which traits/symptoms are unique to ASD only?

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Is that really so? Don't top sportspeople, scientists, some creative people etc spend huge amounts of time on their field, too, without having an ASD? I remember in our psychology class years ago we studied giftedness and gifted people apparently spend "truly huge" amounts of time on their special subject, or so we were taught. I'd be more inclined to view really serious social ineptitude as a more reliable sign of ASD, though much less romantic than special interests .

I cannot find the quotation now, but it was Hans Asperger who said that all successful artists for example have a "shot (?) of autism".
And thank you for adding giftedness.
But there are dedicated artists, who still can have a "vivid" social life, but maybe the extend in autism is not being able to let it go at all?
I experienced this with a special interest for nearly 20 years, it worked non-stop a whole day in my head and I forgot to socialize about it (before I could not either, but I got irritaded and anxious when something was interrupting me and when I had to meet a person or something my SI was still playing in my head) or trying to find work with it finally, I did not function as I was "expected to function".
I just read, you can read 20 languages.
I don't know if a non-autistic person can do this, maybe a gifted one, but with a sort of autism, I guess.

What I see as being meant by the special interests mentioned above is that the NT person with these interests probably wouldn't mind sharing them with others. The autistic person with the special interests may not wish to share them with others. Is this what they mean by reciprocity? Could this be reciprocity in special interests? I don't like to share my interests with others, but many people I know with special interests share theirs with others. That to me shows a difference in the autistic person and the NT person with special interests.

I'm meaning people who don't have autism but also are not near average in terms of their neurology. In particular, both people who I immediately thought of are gifted, as well as having at least one mental health diagnosis.

I don't think there are any ASD symptom that wouldn't be found in others who don't have an ASD. I have no idea if a symptom I have is due to me being hungry or due to anxiety or OCD or just my personality. It gets so confusing so I don't really pay any attention or blame everything on my AS.

I thought an aspie would share it and they would go on and on about it and it be all they ever want to talk about. Plus they talk about it all the time. That is the textbook case of it anyway. But if they never want to share it, I guess that be a good thing because at least they don't go on and on about it and not talk about it all the time. I am the same way. I guess with AS, it's one of these.

I have often gone on and on about interests with others, but I have also stayed to myself with them. It depends on my mood. I did look at the DSM and it states (as I know most of you are aware):

3. a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people, (e.g., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)

That is interesting---a lack of...seeking to share...interests...with other people.

But yet many will talk about how we people with autism will go on and on about our interests.

The first medical person we saw about our daughter's possible autism was a speech and language therapist. As my husband and I talked to him, she played with the toys in his office. We were pleased with her playing and allowing us time to speak with the therapist (which was unlike her normal self, because she really was, until very recently, very demanding). 30 mins into the assessment, he said that he was sending her for the full autism assessment. He based this on what we had spoken about and the fact that she had on no occasion come over to show us anything she had been doing. He said that kids who don't have ASDs tend to interrupt within 10mins, to show something or ask for help. To us, the whole thing was really weird. I think she was just trying to be very well behaved, knowing that us adults had something important to discuss. It's not the real her at all. She seldom plays on her own and has us (especially Daddy) really involved in what's she's doing.

Last edited by Mummy_of_Peanut on 20 Apr 2012, 8:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

There's only one thing that I've noted that seems to be unique to autism. It is the lack of instinctual ability to look into a person's face and know something about their interior state. Many autists are able to work out consciously which facial expressions indicate which feelings, but they don't come out of the womb able to do so. Non-autistic infants are born knowing to look at faces (and especially eyes) because there is valuable survival information to be gained there.

But are they sharing it with another person (to make them happy, to bond with them) or are they just talking at another person, possibly forcing something on them?

Other than that, I have that "issue" but there's no way this is exclusive to spontaneously sharing enjoyment and the like, because I have that same problem with talking about my wishes and needs.

As a child, I'd not request something to drink when I was thirsty and would just drink whatever was handed to me (tea usually) until in elementary school, I finally "remembered" to decline it (by shaking my head, saying no, basic communicative means like that) because I hated the taste and demonstrated that by getting sick from the taste in a spectacular disgusting fashion later too. When I was hurt, somebody would have to notice because I couldn't say myself despite my ability to talk.

