Wednesday, 17 March 2010

• The Symptoms of Asperger

  I’m going to speak about some of the symptoms in this post, mentioned on sites such as the National Autistic Society (UK) and if/how I’ve experienced them. It’s about time I got around to doing some more posts…I’ve been somewhat preoccupied with computers and such.

  Anyway, it’s time I got on to it.

  “difficulty understanding gestures, facial expressions or tone of voice”

  As such, I haven’t had too much of a problem with facial expressions. Sometimes I get them mixed up and try very hard to determine what people are thinking or feeling like from the look on their face but get it wrong – though this is very rare and I usually have no difficulty at all with processing facial expressions.

  Tone of voice is more of a problem with me than facial expressions and hand gestures. I will find it hard to determine if you are being sarcastic or not, joking…or being serious. It can be difficult at times, but it’s usually not a problem with me.  
  

  “difficulty knowing when to start or end a conversation and choosing topics to talk about” 
  

  It seems to me as though I’m making conversations at the wrong time and about the wrong topic. When I do get a conversation going, it usually goes as such: “Me: Hi Person: Hey Me: How are you ? Person: Good thanks, you ? Me: Good thanks”.

  Sometimes I won’t even bother making a conversation, and sometimes I want a conversation but don’t know what topic to choose so will tell a boring joke, of which has been told by myself many times before. This isn’t really a problem to me (except for the frustration it causes) but more the people with me. The people that have to put up with me coming out with silly random things.

  “can have difficulty understanding jokes, metaphor and sarcasm. For example, a person with Asperger syndrome may be confused by the phrase ‘That’s cool’ when people use it to say something is good.”

  I shall move on from this one as I covered some of it in a different part of the post. If anyone would like to mention anything about it in a comment I’d be happy for you to do that.

  “behave in what may seem an inappropriate manner”

  I have some difficulty with this. Quite a lot of difficulty. For example, with one person I knew…I’d do inappropriate things such as pluck one or two hairs out every now and then. I’d just put them on the floor but I know now how inappropriate that is. I’d also be interested in what people have in their bags – so I’d take things out and examine them.

  There are some other things as well, but I’m not sure if talking about trying to change the temperature on the fridges as supermarkets belongs in this section…or even this post! But I know it makes my carers very annoyed – though they understand it’s not really my fault.

  “not understand the unwritten ’social rules’ that most of us pick up without thinking. For example, they may stand too close to another person, or start an inappropriate topic of conversation”

  Ask any of my family members and they will tell you just how many inappropriate conversation’s I’ve started and ask some of the people I used to be friends with how close I’d stand to them. I was always getting told that I’m standing too close next to someone else. This can really cause you to loose friends – especially when they don’t really understand very much about the syndrome. Though I didn’t even know I have it at that point in time.

  So yes, I’d say this is one thing I really have difficulty with. Any social interaction is a problem with me and I’m always worried I’m going to get it wrong and embarress myself.

  “having a limited range of imaginative activities, which can be pursued rigidly and repetitively eg lining up toys or collecting and organising things related to his or her interest.”

  I wasn’t so sure I had this symptom until I looked at myself when I was a little younger. I’d play with cars for hours and hours and HOURS every time I went to my grandparent’s house. I had a LOT of toy cars – I loved them. I loved lining them up and organizing them. For example, I’d put all emergency vehicles next to each other – in order of length. General traffic vehicles were also sorted into size…and I’d get very annoyed if my granddad or grandmother moved or knocked and of them: and I would really notice.

  It would be the same thing over and over again – and I also did the same thing with my Thomas the Tank Engine trains.

  “People with Asperger syndrome may develop an intense, sometimes obsessive, interest in a hobby or collecting.”

  I mentioned in a previous post that I have very strong obsessions. And I do, but I don’t really want to go over than again: so if you’d like to know about that, click on “previous post” to see it.

  However, I will mention a bit more on the subject. The obsessions are strong and I have spent a lot of money and time on, say, Doctor Who for example. It’s been really tough because I have to really try hard to not by another classic doctor who DVD – but I am doing it anyway. I’m waiting until I’ve got all of them available so I can line them up in order of broadcast in my bedroom. And in the summer I’m hoping to build a replica TARDIS.

  There are also some other symptoms of which I didn’t mention. You can see them on the Posts page of the blog or visit the NAS (National Autistic Society) website.
  

  Thanks, as always, for reading!

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