught in the sheets
Note: Yes, I knew all the dolls and which were missing.
4) Fall asleep


I've actually done quite a bit of imaginative play from maybe ages 7-now, but it was always the same. A doll would be chosen to be my 'friend', a basic scene would be set up (everyone sitting around), then I'd close my eyes and simply imagine everything that was happening. There was no manipulating the dolls once the scene had been set up, in any of my three 'games'.

Now, it's simply me and an imaginary friend or five. Once again, it's all in my head. Though, now I call them 'stories' and write them down, and nobody bothers me about it.

Would those really be imaginative?

Audio/visual question: It seems like you just might be an extremely auditory learner. But it may be that there's something wrong with the part of your brain that stores visual memory. I would bring this up to a doctor to be sure.

Special interest question: 1) I think your interest in Tamora Pierce books was pretty specific. 2) Yes, special interests still count if they're about movies/books/fictional characters. (In fact, virtually all of my special interests have revolved around fictional characters.)

Yes, I think you were being imaginative, though probably not in a way that would be typical for NTs. (By the way, I have imaginary friends too. )

I don't really care about any lack of visual memory, I was just curious if anyone else on the spectrum had this, since visual learners seem more common.Yay, someone else who likes fictional characters. I haven't seen many others with interestes revolving mostly around fiction. For me, it's probably because as a child, I wasn't really allowed in the nonfiction section of my library at school, and I didn't go on the internet/tv much, so there wasn't much else to get interested in, then a habit formed.Seems like a lot of people do! I guess my big confusion is because when I was little, I re-created the same situation, and never played 'aloud', as I like to think of it. (I've got a younger brother, so I didn't play with anyone) Therefore, most times I played, I didn't touch the dolls or say anything aloud.

I did play with Thomas trains and stuff with my brother, but those all had the same scenario too:
Brother: Can we play trains
Me: I'll set up the track. You can play
*sets up a train track*
Me: Ok, done.
Brother: Thanks. *plays*
*I leave room*

I think we played when I was like 9+, but it was the same thing - I only set up situations, played the whole thing out in my head while setting it up, then left once it was set up.


ETA: PS, Thanks for responding!

For me, memorizing is very hard - though some things I can and do remember very well, like KNOWING - I can draw you a map - go to the library, third floor, three cases in, go halfway down, turn left, and the book will be to the left on the second shelf. I can't tell you the author, but the cover is green and it is about dragons.

Your imaginativity sounds like mine, I never get what imagination COUNTS with the people who care.

When I took memory tests when I was younger, my best result was in auditory memory (100% - I could recognize birds I had never heard before), my second best result was visual memory but I do prefer hearing things in order to memorize them (mostly at school because I don't have to read my lessons XD).

By the way, I remember what I read but when it comes to spacial things, I cannot remember them, even if I saw them. I do not know whether it counts in visual memory or not but I do have a preference for auditory memory. I vizualize words too, and the pages I have read, I think it basically a part of visual memory.
I think we all have a preference though some traits are more common on the spectrum.

As for special interests, I have read aspies on another forum saying that "football" or anything "popular" or "nor scientific" could not be a special interest and was "totally NT", however, I do think special interest vary with age and individuals. Saying that all aspies are scientists would be totally wrong, saying that you cannot have a special interest in football, books, movie is wrong, it depends on your others interests and the way you are interested in it.

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About visual memory:

Words

Apraxia - Constructional apraxia, etc.
Prosopagnosia - Face blindness

Comprehension - Very good, good, average, poor (in a certain area), etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehension

Integration
Processing
Sensory Processing
Sensory Integration

Visual Images - How clear and stable are the visual images or do they appear in a person's brain/mind/head as a kind of inconsistent, somewhat inconsistent flickering neon images/whatever?

Memory
Memory - Auditory
Memory - Visual
Memory - Both auditory and visual integrated together

Cluster of possibilities which may/may not apply:

Subtle Dyslexia of some type
Subtle ADHD Inattentive - ADHD of some type
Subtle Petit mal/absence/complex partial/TLE, etc.
Side-effect - Sports concussions, etc.

Paying Attention - Working Memory/Short term memory/Medium term memory/Long term memory

Memorization vs Memory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorization

Memory - Essentially pretty stable vs Memory - Inconsistent, fluctuating, unpredictable, etc.

and so on.

I have a decent visual memory. I have a better auditory memory and can parrot like you are saying. If I need to remember something I usually will say it out loud or put it to a tune. When I am very tired I will sometimes have to rewind things people just said to me and re-play them to try to make out what they're asking. I will often be able to remember new people by how they sound prior to recognizing their face.

I don't think your interests are overly specific, it's not uncommon for people to like one author. Your way of using and cataloging your books is very different, but it seems like you like to integrate things into a total sensory experience. I was a big Steven King fan for a long time and owned and read every book he wrote up to Delores Claiborne. Something about his writing style changed with that book and I didn't like it. When I was younger it was fairy tales and later Greek myths. Now I collect fortune telling cards.

I didn't like playing with dolls, but I also had many and knew when anything was missing. And if it got lost and you tried to pass a newer version over on me I knew immediately it wasn't mine and would be inconsolable.

I had an entire world that I created and drew pictures of the people that were in it. It was very elaborate and I would happily spend hours of my time thinking about it (it was all in my mind also - I didn't use props) and playing out the story. It was my preferred activity for many years actually. My mother only got upset because I would pace around the house while I was thinking which was "strange" behavior. So I only did it when she wasn't around (which was often) and would close the shades in the house so no one would say anything to her.

Hope this helps.

That's basically how I am with auditory memory, I can parrot things but sometimes I need to think them over to tell what they mean, even if I can repeat them back. Sometimes, I can remember things visually but that's rare. I can't visualize new things, though sometimes I add in a few old visual memories. For example, we were told to visualize a pond with a willow tree for English class, and the closest I got was visualizing the willow tree from Sims 2. Yes, it does help

I never drew pics of my little world because they were all based on my dolls, but I did the same thing, thinking about it without using props. Though, I only played after lights-out, at night, so I didn't pace. I just sat there in bed, 'talking' to my dolls