Aspie girls & rituals or hobbies

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Hi, just wondering if any of parents of girls with AS can give their opinions on this……a lot of the literature I have read about AS suggests that folk have a tendency to be a 'train spotter' about certain things, or have specific rituals etc, I have also read that girls tend not to be as rigid in this area as boys are. My daughter ticks so many boxes for having AS but she doesn't seem to be particularly 'obsessed' with anything or have an extensive knowledge about any topic and so just wondered!!??
thanks!

I'm a woman with Asperger's but I present in a very male-like way. I have strong obsessions and rituals, to the point that I have an official diagnosis of OCD as well as AS. I do not fit the "female Asperger's" type well; I am more typical of a "male-type Asperger's". I've always dressed and acted more like a boy than a girl.

I agree with SteelMaiden, I'm more of 'Aspie-boy' than a girl- obsessions- snowploughs and neuroscience, and number 9 (which is my oldest and the most lasting obsession), at about 15% Aspies don't have longasting special interest (scientific reports say).... she'll find one, don't worry about that (if that is sth that could count as a worryng sing lol)), maybe nothing trigered her yet... I was happier when I had only one obsession to be honest, but it's just the way I am/er sre

What's a 'train spotter'?


As for the special interests, I did not see my son as having any special interests. He did not want to read, look at pictures, watch videos or learn about any area. I realize now looking back that as his nonverbal learning (math, patterns, music, visual processing) skills are much higher than his verbal learning skills, his special interests were not really talked about, just done. He spent hours at age 3-5 taping together boxes to make stuff. From about 3 to 10 he spent hours finding and sorting his "treasures." From about 7 to now, he spent hours playing with Legos. Around age 9, he started being interested in Minecraft and that continues to today (actually, he watches videos of others doing stuff on Minecraft as well as playing it). From about age 11 to now, he became interested in Halo. When he plays, he does the same thing over and over, likes the same places on games, and is very "obsessed" about his time spent doing these things. However, until his interest in Minecraft, he didn't talk about his special interests much, and didn't seek out information about them.

yeah, for clothes like shirts...i shop in the men's section. i don't wear girly patters and favor shirts with funny sayings on them or a pop culture reference on them. i don't wear girly shoes either. sneakers and in summer i wear flip flops. and i don't do makeup or wear jewelry. my ears are not pierced. however in the past i have worn bracelets and necklaces.

Girls tend to have more hidden obsessions, because they are more normal interests that any girl would have, but they are a lot more obsessive (if they have them, not all do).

E.g. she could be obsessed about dolls, clothes, girls books, favourite characters, cuddly toys, certain pets, her appearance, celebrities, magazines etc. There could be obsession with noticing patterns or eating a particular type of food or with particular implements. Think more outside the box, don't restrict your opinion on what is a special interest and you might notice more special interests or obsessions than you think.

If you look on www.autism.org.uk and search for "females" they also list the particular more likely presentation of females with AS.

Obsessive behaviour can also manifest in other ways, not only by obsessive interests. For instance, I am obsessive about putting right injustice and will write letters and persist until I get satisfaction or there is no recourse left.

I agree with whirlingmind. I had/have an obsessive, all-consuming interest in clothes and costumes, sparkly things*, history, memorizing poetry, Welsh people, sparkly things, etc..


*I used to beg my mom to get some of those sparkly streamers that stores put on the window unit air conditioners. I would run off in Sears and she'd find me in the appliance section watching them sparkle and wave.

This sounds SO much like my DS! I didn't know there were other "tapers" out there! I really think we should buy stock in 3M or something at the rate we go through tape at our house! We have also been in the Minecraft/Lego stage. So, to the OP's question, I don't think it is strictly girl aspies who fail to tick that "obsessive interest" box. My son has never had one particular interest that has lasted for a long time. He has more of a rolling special interest where he gets into something or a couple things and that's all he wants to do for a while. Right now it is Sonic comics and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He'll move on from this in probably a couple weeks (after he has read the comic books so many times that they are falling apart and read all the DWK books at least 3 times each). Often the past special interests linger for a little while but become secondary or tertiary to the next BIG THING. I see that Lego and Minecraft are probably not going anywhere anytime soon though!

