The Autistic Spectrum...

[Shaun]

When I was just a couple of years old, I believe, I was diagnosed with dyspraxia, which is in the autistic spectrum. Moderate dyspraxia. I've had many troubles all throughout my life, and it was only months ago when I went on a self-discovery journey and discovered a lot more about what dyspraxia does. That's why I haven't posted here much lately. Now I know what could have caused my English skills to lately increase, but I also know why I've always been afraid of crowds, for example, or can't socialise.

I looked at the Wikipedia page on autism though, and I believe I may genuinely be autistic. I share almost all of the traits on the page. I can speak quite clearly now, but I was quite late developing it and had speech therapy when I was a kid. I talked to my mum about autism last night, and she told me she had been researching Asperger's Syndrome for a while, and believes I may have it. But I don't know... looking at the autism page, I still believe I may be autistic.

I hope to get assessed, but apparently the wait can be a year, so I'm prepared to pay whatever needed to get an assessment as soon as possible. So, what do you guys know about the autistic spectrum? As I type this, the noise around me is extremely distracting and I'm finding it hard to focus. If you have an autistic spectrum disorder, tell me about it.

[I Am Stoner]

I have ADHD, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia. Its hard, but if you need anyone to talk to about these problems im here. Don't hesitate to talk to me, ok?:)

[Lost Number]

I have Aspergers Syndrome, and whilst I have often lamented its effect, i believe I have not lost out on all that much. I suffer from al the symtoms.
Limited interests or preoccupation with a subject to the exclusion of other activities; Yes, i find it is my gaming, computing and scripting.
Repetitive behaviors or rituals; Yes. I always favour my left foot while walking, i look stupid sometimes and trip up.
Peculiarities in speech and language; NO its not my irish accent...i always sound that dumb. I also tend to mix up words and then go silent for 5 seconds while i work out what I was trying to say.
Socially and emotionally inappropriate behavior and interpersonal interaction; Do I HAVE to go into that? Im just going to say im not very good at making friends. I probably have more friends on these forums than the entire rest of my life. Im also very violent.
Problems with nonverbal communication; Duh. I can read body language about as much as I understand Gaelic (not that much, but im learning).
Clumsy and uncoordinated motor movements. I was never any great shakes at sports. Or anything like that.

I suffer from most other complaints too. My handwriting is abysmal. I have managed to overcome some of the big language and social barriers, but I still find it very hard to make friends.

[Shaun]

I have ADHD, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia. Its hard, but if you need anyone to talk to about these problems im here. Don't hesitate to talk to me, ok?:)

Thanks very much. I'll keep that in mind. :)


I have Aspergers Syndrome, and whilst I have often lamented its effect, i believe I have not lost out on all that much. I suffer from al the symtoms.
Limited interests or preoccupation with a subject to the exclusion of other activities; Yes, i find it is my gaming, computing and scripting.
Repetitive behaviors or rituals; Yes. I always favour my left foot while walking, i look stupid sometimes and trip up.
Peculiarities in speech and language; NO its not my irish accent...i always sound that dumb. I also tend to mix up words and then go silent for 5 seconds while i work out what I was trying to say.
Socially and emotionally inappropriate behavior and interpersonal interaction; Do I HAVE to go into that? Im just going to say im not very good at making friends. I probably have more friends on these forums than the entire rest of my life. Im also very violent.
Problems with nonverbal communication; Duh. I can read body language about as much as I understand Gaelic (not that much, but im learning).
Clumsy and uncoordinated motor movements. I was never any great shakes at sports. Or anything like that.

I suffer from most other complaints too. My handwriting is abysmal. I have managed to overcome some of the big language and social barriers, but I still find it very hard to make friends.

That's interesting, because I suffer from most of them too. Let's see...

- My interests are very limited and I've turned into a very antisocial being. I never go out, and, I hate to admit on these forums, where people I like will see this... I have no friends. Zero. The interests I do have, I'm very interested in though. Gaming would be one of them, and so would game development or other computer-based creative work. I've got an obsession with language and point out signs to myself with punctuation errors, for example. I'm always questioning many aspects of life when I daydream too.

- I don't know whether I favour a certain leg, but I'm certainly clumsy, and that comes with dyspraxia. I try so hard to do everything correctly, so people around me won't insult my differences, but sometimes people notice these things. Alas, I could be worse off in this department, but still...

- Speech is the one area where I could say I'm probably not affected as badly, but I'm still affected. I had speech therapy when I was young. I said things wrong. One example is hostipal, instead of hospital. That's right; I mixed around consonants. My voice has always been shaky, and I don't think it sounded right in secondary school. Over the years though, I've been able to control my voice better.

