alex doesn't have Asperger's

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Daniel said that people with Asperger's can't engage in two-way interactions. I have seen videos of alex doing just do that. If Daniel is correct, alex doesn't have Asperger's.

Grow up.

You can train yourself to do so.

the most logical conclusion would be, that Daniel is wrong -.-'. I have heard loads of things like Aspies can't do this or that, and they are all 100% wrong. nothing is impossible

I say if a person is of considerable intelligence, they will have an easier time making up for their short-comings in communication. If you are intelligent and perceptive enough, you will be able to foresee possible social situations and come up with responses prior to that conversation. This means your responses are robotic and systematic in nature, though, and conversation is a lot less genuine.

The internet definitely helps this. If you've typed it enough, you should be able to vocalize it.

I agree with you. The internet has helped me a lot in this regard.

Daniel said such for he read such from those who define this disorder (Asperger, Lorna Wing, the people who wrote the DSM-IV-TR), and in his experience, he is correct.

SertraOD said it.

The older, and more intelligent the individual, the greater one's ability to learn interaction, but this won't be natural interaction; it'll be mechanical and structured, and the answers will most likely always be the same. In a conversation that's spontaneous and lacking in predictability, the person with AS will falter. It's just how it is.

Two-sided spontaneous social interaction is impossible for someone with AS, but this doesn't mean someone won't be able to interact with people mechanically, or in a one-sided way.

The social difficulties in AS are its biggest deficits; it's no different to Kanner's autism other than someone having a higher degree of verbal ability; just because someone can talk doesn't mean they know how to...socialize.

I have been diagnosed with AS and experienced difficulties since childhood. I have also spent a summer in the Financial District of Wall Street in NYC and engaged in many two-sided spontaneous social interactions. I do not come across to people as "mechanical" in my social interactions either.

There was no treatment for individuals with AS as I was growing up like there is today for kids and I had to work hard and face my difficulties on my own to overcome them.

I almost obsessivly plan conversations that may or may not occur. However when I actually end up having the actual conversation I wind up being forced to deviate so much from my plan that the conversation is very 2-sided.

In all reality people with AS just have more difficulty engaging in spontaneous 2-sided conversations. "Can't" is simply far too strong a word for a syndrome that's very existence isn't agreed upon by all medical publications (some don't distinguish between Asperger's and High-functioning autism).

Zsazsa,

I can keep on posting quotes by those who made this disorder. Just because you think you're interacting, doesn't mean you are; I thought I was talking to people when I didn't even...talk. There's no point in trotting out "I did it the hard way in the past", as therapy doesn't do anything for the social deficits of ASDs.

(I won't comment on whether "Alex" has AS or not.)

I have not been diagnosed, nor do I claim to be an Aspie yet, but let's go on the axiom that I do have it, so I can speak of my own difficulties in this context.

I remember having a lot of difficulty expressing myself since I was a very small child, and my friends and family have noted this as well. Over time, I became better and better at being able to hold a conversation. However, I could only do this about other people's problems and non-social topics, like politics or something in the media; things that I have thought extensively about before. Eventually I became able to respond to new situations because I had thought that they may happen, or was suggested that it may happen (from a movie, for example). From there, I thought what I would ideally say in that situation. Eventually, it was in my mind long enough to make it near-instinctual. To the average person, I was normal. But to those who knew me better and those very few who were insightful enough, there was something off about me. They could never figure it out, because I had become so good at becoming someone that I wasn't. Things I said weren't because I truly believed them. They were said because they portrayed an image of normality (and superiority, what can I say?).

Some people are good at hiding. It's a common defense mechanism. What matters in this case is whether or not you can have genuine spontaneous conversation. Speaking from the soul, so to speak.

I think 2 way conversation is fine - its when its 3 or 4 way that problems start. I can just about read the cues of one person if I consentrate but Im lost in a group or party and cant see when is a pause so tend to alternate interupting and monologueing and turning the conversation to what I want to talk about. But if a therapist had asked me 10 years ago if I had problems with conversations I would have said no- as I thought I was just extroverted and liked talking and that others were just quiet/boring (not that they couldnt get a word in edgways!) I found I was exhausted spending time with people but I didnt know why.

A lot of therapists talk a load of rubbish still and some wont diagnose autism if the people are vocal!! !

Aspies have to learn how to engage in a two-way conversation. It is not something that is instinctive the way it is in NT's. The more formal the situation and specific the topic I can be quite proficient in two-way conversations. The more informal and scattered the conversation the more I falter.

I really don't care if Alex has AS or not. This website has been of tremendous value to me and to too many others.

I think Alex would dispute that statement besides myself...

Temple Grandin can currently engage in two-way interactions. She also did not speak until she was four. There is no doubt that she is on the autism spectrum.

How come when I explain something similar nobody makes references to me? I'm about to implore the issue why teachers always make statements that include 'we didn't understand what these two papers you wrote were about'. Zero points. I'm not that one-sided am I. Feels like being no-sided. I'm gonna write exams in a week that are corrected by my teachers, I feel dodgy, argh.