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(after the rash of ADD, and, before that, plain "hyperactivity", etc., etc. - all requiring medication for small children, which, because of my - I think well-founded - skepticism about the pharmaceutical industry, I tend to immediately question)
My little cousin supposedly has Asperger's - I had thought that maybe it was just more that he has a workaholic father and a trophy wife mother who is more interested in shopping, drinking wine and the social status that comes in her McNeighborhood from having kids "in therapy" (yes, seriously :eyes: ). But, having read some of the symptoms, I think maybe I have it! Ha!
"difficulties in basic elements of social interaction, which may include a failure to develop friendships or enjoy spontaneous interests or achievements with others, a lack of social or emotional reciprocity, and impaired nonverbal behaviors such as eye contact, facial expression, posture, and gesture"
Check - I have an often-noted problem maintaining eye contact; I have a hard time making friends; and I almost never feel "spontaneous" connection to others, and, thus avoid a lot of social situations. I don't like "parties" for instance, and never have. In junior high, I HATED dances because I didn't want to walk in - I always felt like everyone else was "in on something" and I couldn't get in on it.
"one-sided, long-winded speech about a favorite topic while being oblivious to the listener's feelings or reactions"
Check. I have gotten much better about this, and credited maturity.
"special interests may change from time to time, they typically become more unusual and narrowly focused, and often dominate social interaction so much that the entire family may become immersed"
Check. I used to read the dictionary and encyclopedia obsessively, and I still get caught up in one narrow subject at a time. For instance, I have spent my entire three-day weekend so far sitting mostly in front of my computer, obsessively reading various websites. I mainly get hung up on reading things, to find out as much as possible about a topic that's caught my attention. The internet is NOT GOOD. Haha. It's much more addictive than my old New World Encyclopedias. I thought the domination of the family aspect was more because I am an only child, and, therefore, over-indulged.
"movements such as flapping or twisting, and complex whole-body movements; typically repeated in longer bursts and look more voluntary or ritualistic"
Check. My stepmother has been irritated since I was about eight with my habit of twirling my hair around my fingers at all times, absent-mindedly. I even caught myself doing it the other day while driving. It is not a sympton of nervousness, either. I do it when I am most relaxed, actually; or when I'm "thinking".
"abnormalities include verbosity; abrupt transitions; literal interpretations and miscomprehension of nuance; use of metaphor meaningful only to the speaker; auditory perception deficits; unusually pedantic, formal or idiosyncratic speech; and oddities in loudness, pitch, intonation, prosody, and rhythm"
Um, check. Totally guilty. Especially in regards to verbosity (look at this post! me! me! me!), metaphor meaningful only to the speaker, and and abrupt transitions. Friends often comment on all these.
"may have an unusually sophisticated vocabulary at a young age and have been colloquially called 'little professors'"
Check. I thought I was just smart. :( Haha.
"often demonstrate enhanced perception of small changes in patterns such as arrangements of objects or well-known images"
Check. I am very visually observant, and used to move the desks around in grammar school classrooms so that they stayed "in the right place" - which, for me, included at perfect right angles with the wall.
"may exhibit synesthesia, for example, a smell may trigger perception of color"
Check. Yes!!! I just discovered what this was a few years ago, and I hadn't really thought of it before; I don't know if I thought everyone experienced it, or if I was a freak. Anyway, I've always associated letters and numbers with colors, specifically. I used to lecture the other little kids in first grade about how they were filling in the letters in their coloring books with the wrong crayon. It seemed self evident to me that, E, for instance, was blue. :eyes:
"an odd or bouncy gait or posture"
Check. I don't tend to exhibit any poor motor skills (I was actually a gymnast), although I have noticed the older I get, the more I run into things, though I just think that's normal (and a symptom of having wider hips than I have cognitively accepted ;) ). But people often comment on my "bouncy" walk. I hadn't noticed this until it was pointed out as an adult.
"likely to have sleep problems, including difficulty in falling asleep, frequent nocturnal awakenings, and early morning awakenings"
Check. This has gotten more pronounced with age. Maybe that's why I feel like I need more sleep than I "should" - I am always tired.
Interesting.
:hi:
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