- Yeah, I pretty much went over how I am socially on the first one... and I can argue a bit with parents and I hate myself for that, even if it is partially caused by my disabilities.

- And finally, yes, I can't understand any body language. I take things very literally, I can never make eye contact for long, and I never smile.

Thanks for your post, LN; it's helped.

[Spiffing Cheese]

I don't really know all that much about it. The closest I've come to autism is when I used to spend time with a kid with, well, severe autism. It's really sad to think about how someone who can't communicate or look after themself is going to end up. He's eight now, and pretty much the closest you can get to having a conversation with him is getting him to say hello, and possibly your name. :(

Anyway, as I don't have any advice or anything, I wish you luck. :)

[starseeker]

I had a friend who has asperger's. I just remember that his social skills were worse than mine. I don't think I'm autistic but I'm not very good with people. I'm never sure where to look when talking to people because I don't want people to think I'm staring. I also had a speech therapy when I was younger. My parents tell me that I'm just weird and unlikely ot be autistic.

[Lost Number]

The best thing i ever noticed about autism is the name itself - autism, which comes from greek autos - self. Its something i've noticed, we are perfectly capable of thought, etc, it just gets messed up on the way out. We do feel, we simply have difficulty expressing it. I've had a couple of people call me heartless when i didnt show emotion before. Aspergers has quite a famous history in Ireland, some of the greatest heroes were said to have it, like Padraig Pearse.

[Levian]

Question: Do you have problems falling asleep?

[Lost Number]

Question: Do you have problems falling asleep?

Yes?

[Shaun]

I don't really know all that much about it. The closest I've come to autism is when I used to spend time with a kid with, well, severe autism. It's really sad to think about how someone who can't communicate or look after themself is going to end up. He's eight now, and pretty much the closest you can get to having a conversation with him is getting him to say hello, and possibly your name. :(

Anyway, as I don't have any advice or anything, I wish you luck. :)

Thank you, that's nice of you. I guess I hardly talked to anyone when I was a kid (I don't much now) but I don't think I had it that bad. Severe autism can be quite... well, I don't know the word for it. I've lately been wondering about the connection of autistic people and space/the stars.


I had a friend who has asperger's. I just remember that his social skills were worse than mine. I don't think I'm autistic but I'm not very good with people. I'm never sure where to look when talking to people because I don't want people to think I'm staring. I also had a speech therapy when I was younger. My parents tell me that I'm just weird and unlikely ot be autistic.

Yeah, it's probably nothing, though it could be something. You should probably asked to be assessed to be sure. It may be nothing, and the assessment wait may be a year, but it's better to find out early on than find out when you're thirty or something.



The best thing i ever noticed about autism is the name itself - autism, which comes from greek autos - self. Its something i've noticed, we are perfectly capable of thought, etc, it just gets messed up on the way out. We do feel, we simply have difficulty expressing it. I've had a couple of people call me heartless when i didnt show emotion before. Aspergers has quite a famous history in Ireland, some of the greatest heroes were said to have it, like Padraig Pearse.

Yeah, I often get hurt by things people say every day, but I just don't do anything about it and continue my day. But then at the end of the day, I can get quite emotional about it, and I can't stop thinking often.


Question: Do you have problems falling asleep?

Yes. Dyspraxics have an inability to simply stop thinking and let the brain 'shut down'. Therefore, I usually get to sleep at at least 1:00, but sometimes up to 4:00.

[boris no no]

I went to school with an autistic lad, he was badly bullied which lead to a very bad response from him. It was upsetting to see but as a teenager we didn't know how to cope with him.
My best friends brother is also autistic and I have to say hes the best young lad I know! Hes funny and is always happy to sit with her and her friends when we have our girly nights.

I find that I have a number of the symtoms you've accounted for but I do not believe I have this syndrome.
I cannot spell and I sometimes forget what I'm saying and find it hard to concentrate when theres a lot of noise about. PLus I'm as clumsy as hell.
Without sounding like a horrible person I would await for the test results before you jump to any conclusions.

[Old Manus]

I talked with a guy who I was later told was autistic. He didn't talk much and I thought he was just being rude :(

[StarChild]

my cousin has a moderate case of autism. We caught is really early because his doctor has an austistic daughter. If you do have a more servere case of austism, it would be extremely hard for you to function properly, my cousin is only moderate, and it's hard for him.

