What do you know about Aspergers Syndrome?

I scored 21. But I hate social situations and meeting new people, even though I actually enjoy going out and suck at remembering numbers or math. So I have all the negative aspects associated with autism, and none of the benefits. Which means, I'm an artist. :(
 
Digital Jedi said:
I scored 21. But I hate social situations and meeting new people, even though I actually enjoy going out and suck at remembering numbers or math. So I have all the negative aspects associated with autism, and none of the benefits. Which means, I'm an artist. :(
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Tell me you're 41 and I would think you're my doppleganger! :eek: (Score of 22 for me)
 
jadmperry said:
Interesting...I took the test a few days ago and scored an 8. Just to check consistency, I took it again a few minutes ago to see if my answers or score would change. And, I got an 8
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If you take the test a third time.
I think that is a +10.
Which gives you an 18 !
/just kidding.
whoa.
I almost made a really bad typo in kidding.
the S is just too close to the D !
 
Here's some insight into how our brains work.

Yesterday, I saw a commercial for Dirty Harry on one of the classic movie channels. I haven't seen the original movie in some twenty years, but I was able to recall the ending with perfect clarity. It was then that I realized Scorpio in the movie was played by the same actor that played Garak in Deep Space Nine, a TV show which I haven't seen in over 10 year and maybe more.

ds9garak03.jpg
260px-DIRTY-HARRY-00205100B-20080612-151715-medium.jpg


This is how our brain works when it comes to pattern recognition. My savant skill is I'm better at facial recognition than any computer software. In spite of the age difference and the makeup, my brain can dredge up these past images and connect them.
 
http://www.wfaa.com/news/national/181698581.html

Asperger's Syndrome has been dropped as a specific diagnosis by the APA. We will now be included in the "autism spectrum disorder" diagnosis.

I'm bothered by this somewhat because I feel like I'm losing my identity, but other than that, I guess I agree. No two Aspies present the same. We all have some level of autistic behaviors. When I have a full on meltdown, for that one to 24 hours it lasts, you can't tell me from a completely autistic individual. My higher functioning ability is gone. I'll rock back and forth and won't recognize or process any external stimuli. So yeah, I'm autistic. Can't argue. I guess I'll just miss my special term: Aspie.
 
My nephew definitely has this. He is a pretty smart kid (guy now), but has been largely unable to find his way in the world. From afar, I think this is because the diagnosis was never taken seriously enough by my family and also because of where he was raised (Florida - every man for himself type of area).

After watching the Grandin movie I was struck by how much work is required by the family and the "village" in order to help such people flourish.
 
Hey Fred (and others who resonate to this description), don't let others label you or de-label you.
You even get to wear a T-Shirt Aspie and PROUD if you want, eh?*
*you just might want to be selective of when and where... to not suffer consequences of other people's prejudices...
All the best,
HydraulicJack, MA Psychology
 
We get quite a few Aspie kids on our tutoring project. Because it's all computer based, online study but with ;live classes. Also small project so can be adaptable to needs.

I never did professional training in "special needs." I'm unhappy with that culture. I think it goes way too far. So much that is labelled is really a matter of respecting each other as different. Education now, and society in general, pushes us into standardised slots. Then hey - we get all these "exceptions" who get labelled defective or "special" when they are not at all. They are just part of the human family of differences.

(HATE how the word special has been hijacked. Lovely word has been spoiled.)

It makes sense to me to have a very basic package indeed of "normal" ability and skills that we all need in order to cope with everyday life. So if I cannot eat, sleep, do personal hygiene, contribute to my upkeep - without major input from others - then yes I am disabled.
So if someone has meltdowns or breakdowns or collapses without death or major life disaster causing the (situational crisis),
OR if the meltdown/ breakdown/ personal drama lasts more than a few hours a few times a year -
then yes that person has an extra life burden. Others around them will be much affected and will have to distort their own lives in big ways to help. That to me is disability.

I mean I have always had physical collapses in high fever verging on delirium a couple times a year. No known medical cause. But it's no more inconvenient than a bad flu episode because it's not that often.
Second, I am dramatic - prone to an exaggerated high coloured view of life. Oversensitive. Hysterical. I explode into intense reactions. When young this got me labelled as 'neurotic.' But once I understood that these reactions are due to intense awareness, and bring powerful insight, plus I process OUT as fast as I go IN - it became a personal pattern I can live with. I can harvest the rewards and minimise the price tag.
This is all within the 'normal' range to me. Nowadays I suppose I'd get some stupid label.

