Borderline NT

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Is there such a thing?


I think there is. I think I am borderline NT. After talking with my boyfriend on the phone, he has many classic symptoms of AS. I realize how right my parents are, I do have very little AS. I think it's very mild but it may sound like I have more but when I meet real aspies or chat with real ones, then I see how little I have.

I am also borderline NT.

Tim

Any other borderline NTs on here?

I'm not even diagnosed, but if I have AS, it's mild. My social skills have got better, little by little.

Likedcalico, which of your traits are AS and which are NT? List of my AS and non-AS traits is here.

I am very much borderline NT I have what I call AS moments and I have what I call NT moments

I am not into technical stuff like typical aspies are and I am certinaly not into math. I am not into computers the way aspies are. I am into them the way NTs are. I use them for research and chatting and internet surfing and going to these forums. I was not a little porfessor in my early years. I don't need to do my routines in order. When I go to work, I don't need to do my work in order. I don't need to clean the sinks first, then the counter tops, the mirrors, etc. I can do it in any order and not get uncomfortable or upset when I have to do it differently. I also do my other tasks but they are not always the same routine. I am also spontanious. I never preferred eating the same foods everyday except for whenever we went to fast food restaurants, I always got the same meals and when we eat at buffets, I always got the same foods and the same desserts. I never wanted to try something else. I'd get upset if someone tried getting to me have something else. I can talk to people and I do go and meet men from the internet that meet the same interest as me. I heard it's easier for aspie women with social skills and dating because of what isn't expected from them. I do eye contact when I am comfortable.

I'm not even sure if I have a photographic memory. I can remember dates but not often as typical aspies. My boyfriend remembers every single date he saw his lawyer and his doctor and he remember what time exact of day his ex left him. I think he might be a savant. My memory is better than most people because they tell me I have a good memory. I am good with dates too but maybe not as good as a typical aspie. My mother always tell people to ask me about soemthing of an event or of my diagnoses or when I got SSI and how long it took because I remember. I even memorized all the combinations of locks at work I know so far because I turn them all into dates since I'm good at remembering them. I notice other employees have them written down somewhere so they always have to look it up first to know the code.

I can take different routes to my bus stop if I wanted to but I chose not to. I know a typical aspie would have to take the same route everytime and get upset if he or she had to take a different route, I wouldn't get upset. Hey as long as a route takes me somewhere I'm going, I'm fine with it. I don't get the same foods anymore at fast food places and I get different foods when I go to buffets instead of mac n cheese and mashed potoes only with gravy. I also liked going to dances sinply because of the music but the crowds didn't bother me. I do not have acute sense of hearing or taste or smell or sight. Flourescent lights don't bother me. I don't even care if they're bright, I just ignore them and they do not hurt my eyes except the tiny ones put color spots in my eyes for a few seconds if I look up at them but is that normal for everyone?



I have also outgrown traits too as I have gotten older. I am more flexible, I don't care where I sit anymore, I don't get upset when someone takes a different route to a place that we usually take, I am no longer asexual, I don't talk about my obsessions every time except to a certain people. My sensory issues are less and I have very good coordination thanks to therapy. My sensative hearing is better thanks to my parents helping me out. There are still sounds and noise I can't tolorate or they make cringe.


A typical aspie who is obsessed with Benny and Joon would go to Spokane and see all the locations that were used in the movie and not want to do anything else. What I do is I go see the locations and then I do other things. I like going downtown and looking in the stores there, going to the River Park Square, going on the huge red wagon in the park, going to Northtown mall (out of downtown), and exploring the city. I shop in Spokane also. I always eat at Fergusons but a typical aspie would get upset if the place was closed unexpectedly but not me. I make the best of it. I would eat somewhere else I always wanted to try like Zips or The Milk Bottle but no I always have to eat at Fergusons because of the movie. Luckily they close at 2 pm and are always closed Mondays. I dunno if I be upset if I was in Spokane with other people and I couldn't do my benny and joon locations and eat at Fergusons. I was flexible when I skipped seeing Benny's Car Clinic when I was moving to Portland because my dad wanted to get going and plus we were pulling my car behind and he didn't feel comfortable pulling my car around town and the car clinic wasn't that important anyway but the house and the diner were so he let me do those two. See, both my traits are mixed. Both NT and aspie traits. I know an NT wouldn't go to Spokane because of their obsession and keep seeing the locations but the NT part of me does other things in Spokane that weren't involved in the movie. The aspie part is eating at Fergusons everytime, and seeing the other benny and joon locations. A typical NT who is Johnny Depp crazy might go to Spokane and find the locations and not do it again. One time would be enough for them. But for a borderline aspie or a typical one, they would. But it has to be their obsession.


Now I probably sound like an aspie again instead of a borderline. Lot of NTs think I'm a real aspie but I tell them if they met a real aspie, they would see how mild I am and how close to normal I am and I am not that different. I don't tell anyone I have it because I don't think they believe me.


This was a long message I typed and because there is no Microsoft Word, expect spelling errors. I'm too lazy to keep proof reading. Takes up my time and I don't like it.

I am the opposite! I was diagnosed as autistic when I was little (~ 4) and, later AS. I have the form of autism Aspergers because and only because of my cognitive abilities. Specifically, my IQ, which was tested during school, is at 160 +. Caveat: I place little value in an IQ numer since I do not understand how a complex dynamic like human IQ can be quantified.....but, anyway. Off topic.

