nature of special interests: different for AS girls?

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My special interests are varied.

I have quite a few that are close to my heart and i am interested in due to intimate circumstances.

Others are a tad indirect.

My first major interest that i can remember was maps, and i am still obsessed. My first words were "going wrong way, mum." I was 19 months. I still have to have maps in my bag whenever i go out.

My first MAJOR interest that i really was into was transposition of music. I started to transpose musical notion at 6 to various instruments and now i still love sight transposing. I have now diversified into atonal and serialistic music and enjoy composing in my head when stressed.

I am a "train-spotter" So i love learning all about timetables and transport in my city which is quite strange for a girl i am told.

My latest obsession, which i think will be my career is placental abnormalities in pregnancy. I am studying midwifery because of it. I almost went into Obstetrics but i couldn't study that externally.

I have had a lot of special interests.

Much of them were the fact-collecting type where I would look up facts about a subject. Oddly enough, I collected facts on places: Australia, Canada, former USSR (my mom had an encylopedia set that had the former USSR as a topic), Taiwan, Vermont (turned into a special interest after a school project.) Much of them turned into special interests after I learned about them initially in school.

I also had books or movies I would read over and over. They had somewhat of significance in my life: Helen Keller's The Miracle Worker because I have a visual limitation, Mr. Holland's Opus because I played the piano for a long time, Forrest Gump because my aunt has Down Syndrome and I relate to special-needs populations.

I have also had several special interests around people: My sixth grade science teacher - I wrote stories about her and was sort of her teacher's pet. She was my substitute mother for a bit when my mom was sick, so I would go to her for emotional support for a while. I also had a special interest in JFK. No idea why. I think that started after I did a book report on him and Mom told me she had a crush on him when she was in high school. My latest person-as-a-special interest is Temple Grandin for obvious reasons

I think the place fixations were a way to escape into another reality - literally somewhere else without actually going there, and the people fixations sort of served as alternate attachment figures for me. The repetitive movie watching might have been a way for me to process my thoughts around those things that triggered my interest in the content in the first place.

Yeah, I had to think about why I had these fixations to 'justify' them because I was often shamed for having them. I went much of my life undiagnosed, so people didn't realize they were just part of having an ASD.

I've gone through many "special interest" in life, although since no one knew what AS was before 94, too bad for me, I left home in 92, grad high school 93, no one knew what was 'wrong" with me. I would become totally immersed in something, it scared the heck out of my parents. I mean, who wants to see their pretty little girl learning every single fact she can about dead persons such as Marilyn Monroe, or Jim Morrison? Their lives fascinated me and I learned all I could of their plight, success, and death. I collected poems by Jim Morrison and bought music by "the Doors", then the movie came out.... made my parents crazy.

As I got older my interest changed but were always something that moved me deeply, spiritually, emotionally or intellectually. Often had to do with poetry or writing, or self expression such as music. Music was a big one. Once I became a mother.... it all changed.

My special interests became pregnancy, in particular wanting to know exactly what was going on in the womb on any given day of gestation and wanting to imagine my baby at every stage while pregnant. Nursing, reading so many books before babe 1 was even born b/c as a bottle fed child of the 70's, there were no real live people to help me through. It has always been this way with me, more from books than ppl. It was intense, as I was so committed to it, and again, drove my Mother crazy, lol, though she supported me. After my first c/s, turned out I later had 3 more, I learned everything I could get my hands on about the surgery itself, natural child birth... drove my ex husband crazy, lol. I would get stacks of books from the library on whatever I was interested in and read and reread them over and over, until I had exhausted the subject.

Then came speech delay, child development, home schooling, and cloth diapering. Drove everyone crazy! lol, except the ones who wanted or needed my vast knowledge on the subject without actually cracking a book on their own. I still go through differing topics, and can get very intense about it. It can def include collecting things such as with the cloth diapers, I think folding and laundering them became somewhat of a stim for me. The hot wash with essencial oils was like aromatherapy, sticking my head in the washer and deep breathing, blocking out the "mommy!" for a few seconds at a time! (after the first rinse took out the yucky stuff I mean!) Then in awkward social situations of "play dates" or even family coming over, I'd grab my basket of freshly laundered diapers and smooth and "pet them" as my ex husband would tease, and get them all just right while working through the social situation. It seemed normal enough to fold the wash while sitting on the floor w. kiddos and another Mom. Oddly, it helped me listen and not overshare, overtalk, until the topic of cloth diapering came up and I'd go off on a tangent of getting rid of unecessary toxins, esp for my AS child ect ect, only to embarrassingly realize later, I had done all with a mom who had a child in tow with disposable diapers. Sigh.

