Elaborate fantasies

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im the same way

There is nothing in the diagnostic criteria for asperger's about lack of imagination.

My son is diagnosed with AS, and he has an incredibly rich fantasy world. In fact, practically everything he says is regarding some fantasy world that he has built around his various special interests. Just five minutes ago he was describing a scenario in which characters from Starcraft are playing a game where the loser gets a cream pie in his face, and the winner gets to choose the next activity. He also talks a lot about a character he made up named Samantha the Pirate, who creates new life forms in her mad science lab. There is so much of this stuff in his mind that there is barely room for anything else.

I've never sought a diagnosis for myself, but I believe I'm at least pretty darn close to being an aspie, and I have a rich fantasy world, too, although not like my son.

There is a book called "Parenting Your Asperger Child" by Alan Sohn, Ed.D. and Cathy Grayson, M.A., which I read a few years ago when my son was first diagnosed. In it, they divide AS kids into several subgroups, one of which they called "Fantasy Boy". That was the first time I had read any book that acknowledged the fact that some AS kids (and, it follows, adults) have a rich fantasy life. In fact the fantasy life is kind of the main thing.
It was reassuring to read that, because the other books I had read seemed to only focus on kids who collect facts and are rigid about rules, which didn't fit my son.

Yes I think up whole films in my head with characters, story lines, soundtracks etc. I have a very vivid imagination and I often go off into a fnatasy land.

Wow. That wasn't offensive or anything. Aspergers doesn't kill you. AIDS does.

What I meant was that Aspergers is stable. Conditions on the schizophrenia spectrum aren't. Differentiating between the two is incredibly important.

Let me put it this way, imaginative play used to be a make or break for AS, not so much anymore.

I meet all the AS dsm-iv criteria, but back when i was in school, it was dsmiii, and as was not defined.

The one thing i did have as a kid was an imagination, and an overly elaborate one at that. (btw I am diagnosed with NLD) I used to hold parlimentary proceedure with my stuffed toys, and i am american!

The one thing they have noticed with people with nld though, is the kids and adults have the ability to create overly elaborate fantasy worlds up to creating functioning societies and social structures, this was definately the case with me, and i added another layer by creating a functioning language and mythology.
One example i read is a child with AS would play with a toy deconstructing its various parts, while the child with nld will create an elaborate world with as many toys at their disposal and create social constructs. NLD kids are known to be daydreamers.

Alot of both though is based on children, and yes generalized.

There is a similarity with nld and schizotypal/schizoid pd in that respect, the difference is the nld child wants to socialize but is heald back by social deficits. One of the problems i had to deal with is the imaginary world, was not constructive in helping with those deficits, rather it was as i was peering into the world i belonged.

I am not sure if this is helpful, but i do know alot of aspies who do have a good imagination, so its not a requirement, its a generalization. Not everybody falls in that boat.