I am, in every way, regardless of my level of functioning, autistic. I have many autistics in my family (ancestry), so there is a strong genetic link. I am autistic in every respect and I feel/sense it always. I do read WP posts, recognize each of you, and see myself too. But, I sense I am more deeply autistic. At times, I am profoundly autistic and "far away" in another realm (math/science, art, rythym, color, sleep/dreams, shape, light/sound.......). And, I have no Sylvian Fissure - perhaps this is why? I do not kknow. I am autistic. I have green eyes. Those on this forum who are more familiar with me know I am sometimes nearly mute and that I communicate and assimilate differently.

Further, I have ((meltdowns x 10^(1/0)).......enhanced sensory modality, sleep disorder, etc.

Do any of you here see this is me, those who know me? I am curious, please tell........I cannot know, I am mindblind.

My AQ testing score is 29, which probably puts me on the borderline between AS and NT. I do have strong AS traits, but not the whole picture. I think my problems were much worse when I was younger, especially in middle school. I endured quite a bit of bullying. Thankfully, those people are long gone.

My various issues have been with me since i was very young...and they have had a really big impact on my life and who i am as a person, but I guess there is still a chance that I could go to a doctor and he/she would tell me I do not have Aspergers.

I haven't been diagnosed and won't since a diagnoses won't change anything and would probably end my chosen career. After talking to friends reading blogs this website and others I'm sure I have it but it isn't so serious that I can't pass for normal. My AQ is 38 and that is pretty much inline with all the other online tests but some would say you can't put much stock in that.

How can you on the one hand be Borderline NT and on the other between high- and low-functioning autistic?

IMHO sometimes people with autism (as opposed to AS) whose autism stems from purely cognitive and sensory difference (as opposed to psychiatric issues and personality disorder traits - not the full thing, just traits - wich seem to be more common in AS), tend to function more "normally" in society in spite of still having a greater "disability" neurologically/sensorily speaking.

Most people with HFA who post online or who wrote books seem to be relatively successful, have a job or just make a living with art or writing, they tend to adapt and work hard to get by even if they do get stressed, possibly because they suffer from less overt social phobias, paranoid ideation, psychosis and other psychiatric things that can lead to perfectly capable and healthy people with AS never working and living on disability all their lives.

Sometimes sensory issues interfere with cognitive functions. Sometimes I rely more on rote experience
instead of an "intuitive understanding" or "common sense". I was fortunate enough to develop the necessary
self help and basic survival skills such as finding and maintaining employment.

You asked my question. My closest pal could be called a borderline NT - or rather a borderline Aspie, depending how you want to look at it, I suppose. She's even admits, after having known me for so long, that she is likely some kind of borderline Aspies, although there's a BIG difference between her and me. She has Aspie tendencies - she can get obsessed with certain things of interest to the point it distracts her considerably (you should see her very extensive book collection, in particular her beloved collection of reference books), has a few minor sensory issues, is a bit "odd" and can get very drained by social interaction. But she's not socially awkward and has no problem whatsoever with social nuances. Quite to the contrary - socializing is one of her talents! In fact I've learned tons from her about social skills, and she's an ideal model for me. She probably about as close to be AS as you could be without being AS, soshe better understands where I'm coming from. But bottom line, she's close to but clearly not on the spectrum.



I am confused by this - are you suggesting that autism could be caused by psychiatric issues? Maybe you just worded that oddly, because I don't think you mean that. Autistic-liek traits caused by psychiatric issues rather than some underlying neurological one isn't actually autism. It's mental illness. But I'm sure you know that.

[/quote]... tend to function more "normally" in society in spite of still having a greater "disability" neurologically/sensorily speaking.[/quote]

Having worked with both Aspies and "regular" auties, yes, I have noticed that. Isn't it ironic? It seems that despite their more "profound" disability, they just get along better. I think a lot of it is with Aspies, we have to be so damn stubborn and insistent and all that crap. We have a harder time readjusting our social expectations and our interpersonal attitudes. So it seems we really make life a lot harder for ourselves a good lot of the time.



Agreed!

Oh yes, they sure do! I have a heck of a lot of attentional problems, and most of it is due to sensory issues (overload etc.)


Me too although I must admit there was more than a bit of luck involved in my case.

I meant more that there seems to be a subgroup on the spectrum who have relatively mild autistic traits, but a certain extreme and obsessive aspect of their personality (not in their control!) means that these traits are focused on and mild problems appear much more severe to them, so the personality/psychological aspect of their thinking makes what problems there are "bigger".


Good way of putting it - There seems to be more "personality-driven/psychological" stubbornness and black and white thinking with AS, whereas similar-looking things with autism seem more linked with processing issues and so on.

Although it's not like it's a conscious thing, either. I don't mean to say you can just "therapy away" these things, they are engrained in the person's personality. It's perhaps a similar mechanism as in autism but "at a higher level of cognition". So it appears more part of their personality but the original "cause" is still deeper down.

I guess she perhaps fits an "obsessive personality" (where it's not AS bothering as with OCD) with some social problems and sensory stuff better... and she sounds like a fantastic role model to learn from!

It must be tough for her though because she is into socialising yet it really drains her!