Hmmm, yes she enjoys reading and this started off that she would love going to the library and getting a huge pile of books……now she still likes getting the books but doesn't seem to read them as she is only appearing interested in reading and re-reading Diary of a Wimpy kid books and another series of books of which she got to book 6 and is now re-reading them all again (which I find really hard to understand, as I would prefer to start a new book!). For about 2wks on the run all she wanted in her packed lunch was plain, cooked pasta with absolutely nothing on. So, there are small things like this…...

She probably finds the repetition soothing. There are no unknowns to jump out at her. If her day is feeling chaotic or insecure, it's a constant she can fortify herself with.

Exactly. DS seems to like books that are in a series and he likes reading them repeatedly. The familiarity seems to be comforting for him. We try to find new series books. It takes him a while to get interested but once he has come to accept a new storyline and set of characters, he'll read until he has read every one in the series. The notable exception was the Magic Tree house books. I think those were just TOO repetitive and after several of them, he just wasn't interested anymore.

My DD is 13 and dx with HFA / Asperger's. Most of her autistic tendencies are related to the way she thinks and learns. Her behaviours and interests are not immediately recognizable as being on the spectrum. I think her need for order (having her toys in particular spots when she was little, laying out her work in a certain way now) is related to her ASD. Probably her enthusiasm for particular toys or subjects is as well, but the range is broader than what I expected. For instance, she collected WebKinz when she was little, but so did her friends, and she did enjoy other gifts as well. And she is interested in art and design, but she explores this in a lot of different ways (art classes, tv decorating shows, rearranging her room) and shares them with me and some of her friends, rather than accumulating a lot of details or doing one thing repeatedly by herself. She likes facts, but "collects" them on a wide range of subjects as well. I sometimes wonder if girls on the spectrum have a wider range of interests than boys, and/or if they are more likely to be influenced by the interests of their friends.
J.

I think they are influenced by what others like. I had a very narrow taste in music but I was looking through my old records and I had stacks of records from an artist I didn't even like or enjoy listening to but my friend at the time did.

When I was older I found myself wondering - what should I be interested in? Classic literature seemed like a sophisticated / cultured choice. I don't like reading so I got lots of classics on CD. I am not fond of fiction and prefer facts and non-fiction but listened to very many audio books.

I've started to notice my genuine interests which are mostly words, patterns, order and facts.

Just adding to the posts here, , my 8yr old HFA daughter has an enormous range of interests from computers, singing, piano, math, ten-pin bowling, swimming and tennis despite not having any friends, She is (however) having her first play date tomorrow (with an NT boy!).

My 16 year old aspie has never had any of the usual "special interests." However, she is obsessive about her own soccer playing, what happened at soccer practice, what moves she succeeded or failed in doing, how much playing time she got, etc. Not really interested in watching other people play soccer, learning soccer stats, etc. Has anyone experienced anything like this?
At this age, it is pretty problematic, because while she is an excellent player, she is not always successful, not always a starter on the team--in other words, her "special interest" is not fully under her control, and as a result she has frequent meltdowns about it.

My 7yr old daughter has a diagnosis of Aspergers and she doesn't have the stereotypical obsessions either. She does have obsessions and they range from lizards to Doctor Who and she has a continual obsession with dogs, but she doesn't learn lists of data about them. She's just very curious and thinks about them a lot. When she has a topic at school that interests her (and so far, they all have), that will be on her mind a lot. The last one was 'under the sea'. Everything she did seemed to relate to this topic, e.g. pictures she drew, books she read, TV shows she watched. But, to any onlooker, the obsession does not seem odd. I don't see the obsessions as harmful in any way. As her topics are so wide, she learns a great deal and it fills her with enthusiasm and joy (see my signature line ). I can see this leading to some sort of career potential (which career I don't know yet), as she gets so engrossed in certain topics, but not to the detriment of other aspects of her life.