Curiously, that makes me "less autistic" for some people including professionals with experience on AS because the behaviour to interrupt and demand attention at inappropriate times is typical for AS according to them. I tend to think the deficits on such a basic communicational/social level is just as autistic as attracting attention at the "wrong" time.

I'm still having that problem on very basic levels (it's less often but not gone and I still go hungry, sleepy, hurt, answering the opposite of what I want, fail to be treated for an injury, hardly talk about what I myself like), it's a huge concern for me but not as much for ASD specialists I deal with apparently. I assume they are not as concerned because this "issue" isn't disputed so it doesn't look very alarming on the outside.

Whatever that criterion is derived from, the underlying issue sure can go much deeper than just a failure to spontaneously share interests and the like.

Maybe others who talk about their interests a lot have still trouble "sharing" needs and such with others/alerting others of such things. I know some children have this difficulty albeit they are very talkative when it concerns other things so I can imagine a number of autistic adults who are verbal and possibly even well-adapted struggling with this same difficulty in certain areas too.

I rarely have the urge to "share" with other people.

Some people seem to think ASDs are limited to "obnoxious behavior," such as interrupting and acting "bratty" as a kid.

I was extremely well-behaved and rarely spoke as a child. Now, most of my co-workers couldn't tell you the first thing about me because chatting about my personal life doesn't occur to me.

I tend to withdraw when I am with people and have no interest to socialize and when I do, I just don't know how to do it or join in. If I am with people I am comfortable with I can talk. I can talk about anything that comes to my head. If I want to make small talk, I will state the obvious like "Oh I see you moved the table."

But I never saw myself as meeting this part of the criteria since I can talk to people but after reading others interpretations on it, I realize maybe I do meet that part. Plus I have been a big talker since I was six and I go on and on and on never giving anyone else a turn to speak. Wouldn't that be seeking enjoyment with other people and interests? I be telling my parents about my day in school and not shut up or even let them speak. But then again we tend to go off in monologues and not let anyone else have a turn to speak. So that part of the criteria is pretty ironic. Plus when i go to my autism groups, I see aspies talking to each other like normal people and didn't they just fail that part of the criteria?

But yet I will let other people talk to me about stuff even if it doesn't interest me. So they are basically talking at me.


But yet I remember as a kid when I would get hurt, I would cry and go to my parents so they can fix it and I be back to playing again. But I remember when I was six, I scraped my knee on the playground and I was walking around and I didn't go to a grow up about it. A duty lady spotted it and gave me a slip and told me to go to the health room and I didn't go because I didn't know what the health room was and where it was at and she wouldn't take me to it because she said she couldn't leave the playground. I didn't even ask where the place was at either so I continued walking around with a scrape knee. Plus mom told me when I was a kid, I used to point to my band aid and go "look" and then say "ow" while my brothers would say about their band aids "Doctor gave me a shot."

My psychiatrist did say I had plus and minuses in the criteria meaning it was yes and no for meeting parts of it. Nothing was absolute meaning not black and white.

Special intrests/obsessions? I've yet to hear of any other condition where someone gets them. One may say Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), but those aren't the same as an obsession or special intrest of a person with an autism spectrum disorder and usualy cause distress. An autistic person's obsessions/special intrests are a source of joy and happiness. One may argue that NTs can have them but I've yet to see or hear about a true NT who will turn away all the people in their life in order to persue an obsession. When one does such, I wonder if that person is really a true NT.

Don't think so. There is a disorder called IED people with ADHD can have them, people with Borderline Personality Disorder also can have anger issues. (It's in the criteria)

It's kind of interesting because my meltdowns are related to anxiety, not anger. For example, I have anxiety around being judged so I may have a meltdown when I think someone is judging me. This is my most severe autism symptom, so much more severe than the other ones that sometimes think I just have social anxiety or something, rather than autism.

Sounds familiar. Well, when I do talk, it's either music related or running related. Because of this, I am always asked how running's going. If I talk to my manager, he will sometimes mention lyrca.

I don't know if this is a ToM issue or not, but I'm never sure how someone will react to me.

Exactly, that's why I'm angry with my sister - I heard from her all my life that I'm 'obsessed', meaning with my interests, but she won't accept I have ASD. If she didn't call me that since I was little, I wouldn't have minded. Some people would apply a label only when bullying, and she's a professional therapist now and don't want to admit I doesn't have what she thinks I have.