How people with AS notice patterns? I'm confused.

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Hi, this is my first post, so I apologise in advance if this is in the wrong section or I come across as ignorant to anyone in the autistic spectrum. I'm not officially diagnosed with aspergers, but my school councillor thinks I have it from weekly meetings for over a year and my Computing teacher (who has a son with aspergers) agrees that I might have it.

Since the breakdown I have not left my house for any social reason for 1.5 weeks, during which time I have been avidly reading about aspergers symptoms, among other things, and a repeatedly occurring aspect is that the AS mind notices patterns much more than the NT mind? Now, my question is, what constitutes a pattern? I was taught that patterns were in pictures, so am finding it very hard to come to terms with an alternative meaning, and so I am finding it hard to tell if I notice patterns in my personal experience of everyday life.

I do have obvious patterns in my daily routine, e.g. have a hot bath and read for exactly an hour at 10.15 EVERY DAY before sleep, etc.

EXAMPLES: 1.) When I am writing, for example, revision notes (on my laptop), every single question HAS to be right next to another question if it is related in any way - even if I have to copy/paste it to a new location. Some other stuff relating to order as well, but it is hard to articulate.

2.) I am fascinated with car number-plates, even though I don't see why :p Every day while waiting for the bus at the same time I will stare at each car / lorry that passes and try to remember it and see if I recognise it from before. I also noticed that when my friend changed cars, the last 3 letters on the number plate went from TSU to TDU, and upon remarking this unlikely coincidence, everyone else said it was surprising I noticed...... But HOW? It's so obvious, 1st and 3rd letter is the same, middle is different.

3.) If I see a work of art or a large array of something that is not in order, it pisses me off and I just wonder why the hell the person in charge didn't just make it symmetrical (if you get what I mean)

4.) Every evening, when I pack the dishwasher and lay the table for my parents in the morning (my chores), I will always do it so that my mum gets the cleaner knife, spoon, plate and bowl for the next day because she works hardest and makes the most money for the family - no exceptions. Also, when putting knives and forks in the dishwasher (there are 8 separate squares for them) I don't like putting spoons and forks together, for example, but if I have, like, 5 spoons and 1 fork, I don't like putting the 1 fork in its own individual square because then it is alone and independent from everything else.

I know this probably just seems like the ret*d ramblings of, well, a ret*d, but I am genuinely interested in some of YOUR real world examples - how else can I empathise unless I know what I am meant to be empathising? I know I do notice WAY more than the average person, but I have no idea HOW MUCH the average person notices, in terms of patterns or otherwise, so I can't tell how different I am, if you get what I mean.

Since you're new to this, I'll explain it this way. Autistics are sensory-oriented, that is, they view the world through senses. Other people view the world through their feelings and personalities (not saying autistics don't, just to a much diminished degree). So since we're taking in so much raw data our brains work harder than others to make sense of it and we like things orderly and symmetrical.

I probably didn't explain that well, but if I'm busy watching my surroundings instead of thinking about Bob's weird hairdo, I'll remember that Bob is wearing a red sweater and won't remember that he said something to me. For example. I go into UPS store to put money on my debit card from a check right and I straighten the forms you fill out to send the packages because someone knocked into them.

I have a specific order in which I do the dishes and how I stack them when they're dirty goes along with this order (I'm stuck doing them all the time bc I can't train anyone else to follow my order).

I think our brains like things to be orderly, but I know some autistic people who would have a lot of clutter but be able to find something in an instant. There are two types I suppose.

One other example is the license plate thing for me, it has to do with the shape and pattern of the numbers and letters. Some patterns are pleasing and easy to remember, numbers in sequence, in order or odd/even are easy. My license plate has two sixes in it and I could never remember it if it had all different numbers unrelated. Like if it was 1807 is harder than 4524.

It should be noted that this pattern recognition can go far beyond the visible or obvious (obvious to the five senses that is).

Some, but not all of us, can "see" patterns in visual contexts, as well as in imaginary contexts that are not "visual" at all, except in a metaphorical sense.

In other words, let's say we're talking about money in the context of accounting. You have several accounts in a bank, one automatically transferring money periodically into another, that one into another, and that one into another and so on, each one at a different rate each month, in line, in sequence. Account number one transfers a certain amount of money per month into account two. Account two transfers a certain amount into account three and so on until you reach the final account from which you draw your spending money for living expenses.

Simple mathematical principles tell us that the amounts from lower numbered accounts MUST be higher than amounts drawn from higher numbered accounts, otherwise your expense account would dry up sooner or later.

That's a pattern.

It's the same pattern as buckets of water with little holes in the bottom, one spilling into another in a sequenced line of buckets (ever seen a complex fountain like that?). The top buckets must spill at least the same or more amount of water as what is spilled by the bucket below it, or the bottom bucket will dry up (and possibly some above it).

