Clumsy Asperger's

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I went to a psychiatrist today and he desribed me as having "clumsy asperger's." I was wondering if any else has heard about this type of AS.

Hmm. That doesn't sound very scientific. What do I know though.

A quick google search doesn't come up with "Clumsy Asperger's" as a term, so he either made it up or meant something different than to say it is a unique condition separate from regular asperger's.

Are you particularly clumsy? He may have just been informal with you... 'clumsy' isn't a diagnosis in and of itself. It is a symptom though.

I've heard of something called Developmental Co-ordination Disorder.
It can be co-morbid with Asperger's syndrome or more severer forms of autism.
I recommend that you search Developmental Coordination Disorder on the Web to find out more.

Clumsiness is a trait of AS that affects some but not all Aspies. I know of one Aspie who moves more gracefully than a gazelle although his body type (very tall) encumbers that gracefulness. I myself have always been terrible in sports, which I did not like anyhow and throughout my childhood was plagued by an inability to do any of the simple things that all kids learn to do such as:

Age 6 - Could not learn to rollerskate
Age 8 - Could not learn to ride a bicycle
Age 8 - I developed terrible handwriting that was totally illegible
Age 4-12 - Could not learn to swim
Age 12 - Finally learned to swim with a clothespin over my nose
Age 13 - Was given a D in gym class... lowest grade I ever got in school by far
Age 16 - Was finally taught to ride a bicycle by my 10 year old neighbor
Age 16 - High school classmates jokingly suggested I should try out to become a cheerleader since I was no good at sports
Age 17 - Learned to drive a motorcycle
Age 18 - Gave up on handwriting in college because I could not take notes fast enough and reverted to a block letter style of printed writing. I still use this today 42 years later and only sign my name in handwriting, which is still illegible.
Age 18 - Was affectionately nicknamed one of Smyke's Super sp****cs by a college swim teacher named Smyke.
Age 19 - Began driving motorcycles exclusively until age 25 (very odd for an Aspie... many hate the noise)
Age 19 - Was the target of annoyed wrath by a college softball teacher
Age 25 - Tried to learn to ride a skateboard and failed
Age 29 - My wildly uncoordinated dance style became a source of great amusement for people in the employees club at my location
Age 60 - I still can't rollerskate and at my age will never even attempt it again. Aspies are just not meant to do some things.

And probably quite a few more that do not come to mind readily.

One good link that references this Aspie clumsiness follows. Look a little past halfway down the page at the last item under the "Cognitive and Motor Skill Impairments" category.

http://autism.lovetoknow.com/Aspergers_Checklist

No. I pictured it as someone who has AS and Dyspraxia.

If those were his exact words, I agree that it doesn't sound very professional. If he was trying to make things seem more clear to a person who is not a professional, I don't think he should be doing that. He should give you the real terms, then explain what they mean. Clumsiness is a common feature of ASD though, so it is not odd that you would be a very clumsy person with Aspergers.

I'm a very clumsy person. I'm always banging into things.

I have bruises all over my legs and arms from knocking into things in the deli where I work. Fine motor control issues are fairly common in someone with AS, but I have never heard of the term 'clumsy Aspergers'. He could have been speaking informally, though, and simply meant that you probably suffer from this co-morbidly.

"Clumsy asperger's" isn't an actual category. Clumsiness is a common symptoms of AS, but isn't required by the DSM. The gillberg criteria requires poor performance on a test of motor skills.
With me, i'm clumsy but i think it has more to do with inattention than poor motor coordination. I was always very coordinated for my age as a kid. I also have good balance and everything. BUT, i still drop things, bump into things, get food on myself, etc. a lot! I even have lots of scars on both arms from walking into the sides of shelves when i worked at walmart, lol. I think it's mostly because i'm thinking about something else, so i stop paying attention to where my body is. So, yeah.. I think the term "clumsy" is too broad, because it could be dyspraxia, inattention, or maybe even other things.

You know, I was just reading about Dyspraxia, because I'm definitely in the same "clumsy" boat. Inattention, lack of sleep, distraction from environmental factors, or genuine motor-coordination can all be problems for an aspie. Certainly is for me.

I've had some of the classic issues with handwriting, riding bikes, gym class, constantly bumping into things and dropping stuff.
Not everyone is that way, but there seems to be a big correlation.

hi folks,

yeah I still don't get that part of AS - clumsiness! For me the intense world syndrome makes a lot of sense, AS is alot related to having a more sensitive nervous system. But what the hell does this have to do with motor skills??? :-O

thanks for any hints,
anton

I don't think a more sensitive nervous system is the core of AS. I think AS is more of a less effectively working nervous system in general, at least parts of it are so affected. The result we experience may include a higher sensitivity or poorer motor skills too.

I experienced clumsiness throughout my life. I'm not so affected so that I bang myself to furniture constantly, but I did it here and there.

My movements are either hasty or slow and overcontrolled, there is no midway. This seems odd in the eyes of others. I learned swimming with difficulty at the age of 10, although I learned biking with no delay. I'm very bad at sports when my feet don't stand firmly on the ground, like skiing, skating, roller-whatsoever. Everybody beats me in Soccer and other ball games. I only learned cross-county mountain-biking recently by extensive help of one of my colleagues, until then I was poor at speedy slopes and tricky off-road tracks.