[Elite Lord Sigma]

I happen to have Asperger's Syndrome, but the effects aren't very bad. First, outside of the forums and my family, I really only have three people I consider to be friends. I also have trouble making eye contact with people. I also don't go outside often, and am not social with many people aside from who I previously mentioned. The only sport I actually like doing is swimming, but I'm not into competitive teams and such.

On the flipside, I am extremely brilliant. (My IQ was recently recorded as 178.) This means that I know plenty of tidbits of information that most people triple my age don't know. I also have an avid interest in reading and gaming.

I suppose it really isn't that bad. I can grow out of my shell of tending to be antisocial. The bad will probably get better as I grow older.

[Shaun]

edit: all deleted, nevermind...

[GooeyToast]

I've been looking at the wiki page on Aspergers, and I too seriously think I might have it. Almost all those symptoms fit me, and if I do indeed have it then that would explain all these annoying nuances I have (right foot when walking, handwriting, among others).

I am horrible at making friends. My social life is pretty much non-existant. I've only had one girlfriend, who I didn't even ask out and who now hates me for whatever reason. I see people I want to talk to or get to know, but I simply cannot open my mouth to talk to them. Instead I'll just look at them the whole time hoping they'll come to me, which never happens. The friends I do have, I would hardly consider true friends. They're mostly just people I talk to or who make me laugh, not people I could confide in. I am extremely independent, rarely ever coming out of my room for anything. I still want people to talk to, but it's like no matter who I meet they would never share the same interest or views on things I do, which makes friends that much more pointless to me.

As for intense interests, I definetly have those. Movies, music, books. I'll focus on one particular movie or book or band and just talk about them non-stop, and I cannot get it out of my head. I'll hum along and drum on a table to a song my head, or randomly say a quote from a movie that no-one else can here. I do not like to be surrounded by things I dislike, and I pretty much cannot see how anybody could dislike the things I take interst in. I so desperatley want to share my interests with others that I'll go to the lengths of buying a t-shirt or picking up a certain book in class to attract someone's attention. When I get home I'll pretty much do the same thing everyday, and whenever we go out I always protest to stay home because I simply don't want to do anything else.

Language and speech? Definetly. I use a lot of formal words people would find weird, like saying "Why hello there" or "That's quite interesting" and I always look like a fool. I have a lot of phrases and saying I say to myself that nobody else gets, so it's all kind of one big inside joke. I've been told I'm "terribly verbose" (PeeGee I believe) and that I am a very good writer, which is funny because I have a terrible time trying to communicate myself verbally. I have a very weird and dark sense of humour, and I laugh at a lot of things people find sad. American Psycho is a pretty good depiction of what I find hilarious.

Lately I've been very pissed off and violently inclined, feeling like I wanted to smash my ex girlfriends face in with a shovel (not without good reason mind you.) Just thinking about that makes me laugh. This may be related to lack of empathty, which I most definetly have, and possibly a feeling of impowerment over others, something which I rarely have. Though I must say, I can get very emotional over a certain move or piece of music which is odd. I feel a lot of different things at once a lot. If it happens in real life though I rarely feel anything.

I definetly have high intelligence, as I'm in advanced Spanish, Math, and English. However, I really am lazy and I see no point in work or any effort at all. Thus I probably fit the title of "underachiever". I think way too much (as evidenced by my threads in EoEo) about life and everything around me, and a lot of the time I'll simply get lost in thought and forget what I'm doing. This probably doesn't qualify but I find it another distinguishing factor. I have a very good memory, I know a lot of stupid little details and I could probably memorize exactly how a certain song goes or how a room looked simply from 1 listen or observation.

I am very very obsessed with the way I look, and I constantly fret that my hair looks horrible or I have something on my face or my posture looks weird. This drives me insane. Seriously, I keep having to get hair-cuts because I will become so incredibly angry at the way I look that I'll shout at myself. The fact I know that I can look good doesn't help either. When people touch me, I don't really like it very much unless it's in a sensual way. I get seriously pissed off after awhile. Loud noises annoy me too, I simply cannot stand repetitive sounds or people talking above normal vocal levels.

I too hope to be tested on this, because I really hate the way I feel around people. Like I'll tense up, I won't breathe regularly, I'll crack my neck and hand, sometimes I even shiver uncontrolably. Add that to the fact I can't look at someone in the eye without staring, and that I find it almost impossible to open my mouth to talk at times, it really makes living day to day difficult.

[Shlup]

Asperger's is autism. An Autism diagnosis requires delay in three developmental areas, while Asperger's requires delay in only two of those three. So you could have either or neither. But really it's not what you call it that's important; it's that you evaluate your trouble areas and address them. The labels are only there for paperwork.

