Conversation skills

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Eeekkk! My new couselor took back what she said last week... she decided I held down a conversation way too well to be an Aspie, but admitted she wasn't an expert, she was impressed by my coin counting however... but still she said I was a bipolar savant.

Anyway, does conversation skills put someone out of the running or not?

I don't think so. There are many other factors. For example sensitivities.
It is something that some on the Spectrum have problems with.

About having conversation skills, when I feel "safe" with a person, I have fairly good conversation skills. When not feeling safe, my conversation skills are not so good. I am diagnosed and have been for a while.

It depends on what this counsellor understands by the term 'conversation skills'.

I assume she means turn-taking, the natural give-and-take, as well as how to argument, how to embrace the conversationalist's statements, how to keep a conversation going, how to be appear empathic, how to be interesting up until the finer tunes on how to lie, how to be witty, how to joke.

In plain English: do you appear polite, caring and understanding and or rude, unsympathetic and like a huge arrogant 4-letter word.

The AS question may be: does the person appear to know how to converse or does he/she appear clueless?

Good conversation skills suggest a person has good understanding of social interaction too. But language skills and attention themselves are already not a reliable indicator for how much a person understands of social stuff in certain disorders.

You should ask her for the specifics of what you did too well in her opinion if possible.

It's a good question... I know I can emulate well, but it isn't natural. As described to someone earlier today, it's like a combination of Rubik's Cubes and Tetris... trying to decipher the cube before it has to be put in a place in conversational structure, seeing where the next piece might fit at the same time. Still trying to find someone qualified to talk to.


M.

Hmm, I guess I'm good at the "give and take" stuff. I really don't know.

I'm fairly good at conversation, but I've learned how to hold one over the years. 10 years ago I couldn't hold a conversation to save my life. This person would likely tell me I don't have Aspergers either. But I'm diagnosed...

I only go to a doctor when I am obsessed with my personal issues (for lack of a better description) and need assistance from the doctor. If I have no interest in talking to a doctor, or don't feel comfortable, then I don't go the appointment.

From the time I set an appointment, I spend countless hours over many days (usually more than 1 week) thinking about what I am going to say and anticipating questions from the doctor. I obsessively plan for most social encounters the same way.

At the doctor's office the conversation is short, the roles are well-defined, I am well-prepared, the conversation is one-on-one and the topic is something I am interested in at the moment. The conversation does not involve much small talk, I do not need to read social cues and the conversation generally involves the doctor asking questions about me and me providing truthful answers.

I probably seem good at conversation under those circumstances.

This highlights a difference between being evaluated as an adult and evaluated as a child. My 8 year old son was recently diagnosed with Aspergers after being tested and observed at school. If the evaluation of my son consisted only of an office visit with a doctor who asked him questions about Pokemon (his latest obsession) for 30 minutes, then the doctor probably wouldn't see any major issues other than lack of eye contact and fidgeting. Of course, ask my son about any other topic and you are going to hear about Pokemon. Watch my son at recess or lunch and you will see someone sitting quietly alone or wandering around by himself collecting things he finds on the ground, sometimes interjecting random facts about Pokemon into conversations of those nearby.

Conversation skills do not put you out of the running. The issue is that with most things, there is a relationship, but not a perfect one. Over the years, I have learned to conversate with people relatively well, but hell, I still have a diagnosis, and some almost diagnoses from earlier ages.