Parts of Objects?

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I don't have a preoccupation with parts of objects. This is supposed to be a symptom of AS, but I have not heard of anyone experiencing this.
Does anyone here have such a preoccupation? I'm not sure I even understand what would qualify.

i don't really have a preoccupation with parts of objects. i just really like to know how EVERYTHING works.

i like gears a lot too

maybe this could be what they're talking about?

Sometimes, I find that I am interested in what could be deemed "part" of something. I remember making friends with someone, just because she wore a sweater with glittery gemstones on it. I was enticed out of my usual caution mode to speak to her, because of that sweater. I have also felt attracted to people because of a good body odor, or that I associated them with some positive event.

Those poor shrinks do not express themselves well. How things go together, how the parts interact, such things as machines, computers, or cooking.

It is not enough to know something has a function, I want to take it apart. Before I throw away an ink cartridge I peel off the print head, look at it under my microscope, and see how it is designed, manufactured, and assembled.

Shrinks fit on a spectrum. University Professors, most highly educated people, call an elecrtrician to change a fuse, after running extention cords, hoping it will cure it's self. They called me to fix their computer, and they were the cause of the problem. The truth is not popular, nor does it pay, so I had a regular job.

They have a near total lack of interest or understanding about how the technology they live with works. From twelve I was doing light plumbing, lawn mower repair, bicycles, Thomas Edison, Henery Ford, and the Wright Brothers all had a bike shop to start out.

Our educated class has a disconnect from the mechanical reality. Call it Clogged Sink Symdrome, and write it a script.

I also noticed they could not cook. They still did, and once over for dinner was enough. They seem to lack the ability to learn things that involve parts and processes.

It is like a lot of things, good at English bad at Math, or the other way, whole families that cannot spell,

In this case it is the higher functions of the mind, all smoke and mirrors to me, not a science, and a zero score on spatial relationships, where we hit the top of the charts. So we have a problem, sure Doctor, and how long have you been feeling this way?

Mechanics, plumbers, electricians, computer repair all charge more than they do, and we can get by without their service. They treat us like we are stealing from them, then take out their anger on their patients.

A word of advice, do not take a check from these guys. They are cash on the barrelhead only.

You know how you might zone out? Sometimes I kind of conciously do that and it is like my subconcious takes over or sometimes I find I basically just end up almost as a stim looking at parts of objects.

I do look at objects a little closer than most people, sometimes. To me, though, a "preoccupation" would be something like staring at the handle of your coffee mug all day. Not just studying it for a minute, or liking the way it fits your hand.
Maybe shrinks just think we're preoccupied because we notice things they don't?

It's funny, the DSM has it as a [possible] symptom; it then goes on to state that it's more of an autistic disorder thing than an AS one in the differential diagnosis section.

Anyway, it refers to the stereotypical spinning of a solitary wheel on a toy car; most kids will play with the car how it's "meant" to be played with, someone with autism may open and close a single door nonstop, spin a wheel and/or whatnot.

You can apply the above to other things, for example: I listen/watch the same few seconds of a movie/song repeatedly as I like that single instant, I neglect the rest of the song/movie.

You know Daniel I do this also on occasion and never thought about it at all. I really cant think of any other instance I do this, just movies and songs its so funny you meansioned that. As far as an actual part of an object I cant really recall any time I have been obsessed with that.

Its just in 1987 I was DXed with HFA, but since I have been to this board I am sooo convinced I have the wrong DX, of course aspringers was not accepted as a diagnosis until the 90's so I was a few years shy, but anyways, I am certain now AS is far more sutible then HFA for me at least. You posted about the DSM a few days ago comparing/contrasting AS and HFA, mainly contrasting and I must say I learned something from your post and never knew the interest of parts of an object was more to do with HFA then AS until I read your post. Thank you for the info!

I display this behavior.

woodsman25,

My psychiatrist sees it as more of an autistic thing; when we were talking about autism, he brought that up as something that's quite common (see: parts of objects), and when I queried that is listening/watching a certain part of a larger piece of media repetitiously an equivalent, he said yes.

AS/HFA are more similar to each other than the typical presentation of LFA is to those prior; both are just variations of a common theme (autism).

That's a good example of what I thought it was. I will use a pen, etc... and seem normal, and I know how they work, but I still might "play" with the latch, etc... like a caveman or something. That isn't obvious, and isn't really intrusive. Heck, when I met someone here IRL, I did this kind of thing with the clasp on my baseball cap. Go figure.

Until i read several posts i thought i didn't but now i realise it's so "normal" for me to "separate" off parts of things and events, to think about , or touch/listen to, etc that i've taken it for granted!! Wild! i even find myself doing it with my ( prob PDD/AS somewhere) 8 year old son, fixating on some bit of a mechanism or process, and with him trying to work out how it works, or why it's like that.
Unfortunately this has not so far translated into a job!! ( apart from "seminars" with son!!)

I love WP for putting myself into perspective. The things I don't "see" about myself, and that's another thing , acc to diag/descriptions Aspergers have diff perceiving themselves clearly, DESPITE having impression of being objective etc!

I used to spin the wheels on toy cars (I liked the way it looked and the sound it made), but I would also play with them "properly".

As a child very much. I use to take apart objects to collect parts inside of them. Not so much anymore. Computers parts now. I have no idea if that is qualification that is just something I did and do.

I used to take things apart when I was a child, to see how they work. I still do, but learned to limit that activity to objects that aren't damageable and/or excessively expensive.

I take battery cover off my Game Boy and I tend to take the DS pen out of my DS and put it back in again and I do the same with games. I also keep taking the GBA cover off my GBA slot of my DS lite.

I also have tendancies to stare at objects.

I used to stare at objects in the car as we drive by them. Like I look at the steel on the bridge as we drive on it, I'd look at the lines in the roads, look at the telephone wires and watch them go by, I did it with lights too in tunnels. But I drive now so I really can't anymore because I have to watch the roads but I can watch what goes by me in front of my eye sight but I can't lose my contration on the road.