Another way to look at disability ... a friend has been trying to persuade me to claim all kinds of 'help' from public services. To do so I'd have to give up a lot of my privacy and take on a lot of bureaucracy. Yuck big time.
My friend kept insisting I am severely disabled by my years of illness. I couldn't see it until she said - you have to \imagine if your husband AND son are not there. Well of course on my own I would have to give up the family business and get public help.
But I don't NOTICE being disabled! I do virtually no housework - my dear men do it. I walk a bit slowly, limited to around 20 yards, carry almost nothing except a personal wallet and a paperback book. But my men carry bags or stuff for me. I cook less than they do, and when I collapse they nurse me. Disabled - yes.
BUT I earn most of our money. I organise our finance, bills payments, property maintenance. Problems with computers come to me. I produce a myriad of resources for almost any occasion. I create fascinating events where our people come together, support each other, celebrate together. If anyone is sad, grieving, shocked, injured, or ill, it's me that organises their care. Disabled? definitely no!

The point is that most of us live in webs. Humans are not built to live alone. Even if we do there is still a web - family, colleagues, mates. I need help1 help2 help3 but those around me get help4 help5 help6. It's a kind of ability market and we buy and sell resources.
Only if what I can offer cannot match what I need to buy, am I really disabled. So if I lacked my talents and/ or my lovely men, I'd have to make demands on public services. But the reality is that I don't need to.

Surely Aspie/ Autism is like that. Each case is individual living in its own web. Many people classified without Aspie/ Autism live far less successfully than people who are. You can live blind, in a wheelchair, or addicted to heroin. It all depends what OTHER resources you have, and how they are put into play.
A devoted mother or spouse, a determined organised approach, some money, low cunning ... lots of other things make the difference so one person with certain limitations lives richly and well, while another with the same limitations but lacking balancing resources, lives poorly.
 
This wasn't an easy test. I could have answered in so many ways and all of them would have been true. I wish it had middle option which was neither agree or disagree.

But upon my first try....

Score: 14
 
I got 33.

I do however have something mental going on - no idea what it is and dont really want to know. All I know is that I hate my routine being broken, hate being interrupted and pretty much crap myself if I have to talk on the phone. If I know I've got to go somewhere within the next day or two, I cant focus and end up stressing myself out.
 
I got a 33, which isn't surprising in my family. We as a family have a lot of kids that are considered "on the spectrum". We don't brag about it, or "deal" with it, it is what it is.

All we know is the ones "on the spectrum" seem to get along with their types moreso than the ones that aren't "on the spectrum". Just like any other group of people.

I don't think the test itself is actually that relevant. It seems to be over 10 years old (2001). A lot has changed in 10 years.
 
jadmperry said:
Interesting...I took the test a few days ago and scored an 8. Just to check consistency, I took it again a few minutes ago to see if my answers or score would change. And, I got an 8 (I was actually surprised as tonight, I took more time, changed a few answers after reflecting, but the score was the same....here were the full scores:
Agree: 2,12,39: 1 point
Disagree: 1,8,29,30,50: 1 point
Score: 8).

This does not surprise me though, as I have never done well with math, patterns are something I work with and see well, but their not applying or being in the "right" order does not bother me, and I am comfortable with "messes" and change. My only take away is that there are all kinds of people, with different strengths and talents. BTW, my son would seem to fit more in the paradigm described. He has some very intense interests, does not like when things are not "just right" and sometimes gets lost in trying to express what is interesting to him and others do not necessarily get what he is talking about.
Click to expand...

I scored a 7, which surprised me at first too, until I went back and re-read the questions. I'm fairly good with numbers, expressing algorithms, deducing patterns, etc., but I'm not all that "fascinated" by such things, or particularly care when things don't fall in line. I'm also comfortable with change, and like trying new things.

If anything, after taking this quiz, I wouldn't be surprised to learn if a few of my co-workers had Autism -- which I suspect is higher than average for my line of work.
 

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