Question About Asperger Syndrome

zoobyshoe

I would have to read the posts in question in context to be completely sure, but what you describe doesn't sound at all like they're trying to be funny.

I have internet dialogs with three dyslexics that I recall, and none were defensive, so your report is surprising.

There are still people who don't believe it's a real condition. I suppose how defensive a dyslexic becomes depends on how much and for how long they were told they were lazy or stupid before they were properly diagnosed. There was a guy here when I first joined, for example, who claimed there was no such thing as dyslexia, and who mocked people claiming to have it. Given that, I suppose there could be a lot of seriously defensive, frustrated dyslexics out there.

zoobyshoe

It's my experience that Aspies don't get dean pan humor at first, but that once they get it they're very good at it and even enthusiastic about it. There's a prevalent rumor I've never been able to confirm that Dan Ackroyd has Asperger's. If it's true, it certainly blows the "they don't get humor" meme to hell. For that reason, I've always hoped it was true.

I like Serena

I suspect I'd be diagnosed with Asperger if I'd do a test.
People around me believe I would.
However, it's only conjecture.

I do know that when young I did not do well socially and was very late to develop.
Since I'm reasonably smart, I've learned how to recognize social patterns and can act accordingly.
For instance, I do get deadpan humor (although I feel it is really something I've learned rather than really getting it).
Connecting to people has always been difficult for me though, and I know my interests lie in a pretty narrow band, which makes it that much harder to connect.

I know a couple of dyslexics, but I have no problem with them at all.
They know their problems and they accept that.
If I can help them in any way, I will, and they (at least the people I know) know that.
I can accept that I'm not really good with people - at least not in intimate relations (IRL).
They don't mind that.
That's just the way I am.

As I've understood it, Asperger is only diagnosed in childhood, when children show they have problems.
Adults have it too, but they have usually learned how to cope with it, one way or another.
As a result they (like me) usually don't do tests that would perhaps diagnose them with Asperger.

MojoMcGunner

Asperger's is a disease? That's news to me.

Pythagorean

Most call it a disorder or a syndrome, since it is defined by behavior in DSM. However, from a neuroscience point of view, it's thought to be caused by abnormal cell migration, overconnectivity, and/or cell morphology during development.

In particular, it tends to lead to an over-functioning of low-level tasks and an under-functioning of high-level tasks, which is why it's crippling to context-sensitive processing, such as in social situations, but also has the benefit of allowing one to focus on details and patterns as they are not being "distracted" by contextual cues.

Andre

Aspergers or not, maybe things are just much more complicated. Today I learned about Sensory processing disorder as it may seem that my grandson shares some symptoms of those and quite strongly so. Some of these are also suggested to be asperger traits (mix up?). That makes things very complex, I would think

Evo

That's very sad Andre, are they watching Myrtle closely for early signs that she's not making normal progression? Or is this something that can't be determined until the child is a few years old, due to normal varying progession levels in very early childhood?

Andre

A doc just mentioned it yesterday and it makes sense. Anyway, Myrthe is completely different, I'd be very surprised if she had it.