How common is this.

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Ok well I am mostly self diagnosed but the counseler I was going to up untill recently agreed with it and even asked me about the symptoms and all that. But I there are a couple of things that do not describe me that well. For one I have no routines really, in fact I have extreme difficulty sticking to any routine. Also, though I do have a few intrests I dont feel I obsess over them to the extent most people here describe...it could be the depression maybe. Is there anyone else who does not feel those two things fit with them?

Aspies are each unique, some with varying degrees of some traits and some with varying degrees of other traits. I myself am minimally affected by the communications traits but stongly affected by social isolation and obsessions and routines. I like to liken it to rolling a whole handful of dice with the value of each dice representing the extent to which you are affected by individual traits and groups of traits. In other words, your mileage may vary.

I like that description. Roll 2 D20...

I thought I had no routines at all until it was pointed out that my apparent lack of a routine was in fact a routine and my resistance to changing it was typical - actually, when I was diagnosed, the reaction I heard was that I had an "extreme need for routine."

But you do not need to have a strict adherence to routines to be diagnosed. That's one out of four possible criteria in that section.

Yeah I guess....but yeah I don't really have an issue with things changing I adapt fairly easily. There are some specific things that bother me no matter what though. Like I can't have people sitting too close to me, being directly behind me, it bothers me if people can see what I am writing even if its not something I care if they see...but yeah I just wanted to find out if not having those symptoms would rule out aspergers or if its just my own varation or whatever.

You really just need to fit the criteria in each section to be diagnosable. And if you don't quite fit they can diagnose you atypical asperger's/PDD-NOS. I don't think the lack of any one symptom rules anything out.

That whole routines thing is a big part of the childhood dx process and therapy process. I suspect the need for routines changes as people grow up. If you've got ADHD working in there too, like many do, keeping to a schedule might even been a big challenge.

I have no innate sense of time, I abhor schedules and I resent when expected to keep to one. I can meet deadlines but the process needs to be on my terms - usually there will be alot of procrastinating/mental planning taking place then a flurry of activity right before go time. I think I actually work better under that kind of pressure but that may just be an excuse for not being able to get my butt in gear and keep my brain interested in a single project over a longer period of time. I don't think I ever wrote a term paper any earlier than the night before it was due. Knocking out 20 pages in a night wasn't difficult for me. Trying to get me to focus on it in tiny increments over weeks... forget it.

A good point was made in the above postings...identifying 'routines' one may have is, at least partially, dependent on how 'routine' is defined. I like how often you post, Sweetleaf. ...Maybe that's a routine of yours. lol Incidentally, I'm like you in that I prefer/need others to not be behind me (it's something I've ensured is included in my college class' Accommodation Sheets...so I can actually focus on the class rather than 'what's that person behind me doing now') and I find it incredibly discourteous for others to look at my writings before they've been invited to do so.

About routines. I have a pretty hard thing with learning new routines. But if not worked in, i just tend to forget most everything i should have done... So yep. - I really need those routines to have just, a little, structure in my life. Else i just drift around, from one interesting "topic" to another, completely lost in my own universe...