So, yeah, the interest changes, after all, my kids aren't in diapers anymore. But it is usually something that very personally touches me and the more information I can gleen on the topic, the more immersed I tend to become. The more others in my life benefit from it, such as helping other moms in a breastfeeding support group as I tandem nursed my last two... the deeper I'd go.

I did and still do listen to music over and over when I get on something, this has driven my children crazy at times, lol, but also helped. We recently studied a Composers unit and we all listened to the various pieces over and over to learn about them. Movies, not so much, kind of not a tv person but was when I was younger. Loved vintage tv and would watch the same episodes numerous times, collected memorabilia and the like of those.

please excuse my horrible spelling and grammar, they were never on my list of "special interest" obviously! lol, I always thought they got in the way of my free flow expression as a writer. Of course, as an adult I also now realize it gets in the way of others understanding me sometimes.

@nowigetit - I did *exactly* the same thing with pregnancy as soon as I found out I knew daily what was going on inside. I researched everything to do with being pregnant and then everything to do with my preferred parenting methods (incl cloth nappies too!) I bored everyone to death with it - not oh im pregnant but more a guess what i just found out... Its fascinating and I do the same with child development - even more fascinating having a sociable child.

Moopants- I am the only one I've ever known who did this, glad to meet someone like me for a change! I even drove my Dr. crazy! Many times the details I wanted to know, the intricate questions, she'd just look at me and say, "I honesly don't know" I couldn't belive my ears at first but had the same issue over and over w. all 4 kids! Ha ha! I knew I was on my own with my kinds of questions so started reading medical text myself any time I could get my hands on them!

I think my tendancy to be "too intense" as my Mom used to say, on a topic of interest like this as a Mother has helped me greatly. Whenever I encounter a "snag" with parenting I research and find a plan, and I am one to plan to work and work the plan! It really has made me a better mother. God knew what he was doing with me when he passed out the brains and their wonderful various wirings

daydreamer 84, as I said above, I think my AS has made me a better Mother. It does take effort on having healthy balance not to be "obsessed" with my kids, but they are my "special interest". They expand my mind and horizons. Maybe it would be tha way with you, too?
Never cared about trains, never been on a train until my first son came along. He LOVED them and everything was trains, trains, trains! His toothbrush, pj's, bedroom decor, and we went to train museums, train rides and at age 3 he enjoyed lecture type videos on them and their history from the library. At age 3 that kid could have given a whole history lesson at adult level from the info he sucked up. Yes, he is AS too! So, b/c I loved my son so much and he was my special interest, I learned too and it continues to get me out of my own little boxes and into their worlds and their special interests. I homeschool, and ppl ask how I can "teach" all 4 my kids, esp when they have "special needs". What others don't understand is that they teach me, I'm a better person and more rounded person.

1. Do you pursue them by accumulating info on a topic; collecting items related to topic; talking to people re: topic; reading the same books/watching the same movies again and again but not collecting more info about book movie; thinking or fantasizing constantly about topic or what combination of these methods? Do they involve routines of going to a particular website, watching a particular show etc?

I tend to pursue interests by accumulating information, and also by thinking and fantasising if it's the sort of interest for which this method of exploration would be appropriate (e.g. a particular historical period). I've never been inclined to collect any related items other than books, and I tend to shy away from talking to people about my interests in case I wind up making a fool of myself. Apart from one obsessive show-watching routine in my early childhood, I haven't been prone to setting up routines around my special interests.

2. How intense is your interest? Is it to the exclusion of all other things? Do you find it difficult to have conversations about other things?

My interests are intense enough for me to develop a strong enthusiasm for reading up on them - an enthusiasm that can distract me from more important tasks. However, I've never had an interest so intense that it leads to the exclusion of all other subjects or activities. I'm able to have conversations about other things, though I often slipped into what I'm sure were very tedious conversations on my special interests when feeling socially uneasy as a child.

3. Are your special interests personal or impersonal?

I'm not quite sure what's meant by this question. I'm guessing that my interests are personal, in that I need to feel some sense of sentimentality or excitement about the subject if I'm to become fully absorbed in it. Also, I tend to see my special interest as something that forms quite an essential part of my identity.

1. Do you pursue them by accumulating info on a topic; collecting items related to topic; talking to people re: topic; reading the same books/watching the same movies again and again but not collecting more info about book movie; thinking or fantasizing constantly about topic or what combination of these methods? Do they involve routines of going to a particular website, watching a particular show etc?