[Shaun]

I've been looking at the wiki page on Aspergers, and I too seriously think I might have it. Almost all those symptoms fit me, and if I do indeed have it then that would explain all these annoying nuances I have (right foot when walking, handwriting, among others).

I am horrible at making friends. My social life is pretty much non-existant. I've only had one girlfriend, who I didn't even ask out and who now hates me for whatever reason. I see people I want to talk to or get to know, but I simply cannot open my mouth to talk to them. Instead I'll just look at them the whole time hoping they'll come to me, which never happens. The friends I do have, I would hardly consider true friends. They're mostly just people I talk to or who make me laugh, not people I could confide in. I am extremely independent, rarely ever coming out of my room for anything. I still want people to talk to, but it's like no matter who I meet they would never share the same interest or views on things I do, which makes friends that much more pointless to me.

As for intense interests, I definetly have those. Movies, music, books. I'll focus on one particular movie or book or band and just talk about them non-stop, and I cannot get it out of my head. I'll hum along and drum on a table to a song my head, or randomly say a quote from a movie that no-one else can here. I do not like to be surrounded by things I dislike, and I pretty much cannot see how anybody could dislike the things I take interst in. I so desperatley want to share my interests with others that I'll go to the lengths of buying a t-shirt or picking up a certain book in class to attract someone's attention. When I get home I'll pretty much do the same thing everyday, and whenever we go out I always protest to stay home because I simply don't want to do anything else.

Language and speech? Definetly. I use a lot of formal words people would find weird, like saying "Why hello there" or "That's quite interesting" and I always look like a fool. I have a lot of phrases and saying I say to myself that nobody else gets, so it's all kind of one big inside joke. I've been told I'm "terribly verbose" (PeeGee I believe) and that I am a very good writer, which is funny because I have a terrible time trying to communicate myself verbally. I have a very weird and dark sense of humour, and I laugh at a lot of things people find sad. American Psycho is a pretty good depiction of what I find hilarious.

Lately I've been very pissed off and violently inclined, feeling like I wanted to smash my ex girlfriends face in with a shovel (not without good reason mind you.) Just thinking about that makes me laugh. This may be related to lack of empathty, which I most definetly have, and possibly a feeling of impowerment over others, something which I rarely have. Though I must say, I can get very emotional over a certain move or piece of music which is odd. I feel a lot of different things at once a lot. If it happens in real life though I rarely feel anything.

I definetly have high intelligence, as I'm in advanced Spanish, Math, and English. However, I really am lazy and I see no point in work or any effort at all. Thus I probably fit the title of "underachiever". I think way too much (as evidenced by my threads in EoEo) about life and everything around me, and a lot of the time I'll simply get lost in thought and forget what I'm doing. This probably doesn't qualify but I find it another distinguishing factor. I have a very good memory, I know a lot of stupid little details and I could probably memorize exactly how a certain song goes or how a room looked simply from 1 listen or observation.

I am very very obsessed with the way I look, and I constantly fret that my hair looks horrible or I have something on my face or my posture looks weird. This drives me insane. Seriously, I keep having to get hair-cuts because I will become so incredibly angry at the way I look that I'll shout at myself. The fact I know that I can look good doesn't help either. When people touch me, I don't really like it very much unless it's in a sensual way. I get seriously pissed off after awhile. Loud noises annoy me too, I simply cannot stand repetitive sounds or people talking above normal vocal levels.

I too hope to be tested on this, because I really hate the way I feel around people. Like I'll tense up, I won't breathe regularly, I'll crack my neck and hand, sometimes I even shiver uncontrolably. Add that to the fact I can't look at someone in the eye without staring, and that I find it almost impossible to open my mouth to talk at times, it really makes living day to day difficult.

You sound almost the same as me in many ways, except I don't want to talk to people and prefer to be alone.


Asperger's is autism. An Autism diagnosis requires delay in three developmental areas, while Asperger's requires delay in only two of those three. So you could have either or neither. But really it's not what you call it that's important; it's that you evaluate your trouble areas and address them. The labels are only there for paperwork.

They call Asperger's 'a dash of autism'. I'm positive that I have one or the other though and I want to get assessed as soon as possible. But what are my real trouble areas? I mean, sure, I don't like being around others when I am around others, but when I'm alone what have I got to worry about? I disagree that they're there just for paperwork. If I find out I have one of them, I'd like to meet some people with it, as I feel I would like to talk to people with differences like mine. I'm actually meeting a girl with Asperger's on Saturday, hopefully.