Question about motor skills

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I recently started reading about Asperger's Syndrome and I believe that I can identify with most of the general symptoms except for the motor skill problems.
Actually, I always liked sports, dance and was very flexible and coordinated.
Can that be? Can I have Asperger and still have good motor skills?

I don't see why not, I've got excellent fine motor skills and I'm still aspie. The general symptoms are just that, general. Not everyone is going to have all the symptoms or to the same degree.

I remember someone mentioning that they enjoyed playing football, and another person said that they didn't mind sports so long as they weren't team sports. Can't remember their usernames, but.

Nice to meet you, mysticpizza74.

I read that about 90% people with AS have problems with motor skils but lack of those doesn't exclude being diagnosed. There's no this requirement in AS criteria in DSM IV. Personally, I do have problems of this kind, unfortunately, but they become visible when I try to take part in sport activity (or rather, IF I'd try to take part). I'm glad that I already graduated from school and that horrible time when I had to expose my poor sport skills to other teens looking at me like at a creature from another planet is only a thing of the past.

Remember, there's a spectrum for them as well as everything else. I mean, I'm a crap artist, and I hate team sports, but I can still shoot hoops with 95% accuracy, and I did karate for about 10 years, I do pilates, I can run. I still trip over all the time though in day-to-day life, knock things, walk funny... So I wouldn't say I lack motor skills at all (my karate is brilliant if I say so myself, and I can definitely dance well) but there are a few instances where they go a little wonky.

I have good motor skills, unless I have to keep track of a basketball and another player at the same time.

Poor motor skills is a part of the autism spectrum, but not neceaasrily AS. I think AS is primarily poor social skills and different language skills and attention enhancement, except maybe when ADHD is also present.

I am having problems with my fine motor skills. That is difficult sometimes. But I still do some sports, sometimes I hike and I try to sail.

For sailing I have reached the level that I can teach other people. Sometimes I give some pointers to kids on their sailing, but only on individual basis, not for groups and definitely not as a job.

Teamsports I hate, the competition and bravoure around it... eeewwww

I can generally use my fingers very well, but when I walk around, especially in congested areas, I have a tendency to stagger and bump into things. It also happens when I'm trying not to be noticed.

I think also what you do can have an effect. Like I did karate since I was 4 so of course that'll have some bearing on the skills needed for that. Likewise I've played piano since I was 3, so obviously I'm going to have pretty good dexterity in my fingers and fine motor skills.

I remember one forum where we discussed throwing and catching balls. There was a very large response from people (including me) that shared difficulty in this particular area. I also had trouble dribbling a basketball. As for baseball, I could NEVER throw a ball straight or far, no matter how hard I practiced.
Now, as an adult, I am always dropping things, and occasionally losing my balance. I also do everything the HARD WAY, which makes people laugh at me. I guess that doing certain ordinary physical motions does not come natural to me. I have to think about doing them, which makes them unnatural looking.

I've always had awful motor skills lol...it's kind of funny. I have noticed an improvement though, as I got older. I now catch balls an often lot instead of getting hit by them. Has anyone else's coordination improved with time without real practice?

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

People with Autism often have problems with mirror neurons. A person with normally functioning mirror neurons can watch someone perform an action, and mirror neurons activate. When that person tries to do the action, the same neurons activate, which apparently makes it easier to copy what they see.

Also, many Aspies have reported problems with team sports, because of the social aspect. Add in sensory perception problems, and it's no wonder many (but not all) of them don't do well in sports and such.

I must have some mirror neuron problems, because I often find myself watching someone to learn how they do something, but describing the action to myself. Okay, left arm low, right arm high. Turn 180 degrees to the right. Weight shift from right to left leg. Then I try to memorize all that and then I try to figure out which muscles to move.

Once I learn it, though, it seems that actual motor skills, that is, being able move my body according to some instructions, are something I actually do have.

I just have no athletic (or other action) intuition. If I'm doing something wrong, I have no idea what it is. I just fail at the whole activity because I'm doing one thing wrong. Practice doesn't help, because I don't know what correct action is required. If someone tells me what I'm doing wrong, I can correct it, and then I'll instantly be able to do the activity, sometimes very well. It's like having a missing puzzle piece, and not being able to tell what the puzzle is a picture of until I get the missing piece.

Also, I'll occasionally bump into things. I'm not really that bad, but it seems as if I haven't learned how to move in every possible situation around obstacles.