Asperger's Syndrome -- is this you?

[Wudang]

My nephew is strongly AS and it's caused him a great deal of grief over the years, mainly because he doesn't understand people and they don't understand him. A couple of books that helped me understand his condition better were "Pretending to be normal" and "Adolescence - a survival guide". The latter was written by a 14-year old for other AS kids going through adolescence and is very good, apart from the section on diet (is it low gluten???) that rumour says was inserted by his mother.
I'm an INTP type - computer systems programmer - and exhibit some mild AS-type characterstics that help me identify with my nephew et v.v. but there is a world of a difference between my idiosyncracies and AS. Just because grey exists doesn't mean that black and white don't.

 

[An Infinite Ocean]

Why "resent"? It's a spectrum - we're not all the same. For some it's not too bad, for others it's crippling. In my case, despite the fact that it can be very uncomfortable and inconvenient at times, most of the time it's no problem and often it can be an advantage. But I did mention before that for some it can be hell.

Sorry for misinterstanding you.

If you have the time why don't you describe how you experience it? I think it's useful for people to understand what others actually experience. Maybe it will shatter a few myths and help some be more tolerant.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will try and do this tomorrow when I have the time.

 

[cesium]

Brains are wierd

I think that it would be nearly impossible to fit into the idal normalized brain that we hear about in so many cases, our brains are blobs of grey stuff with cells and electrical signals inside, and I bet there are far more possible patterns of neurons then there are fingerprints.

I for instance have several ticks on the AS chart, including hearing sensitivity, lower social skills then normal, nonverbal stuff, and high interest in a small ammount of subjects. However, I do not think I am AS simply because these symptoms are mild and not debilitating (as far as I can see, it could be profoundly worse).

I dont think we will ever develop a complete understanding of the brain and it's many disorders. Brains are not computers, they are far above even the most powerful AI systems even dreamed of because they have conciousness, which we have not yet begun to understand.

Furthermore, these disorders are all ranges (ok, not some of the genetic ones) and while each person will fall in many places on each of these ranges, it is generaly when the disorders become dabilitating, easily noticable, or problamatic that we actualy say the person has a given disorder.

Ok, enough rambling.

 

[TillEulenspiegel]

Hmmm I'm not a doc but I bet You a pill will be out soon for it. I also predict that the " malady" will become more prevalent.

 

[vlix]

The range of my hearing is much greater than "normal" I can hear well into what is classified as ultrasonic (I can hear up to about 28 Khz, most people can't hear much above 15 Khz).

How does this work? If I remember correctly (I might not), our hearing range is limited by the physical limitations of our cochlea. Do you have some sort of super-cochlea then? And how does that tie into your condition? Same question for your extended visual range.

Just to be clear, I'm not really doubting you or anything, I'm just curious

 

[Pragmatist]

How does this work? If I remember correctly (I might not), our hearing range is limited by the physical limitations of our cochlea. Do you have some sort of super-cochlea then? And how does that tie into your condition? Same question for your extended visual range.

Just to be clear, I'm not really doubting you or anything, I'm just curious

I haven't got a clue how it works, it just happens! I doubt very much whether there is any physiological difference between my ear and anyone else's. But don't forget that I am hypersensitive. So at the limits of normal bandwidth, what may be below a "normal" threshold of perception, isn't necessarily below mine. I don't know, but I doubt the ear has some hard wired physical cutoff frequency, the response probably just tails off above or below a certain point. I don't know what my current hearing range is, the last time it was properly measured was over 30 years ago, but I do still hear things that most people can't - and it's not tinnitus. Although it's harder to localise the source of a sound in that range, I can usually narrow it down to a specific object (often electronic) which if switched off causes the sound to stop. Another thing is that in the highest ranges the sound is sometimes more "felt" than "heard" as such, I don't necessarily distinguish tones but I feel a sharp pressure which I identify as a sound.

My personal theory (which is just a guess rather than based on any hard facts) is that everyone has a wider sensory range than they realise, but what distinguishes some people from others is the level of filtering they have. I believe my filters are faulty - I don't actually physically detect any more than anyone else, but my brain doesn't perceptually filter out the extremes like it seems to do in most people. I have noticed on occasion, ordinary people reacting to things like ultrasonic sounds - ones which I hear clearly but which they claim not to have heard. They often say that they noticed some strange impression but are unable to say what it was - whereas to me it's a definite sound. They are obviously physically picking up the stimulus, but they don't actually seem to "perceive" it.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Pragmatist- I agree.
In school science class, my physics teacher used a sound tone generator to illustrate various wave phenomena. It had no "off" switch, except at the wall socket. Instead of switching it off, he turned the dial up (ie increased the frequency) well beyond what he could hear.

This had the same effect on me as scraping fingernails down a blackboard. I could feel my teeth vibrate. I could hear the output tone as a jarring , rather ghostly whistle. Very annoying. At first, he didn't believe me, so we tested it blind, with the soundbox hidden by his bench. When he realised I really could hear it, he switched it off. I have no idea what the top end of my hearing range was. (I'm certain it's much lower now!)

Point is- though nobody else could hear it, several people could somehow "tell" when it was on. We were all about twelve or thirteen, healthy and well fed, in an age before walkmans and boomboxes. We probably had better hearing than any humans before or since. Also, we were paying attention in a quiet classroom.