Exposing AS kids to experiences - How much is too much ?

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My daughter loved ballet from about ages 3-9. It was good exercise and provided some socialization. The activity was highly structured and that made it comfortable for her.

I can tell when my kids are too busy by their attitude and general demeanor. They may not vocalize it, but they always tell me one way or the other. They will want to watch TV more. They will want to forgo their usual playdates. They get crankier. Etc..

Gymnastics is actually a fairly competitive sport that requires a lot of dedication and many aspects of it are not fun.

Anyway, you pulled your daughter out when you realized she was no longer enjoying it so you did the best you can do at this point.

If she has trouble following the instructions, I wonder if she might have a processing deficit, as in, she knows what to do once she understands what is being communicated to her, but she might have trouble decoding verbal commands. It would be something to watch for when she gets into school because these kids can sit there all day staring at the board/teacher and not learn a thing because they can't process the information fast enough even thought they may be quite bright.

Chronos,
this is exactly the case with my daughter...She needs time - sometimes more, others less - to decode verbal commands. At home we speak slowly and clearly all the time for her to understand...when I speak with her mother in a more quick manner, she often asks me..."Dad what are you talking about ?"
Once she understands what is being said and what is required of her, she is happy and can respond accordingly.
The problem is that I cannot demand from other people to speak more slow and clear for her to understand.

when I was a kid, I needed time at school, I remember this well. I was bright enough, I just needed to hear something twice before I can proceed. However, I do worry about her schooling years because nowadays the whole of society, including school of course, are thinking, moving, processing and working fast.
She is very smart, but can she handle the pace ? This is the question.
That is why, as I said in an earlier post, she is doing much better in more relaxed and controlled environments where there not too many information bombarding her.

I think things with one on one instruction are better, personally. Like martial arts or, if your child wants to dance make sure that the instructor knows what autism is and has the time to deal that. I have thought about putting my daughter in some sort of musical training but she would not understand. My sister in law says she would not even start a typical child in piano or something like that until they were about 7 years old. We have a old violin and my daughter (6 year old Autie) always wants to play it....it doesnt have a bow but she plunks the strings. I know that she has musical abilities but I dont want her to end up hating something she seems to like so much and I think they put too much emphasis on instruction in music....especially in something like violin. She would not understand and not be able to handle that.
As an Aspie I was pushed to do competitive sports like my brothers who were MVP's of Track and Football. I tried Track and I was actually good but the competitive side and my family pushing me made me sick....I would vomit under the bleachers (good thing the meets were all outside) before every race. I finally quit myself and I was harassed mainly by my older brother that I was a quitter but I didnt care the anxiety was gone and I felt like I could breathe again. I did Kung Fu for years in a small little studio with only five or six other students at a time and I had my older daughters do it as well before my two little ones came along. One of my older daughters has Asperger's too and we all enjoyed taking Kung Fu. When we moved I had to put them in a larger place, they still had one on one instruction sometimes but when they got up higher in rank (sash) they wanted them to do sparring and my aspie was not into that!

I think there's a difference between trying something out and pushing. It's probably just the sort of thing where it's worth trying a few activities and letting them pick one they like, some activities will even let you have a free trial lesson.

I suppose that's true, but to get DS to try something out takes an effort on our part that feels like pushing. Of course, if we see whatever it is causing him real distress (where it spills over to other things, or he vomits or melts down, etc.) we'd stop - but the precursor behavior for that is the same as the precursor behavior to anything new for him, even things he eventually likes.

I heard about a kid on the spectrum that is mostly non-verbal and LOVES hockey. Apparently, he's an AWESOME goalie. He totally could not handle any other position. But think about all the roles in a team sport. Oh, he wears ear plugs when playing. Helps him to block out some of the crowd noise.