Lack of Imagination

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So am I.

I always did enjoy a certain amount of pretend play as a kid, but where I would freak out would be when my friends wanted to just play really ridiculous stuff. For instance, when I was playing with my Hot Wheels cars (a favorite pastime for me) and one of my friends would break out a He-Man doll, a dinosaur, or a huge toy vehicle, I would get really upset. I had to play with toys that were of basically the same scale. I loved Micro Machines and Hot Wheels, but I would NEVER mix the two into the same play session... it just wasn't meant to be.

Me too. In fact, it's still one of my favorite activities, except I role play, not running around imagining stuff.

I really can't imagine (oh, a pun!) why people would think we have no imagination.

In fact, a college friend of mine was basically saying that I could not be as imaginative as her because I'm a biology major and she's a lit major. All that means is that she makes crap up, and I make up plausible crap. She really makes me mad sometimes.

By some things that I read, I begin to suspect of something (that can be the explanation for that): perhaps the researchers who create the concept of "Asperger's Syndrom" were thinking in it being simply a more "fancy" name for "Kanner-style autistic who can talk"; but defined the criteria for AS in a so vague way that the diagnosis becomes to be applyed, not only to the kind of individuals that they had studied but also to very different people.

And, because that, the people currently with AS are much different from what the books say that they should be.

Of course, this is only a theory (and I have none special knowledge of the history of AS, that my theory is probably intelectual garbage*).

*or simply a product of imagination

It can't all be true. I've got a very good imagination and it made me rather creative.

I think the problem lays with how the statement is made. Originally it was noticed by researchers that many on the spectrum exhibited very little original creative thought, the thing we typically call imagination so the word has been tremendously misapplied over the decades to describe a particular trait that has nothing at all to do with fantasy or the imaginings of the mind.

Someone is familiar with the theories of Sula Wolff about Asperger Syndrom?

She proposed a revision of the criteria for AS with several features and one of these was to include "unusual fantasy life" as a defining symptom of AS .

I have practically no ability to spontaneously 'role play' as it were. When I was a child, if all my friends wanted to play 'house' I would always want to be the dog so that I could just crawl around on the floor panting and taking naps. Not much imagination required. If I was forced into being a character in the game of 'house' I had no clue what to do or say. I don't really think I have a lack of imagination, though. I could play games of pretend with my sister and on my own. But not with a group of friends. I guess it has to do with social inhibition and a lack of rules and structure. I don't do well when there is no specific 'right' way to act.

But I've been told many times that I have a good imagination.. Not too sure how much I agree with that. But.. *shrug*

The 'dog' role required the most imagination. Think about it.
I do think that imagination and fantasy are two terms often confused and mixed up even by professionals. I had a trememdously rich fantasy life as a child.

OMG Same! I would do lots of different pretend play things and I would always take control of the situation and lead large groups of kids in groups, etc. The teachers really got mad though when I created the concept of shoving as much kids down a tube slide as possible and pretending they were in a black hole being transported to a different dimension.

Constructional Apraxia (lack of imagination)

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/apraxia/apraxia.htm

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It's interesting that Temple Grandin says she thinks in pictures. Temple Grandin describes herself as having autism, not Asperger's.

Your personal opinions don't matter , going back and forth saying "I have imagination , thus this is false" doesn't change the fact that we base our imaginations off reality[1] and that autistics and aspies are mainly convergent thinkers[2] whom focus on accumulating information, recognizing the familiar, reapplying set techniques, and preserving the already known[3]. Even though many early experts agreed that Autistics lack imagination[4] this doesn't mean they generate zero responses in tests used to assess this mode of thinking[1].

[1] Creativity and imagination in autism and Asperger syndrome ; Jaime Craig and Simon Baron-Cohen.
[2] An investigation into the relationships between convergent and divergent thinking, schizotypy, and autistic traits ; Gordon Claridge , Anna McDonald.
[3]Guilford, J. (1967). The Nature of Human Intelligence.
[4]Our journey through high functioning autism and Asperger syndrome: a roadmap By Linda Andron

Of course it "matters."

I have an "imagination." I had lots of "pretend play."

I was still diagnosed with autism. I haven't the slightest idea what you mean by "preserving the known" or "reapplying set techniques." That's certainly not me, and it's not many other people on the forum, either.

Like it or not, there is still no firm agreement on what "Asperger's" or "autism" actually IS, and, considering the complete lack of objective bio-markers, the "research" and "opinions" of the "experts," will continue to be just that: opinions. We will continue to discuss, disagree, and compare said "research" to our own experiences. If you have objective, physical evidence that AS people don't have "imaginations," feel free to dredge it up. In the mean time, I can just as easily pull up another researcher who thinks AS people DO have "imaginations, like Attwood, for instance.

I have no more reason to take the research that says we don't have "imaginations" seriously than I do the research that says we "imagine" just fine.

I thought imagination is based in reality and familiar things, just that during imagination or 'pretend play' you present them in a slightly different way? That's not Aspie imagination or NT imagination, just the definition of imagination.

That's one of the problems with this issue: there's no concrete definition as to what constitutes "imagination" and "creativity." The other problem, as somebody else pointed out, ASDs are currently diagnosed via "observed behavior." Whenever you diagnose conditions based on "observed behavior," sans any objective bio-marker, you run of the risk of being circular. Some researchers describe autistic kids as having "no imagination," so doctors only diagnose kids with autism if they have no imagination.

It's like when Hans Asperger decided only boys could get AS, so he only studied men and boys. If girls presented with AS symptoms, he just decided they "must have something else."

Furthermore, some "research" has suggested that women with AS tend to do better with "imagination" than men. Also, someone on this forum observed that those of us who claimed to have great imaginations were usually the ones who also fit the criteria for ADHD/ADHD-PI.

Food for thought.

For the statistics, I'm ADD (I self-suspected ADHD, and I still think I'm right about it), and my imagination is based on reality (ie, I write fanfictions about people I'm interested in - I still consider it an act of imagination, and it's what I love doing). You write very good, thoughtful posts. Thanks for your reply.