Is This Asperger's / Autism?

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Please let me know if this sounds like an aspie or autistic. I apologize for the length, but feel free to skim it if you need.


Friends
Not many. Made no effort to stay in contact with old friends when classmates change from year to year. Bullied from 4th grade onward.

Senses
Strong sense of taste, hearing, and sight. Dislikes sunlight, wears sunglasses all the time. Often rejected foods due to texture rather than flavor.

Clumsiness
Has excellent rhythm for music. But a poor athlete. Also scored very low as a dancer when auditioning for an arts school. (He got in as a musician.) Developed speech early on (knew the alphabet at age 2), but walked later than expected.

Mind
Extremely logical. Extreme focus, could focus on something all day long. No visible empathy. Very unemotional. Called "a vulcan" (Star Trek) by his first girlfriend. Loved to know how things worked.

Social Interactions
Loved to share things that he's interested in, but didn't show interest in what other people liked. Didn't show interest in other people.

Poor eye contact. Stiff and awkward, uncomfortable with hugs.

Talked TO people, but not WITH people. Most comfortable teaching / explaining / showing the how or why of something. But rarely on a personal level.

Very excited, lit up, happy before puberty. Open and friendly with strangers. But after puberty... (The rest describes post-puberty.)

Eye contact, bullying, and depression became worse.

Lost the joy / happiness in his voice. Closed to other people's lives. Spoke like a computer (dead monotone) except when discussing his interests, in which case he had a lively voice. Seemed bored with other people, unless they were discussing something in which he was interested. Gave short, quick answers to questions unless it was of a topic that interested him, in which case he gave long answers. Pedantic speech.

Viewed as emotionally & socially immature by his parents. Not described as angry, but rather distant, pre-occupied, unable to connect 1-on-1.

Seemed to relate better to animals than people. Loved animals, but not much interest in people except when they were talking about something that interested him.

Special Interests
He had special interests, but I won't bore you with the details.

Any routines?

Just based on half of the things on your list, I would say yes. You most likely do describe someone with autism or Asperger's.

Nothing too overt. He does have trouble remembering to do things that deviate from his typical daily life. He doesn't plan every day, but he also is very annoyed by unexpected changes to his day when he does decide to make a plan. In college he also had trouble remembering to take his keys and wallet when leaving in the morning so consciously created a habit of putting them in his shoes every evening so that he could not put on his shoes without grabbing the keys and wallet. But nothing to the extreme of doing the same thing at the exact same time every day.

Oh ok. Yeah that does sound a bit like AS.

I'd say so.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Sounds like more Autism.

What is the distinction you are trying to draw here?

If you mean "as opposed to NT" then that makes sense. But if you mean "as opposed to Asperger's" then I'd disagree because there was no speech delay. Knew how to sing the alphabet song at age 2.