That pattern can also be applied to human emotional needs if you think about it hard enough. Think of a child that hears nothing but praise and positive reinforcement from his parent. That child is probably a lot more likely to exude praise himself. But if you think of the child's "emotional account" like a bank account, and then put him with parents that sometimes praise (deposit), and sometimes bad mouth him (withdrawal), then his "emotional balance" will go up and down according to whether they are feeding him positive or negative emotional reinforcement. In turn, where his emotional balance is (high or low) will determine how well he can distribute his own positive reinforcement to others. Add those other people into the mix, and there's the pattern of the buckets, and bank accounts again, only this time it's people, and instead of water or money, it's positive and negative emotions. Same pattern though.

Pick any visible pattern, and there is an analogous equivalent somewhere in the universe, either tangible or non tangible that matches it. Some patterns though are a lot harder to see.

This also explains some some circumstances of how and why some Autistics seem to blurt out things in conversations that are totally random to others, but the autistic "gets the connection" so to speak, while everyone else in the room is like, "Whaaaa?"

Oh, wait. You asked HOW we do it. Darned it I know! I just do it!

Sorry to hear about your breakdown and welcome to WP. I had a breakdown, too, and read a lot about AS, so I can identify. For me, patterns are all about rules. Randomness upsets me, so I'm always scanning everything to try and figure out if it follows a particular rule, or is random. For example, I like looking at number sequences and trying to figure out what the rule is that generates them, so that I can continue the sequence.

If something does not appear to have a rule governing it, I usually invent one. If I don't, the randomness upsets me too much.

For example, if I'm reading a string of numbers in a phone number and they go something like this:

812449682

That looks too random. It upsets me. My brain will start scanning the numbers to see if there is some sort of rule generating them, and when I don't find one, I will start noticing how the numbers are related to one another. I'll note that this one plus that one equals that one, or that one is two jumps away from that one, or something like that. That way, I can pretend there's a sort of rule, even though there really isn't. Sadly, it's just a random phone number.

I look for patterns in just about everything. Nature, manmade objects, numbers, art, human behaviour...To me, it's all about finding a rule. A pattern to me means a series of somethings that are not being generated randomly, but are obeying a rule. If only I can find out what that rule is, everything following it will be predictable and easy to understand, and I cannot possibly make any mistakes or wrong guesses, and nobody will be angry with me for doing the wrong thing.

I suppose that's one reason I look for patterns: so that I can find out the rule telling me what to do next, and the NTs will not be angry. They all somehow know what to do instinctively without having to be taught the rules, but I don't. If only I can notice all the patterns and find out all the rules behind them, it makes me feel more safe. Another reason I love patterns is that I just love tidiness and order and rules. I don't like randomness at all. Patterns are soothing and beautiful and reassuring. When I find one, I feel very comforted, as though I'm in a secret, quiet, gentle cocoon; in some sort of nice secret quiet place away from the noisy chaotic world where everything is random and unpredictable and frightening.

The number you posted - the 1 and 9 upset me because they don't belong there. They are not even numbers.

Yes we do. I don't know how it is. It's part of what I consider a "high intelligence" element to ourselves. But, it's not all visual.

I've been able to see an architectural high-level structure IN evolution. And, people just don't get it, especially NTs. Things don't simply "get better over time". There are cycles and processes to it. This pattern exists, and forms almost like a sine wave, in music, to art, to bacteria, human genetics (and homo-x genetics), nation states, computer programming, you name it - and has never been put together in any sort of published theory or article. It had been ringing in my head since high school when I was in some honors biology program and it was mentioned, after class was over, on the side, as if it was a simple fact in relationship to fossilized bacteria. It took me ages to find any article referencing it (and I'm still not sure where the hell she came across it around 1990). I've seen patterns in human behavior, which is why I keep on referring here to evolutionary psychology (which is entirely different, since this is the micro, not the macro level I just mentioned). Generally speaking, it's part of how I often pick things up - I read, while seeing patterns in structures and can somewhat predict what the next things I'll learn about are, based on patterns. But, people are random, not often logical, and it varies on it's helpfulness. Anyway, enough of that, but it's part of us, yes. I believe it's part of our "problem-solving" advantages, which is just how we are.

Ido tis with music/artwork constantly. I always see aprallels that others don;t.

The fact people do this with numbers is interesting...I used to try to make sense of numbers through equations, but it is a tedious form of memory to me now....although random numbers do bug me. Like my phone number...last numbers are 0449. How do you systemize that?

I am awaiting diagnosis and consider myself somewhere on the spectrum and omg yes about the number plates !
I read every number plate, spot patterns, try and make words from the letters etc... drives me mad
I am also forever straightening things wherever I am, things need to be logical and organised... and the dishwasher, each item goes where its meant to go, properly organised and if someone else trys to do it I have to rearrange it all after them.
My workshop tools are treated like people, they don't get thrown away they just get retired to an honoury status and put on a shelf to watch the young pup tools work away, does that make sense ? They have often spent decades working with me on car projects, I know them like you would a member of your family...could never throw something like that away.

Stu