Asperger's Syndrome ~ I accumulate information on this topic as a way of learning about myself, what makes me tick, what makes others like me tick, etc etc. It's a way to understand myself better. It's strange to be obsessed with your own condition but after everything I've been through, it's definitely understandable why I devote so much time to learning about it.

Astrology ~ This, I accumulate information about all the signs. At some point, a sign will be important for me to look up and take in knowledge of. Signs so far that I look at: Capricorn, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Scorpio, and Sagittarius. Pisces and Virgo will be important during my character creation stage. Overall, astrology is more of a way I get to know myself and the people I care about. It's for pure entertainment and research only. When applying it to real people, I only do that when coincidences pop up. Ironically, coincidences are a huge part of my life. With my characters, I use astrology to build a foundation for them. It tells me more about my own characters, and sometimes it even fits way too appropriately then I intended.

Marik Ishtar ~ The biggest and most devastating interest of mine. I say "devastating" because this is the interest that affects me most. Not only is it extremely specific, it's almost as specific as the example in the book I'm reading---only worse. In order to keep this obsession from destroying me inside and out, I role-play with Marik role-players. And I will do anything that's reasonable to get this obsession under control.

2. How intense is your interest? Is it to the exclusion of all other things? Do you find it difficult to have conversations about other things?

Asperger's Syndrome ~ Intense and distracting, but at least it only involves myself.
Astrology ~ Intense and distracting, but at least it only involves myself.

Marik Ishtar ~ Although it seems impossible, this interest is like a drug. And trust me, it really is. If I don't have my "fix" it can literally disturb normal activities. Without it, I can weaken, and the only way to put motivation back in my system otherwise is to emotionally rip me to pieces. What's healthier? Role-playing Marik Ishtar for me or ripping me to shreds emotionally and psychologically? Yes, that's what I thought. I'm not really a masochist, but as far as this interest is, it's intense enough to make you wonder. It's so intense, I could lose all ability to concentrate, all ability to feel, and all ability to care about anyone but myself. Why does this obsession have so much effect on me? That's what I'm trying to figure out.

3, Are your special interests personal or impersonal?
Asperger's Syndrome ~ Personal.
Astrology ~ Personal.
Marik Ishtar ~ Both.

I heard somewhere that Aspie boys are more likely to come obsessed with electronics, and Aspie girls are more likely to become obsessed with people. I've never been obsessed with electronics and never will be, but I am obsessed with people.

But I don't think that is true because I hear some Aspies on WP are obsessed with languages, media, science, maths, art, animals, ect.

Perhaps it means the majority of Aspie boys are into electronics, but it varies from person to person, since we're all different, and the same goes to girls.

Seems a lot of Aspie on here are obsessed with video-games. Personally I'm not in the least bit interested in video-games, so that proves how the stereotype doesn't necessarily meet the criteria.

Before I knew that I had Aspergers, I never realized how different my interests were from other females my age. I have only had one female friend in my age range, and she is just like me.
From about ages 9 until 21, I was obsessed with criminal law, forensics, pathology (specifically forensic). I read everything I could on it, watched every autopsy show I could. (Because that was back in the day when they had good medical and court shows on tv). I never understood why my mom had a problem with me being interested in it, it made me feel so good and I understood it so well. I remember reading a John Grisham book (he writes mostly legal suspense type books) at age 11-12. And I remember thinking to myself, "Boy, all these books are pretty similar".
I have a NT sister, and at that age she was still dressing her Barbies and giving them haircuts and stuff. Not that it's a BAD thing!! I wasn't ever a normal kid like that, I never played with toys so it's weird to me. Plus, this is before cell phones and technology when kids were still kids
I still enjoy those topics, but as my life changes so do my interests. My main interests now are world religions, homeschooling, ufology. (Although lately I have been more into gaming with Minecraft and Civ 4 than ufology).

I didn't get obsessed with anything until I was 13. Before that, I got a little obsessed over things, but I think they were just normal interests (all children are entitled to get interesting in something!), and the interests I had were typical child interests, and they weren't intense or anything; I never went on about them excessively nor did I ever let them take over my life. But when I was 13 I got really intense obsessions with people, and I ended up stalking them at 14 , then getting myself into trouble, then losing friends at school because they knew all about this (I just could not keep my mouth shut about this!) and it just got bad. When I was about 16 I started to keep my obsessions under control a bit more, just enough to keep me out of trouble and to keep friends without keep going on and on about them.