Autism and synesthesia?

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Are there others in this forum who have high-functioning autism and synesthesia (an automatized connection between, for example, graphemes and colors, emotions and colors, etc)? I am curious about how common the combination is, and whether there is any connection between the two conditions?

I have Asperger's and synesthesia, although my synesthesia is not as strong as it was when i was a kid or in my 20's. I don't know how common it is with people with AS or on the spectrum, but as a musician myself, I have know several non-ASD musicians with it. So it's clearly not exclusive to Asperger's or the autism spectrum.

I think I have synaesthesia, and I think it seems to have a higher incidence in people with ASD than with the general population.

Also, why specify HFA?

Right, I just meant to ask about ASD and synesthesia, or AS and synesthesia, high-functioning or not. I am a synesthete and was recently clinically diagnosed with ASD. Though I have no evidence for there being a connection between the two, I thought it would be interesting to hear what others think.

I don't have synethesia, but I have heard that there is a connection between it and autism. The autistic brain is thought to have an overabundance of cortical minicolumns ( organizational units of neurons, or brain cells) which leads to hyper connectivity in brain regions close to one other in an effort to conserve energy (Connections made to distant areas take up more energy). When neurons fire, due to over connectivity with each other, adjacent areas are activated. An example would be the regions of the brain primarily responsible for auditory and visual stimuli...where the perception might be that one is hearing colors, etc.

I have Asperger's and synesthesia, and I do think there's a connection.

I have synesthesia and many traits of ASD. I have read there is a connection.

I have Asperger's and synaesthesia (visual / smell), which I knew about long before I was diagnosed. I took part in a research study that identified several other family members with synaesthesia, one of whom has a son with autism.

There are plenty of hits on Google for autism / Asperger(')s and syn(a)esthesia.

Yes I have it. I think there is a higher incidence with it and people with brain disorders. Stephen Fry who has Bipolar has it. It's not a disorder in itself though for me it's stronger when I'm under stress. I have temporal lobe epilepsy too which makes it stronger.

Both. Mine happens most when I'm concentrating on some music.

Actually, I found a reasonable representation of what it looks like too.
Think of this clip as a cartoon version of what I see: I barely have any colours and it's not circular blobs, but the layout (where the layers or parts of the music and their relationship is clearly visible) is about right and it moves/flows a little like this too.
But it's still a cartoon representation. Mine has a depth and is much more alive and, er, "organic".

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--ykTqoQnqI&feature=related[/youtube]

I don't know if I have it or not.

For months, I see a coloured picture in my mind when I hear the name of a month, I think the pictures I see relating to each month, are pictures from a calendar we had when I was little.

January: Flying penguins
February: A cat sleeping in a pink room
March: An orange giraffe
April: Panda bears
May: A clear, thin gorilla
June: 2 dogs sticking their tongues out
July: A brown thing gorilla celebrating
August: A light blue peacock
September: A HUGE parrot brushing his teeth
October: Grey seals kissing
November: An dark blue animal that I cannot identify sleeping
December: A cat looking at Christmas lights

I don't know if this counts.

That video is pretty close to what I see though the colours are a bit different. There are blues and the yellow is the high note. I'm really bad at music though. The more quieter ones are white and grey.

As for months I see the word and it is in a certain colour.

Jan- lime (reminds me of lime lollypops)
Feb- light orange, spikey
March- Light red

That video is kind of like what I get... Except mine are more like explosions of color? Fireballs? Fireworks? And of course different colors.

They're not very intense and I see them best when I close my eyes. Not as intense as colors having flavor and texture for me.

I think there's other things, too. Some words make me think of things, and I was reminded of this when a particular word that is itself pretty neutral made me feel nauseous, and another pretty neutral word made me think of yellow beetles. I am not sure if this means anything or is associative memory, although for the life of me I can't figure out why I'd associate words with colors and images, or even physical sensations that are not typically related to those words.

But then I am still on the fence as to whether I really have synesthesia. Maybe I should stop sitting on the fence and take that research test.

This is my own interpretation from an actual experience seeing this band live in the photo: