How Sheldon is Aspie and how he isn't..

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I nearly started this in the main General Forum with more visibility and because it is about Aspie traits, but then it is about a fictional character...

Every time I watch The Big Bang Theory I ponder the question of how Sheldon is Aspie, and how sometimes he doesn't fit the description of Aspie-ness, once in a while...

First of all, to my recollection, I don't think I have ever seen Sheldon stim. Anyone correct me if I'm wrong?

Also, he seems to be well able to make great eye contact with people - even perfect strangers. I'm thinking of the time when he was in the temp agency looking for a "menial job" and the temp service lady was a stranger to him and he made excellent eye contact with her. Sometimes if he says something that the other person doesn't like, he'll look down, after he's done talking, or look away a bit (I guess he doesn't want to see that the other person is frowning at him! ) but while he's talking he makes great eye contact. Of course that's probably because he's a genius and he knows he's a genius so he has (over)confidence in what he says...

Someone in the thread about not stimming someone mentioned how the show's writers did not make Sheldon's Aspie traits consistent.. can anyone elaborate more on that?

I don't think I've seen all the episodes from last season yet, or some of them I've seen only once. I think I've watched most of the older seasons about 20 times over

Of course Sheldon has OCD characteristics as well, and maybe even narcissistic personality disorder.

Anyway ... does he display any sensory sensitivity: lights (e.g. fluorescents), sounds, etc? Does he ever get burnout from excessive contact with all the other people who come in and out of his apartment?

I guess some of the common characteristics of Asperger's/ASD (sensory sensitivity, and the need for solitude and "recharging") would not make great TV.

Great show! There is one episode where Sheldon does mention the need to seek some solitude on a daily basis to recharge...

In one episode, Howard and Raj stalked Sheldon due to their curiosity about what he does at 2.45pm. Sheldon has an explanation of why he escapes to an old storage room (#43). He told Raj and Howard:

??you may not realize it but I have difficulties navigating certain aspects of real life. Not understanding sarcasm, feigning interest in others, not talking about trains as much as I want to. It?s exhausting! Which is why for twenty minutes a day, I had to go down to that room, turn my mind off and do what I need to do to recharge? You don?t need to know; you don?t deserve to know and you will never know (what 43 is and what I do)!?

Maybe that's why he requires a 24-hour notice as per the roommate agreement prior to Leonard having visitors/girlfriends/relatives stay over or visit - so that Sheldon has plenty of 'warning' and he can see it coming and so that he's not taken by surprise with unexpected people! He's trying to prevent burnout.... I don't like unexpected people just surprising me by dropping by either!

Not every Aspie is going to have the same traits. Some will stim, while others will not, just as some will be unable to make eye contact, while others can.

I don't recall the episode but I have seen Sheldon flickering his eyelids once when he was really overwhelmed (I think he was angry...) that may have counted as stimming

Maybe Sheldon received good therapy in childhood and learned to eliminate those behaviors.

He's not crazy. His mother had him tested....

...although she now wishes she took him to that specialist in Houston.

Ah.. I haven't been watching that show for long enough, although I do really enjoy it.

They did not make his Aspie traits consistent because they don't want him to be literally diagnosible. Here is why:



http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/inde ... _from.html

Unfortunately I think Sheldon is literally diagnosable. Here are the DSM-5 criteria: http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/hcp-dsm.html

Sheldon meets A1, 2, and 3; B1 (idiosyncratic phrases), B2, and arguably B3; D, and E. We don't really know about C but from off-hand remarks it is fair to say he probably meets that too.

I think not making him an explicit caricature shows good intention. Nonetheless, the humour of the show derives from mocking someone who clearly is autistic.

I think that's a bit of NT white lying there.

I think they wanted Sheldon to be diagnosable, but only in the same way people create headcanons (that is: "there's no proof"). So they created a character using broad stereotypes rather than accuracy.

Also, I think his aspie traits are inconsistent because he's written by NT people. So something like an inability to recognise social cues which turns on and off at random is probably actually a result of the writers not knowing how those cues would be interpreted or not noticed by an actual aspie.