Life with Aspergers

I decided to redo the Aspie Quiz because I wanted to get a copy of the nice diagram that goes with it. My results were as follows; Your Aspie score: 168 of 200 Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 33 of 200 You are very likely an Aspie A tiny bit higher than last time (161), probably changes depending on mood. Anyway, this is the picture I was after.

Much has been said about aspies & feelings and aspies being able to tolerate higher amounts of pain. I don't think I've gone into either topic in any real depth yet. In short, Aspies aren't supermen and superwomen... They can be hurt and often are in pain, whether it shows on their faces or not. They just complain about it less than some people I guess. Emotional Pain While it's true that sometimes an aspie will lack empathy and won't feel anything for a given situation. I'll discuss that in a later post (sorry). It isn't true to say that the feelings of aspies can't be hurt. They can. Sometimes the aspie will show a reaction to their hurt feelings and sometimes they'll lash out. More often though, aspies will simply remain silent and impassive despite internal turmoil. Physical Pain Wouldn't it be wonderful to be in a world without physical pain? Everyone feels pain to some degree - including aspies. It doesn't have to be a huge...

I was always going to do this post but until two days ago when my youngest son was diagnosed with high functioning autism, the words were going to be different and this was going to be a rant. Since then, I've spent a while trying to figure out his condition. Now I can see the link. The Usual Reaction I've always considered Aspergers to be quite different from Autism - I was certainly different to most of the autistic people I'd met, many of whom couldn't function in society because of the nature of their condition. I think that my reaction is pretty much the same as most of the population. Like other "popular" conditions, such as schizophrenia, autism has been spoilt by a mis-representation in the movies. Movies only show the very worst and most sensational cases and even then, they make a lot up. Sure, I knew that at least some forms autism actually resulted in "smarter" people who had no social skills. That happened in Mercury Rising with Bru...

There are a few things about the Asperger's condition which can seriously affect the health of the individuals concerned. This obviously won't be an exhaustive list, but it's a few things to consider. Undereating in Children While it is true to say that no child has ever starved itself willingly with food in easy reach, it is probably also true to say that no Aspie child has eaten healthy food when there are unhealthy alternatives available. Aspies have a lot of problems with the texture of food as well as the taste. For some reason, the junk food manufacturers seem to have figured out a way of giving their foods fairly good textures since junk foods, such as lollies and ice cream rarely pose a problem to the aspie. Aspie adults can take responsibility for their own healthy eating habits however aspie children need to be carefully monitored. The other eating problem that aspie children have is that they seem to be much slower at eating than other children. This is probabl...

This post is bound to be a little controversial - sorry. Technically, there is no medication that helps aspergers in general however Ritalin can relieve some of the symptoms. In this post, I'll attempt to explain what Ritalin does, which symptoms it addresses and how it affects youinger children. Our experience We have a seven-year-old son on Ritalin. Sometimes, we forget to give it to him. When this happens, we almost always get a phone call or a note from the school asking if we have forgotten to give him the medication. I think they have only ever asked once when we have actually given him the medication . It is therefore obvious that Ritalin provides a positive benefit in his behaviour and ability to work in class. Interestingly enough, these comments come from teachers who were initially very resistant to the introduction of Ritalin. Such a turnaround implies obvious benefit. The Ritalin does not suppress all of the aspie traits but instead allows him to think before act...

We are currently on holiday in a resort with a pool and we had an incident today which would have confounded me as a kid and still does from an adult point of view. I'm not certain how much easier this situation might be for an NT but for an aspie, it was very challenging. The Scenario We bought my two children a swimming tyre each and they went down to the pool without their floaties. Fully reliant on the tyre for floatation should they drift into a deeper part of the pool. My younger son (4) was ok but my older son (7) was hounded by two other kids for his tube. Their parents were nearby and watching but did nothing to stop the hounding. Reluctant to berate someone elses child, I was unable to assist. The Child's. Perspective Watching the scenario play out, I was reminded of countless similar situations in my childhood. In my opinion, the other kids and their parents were at fault but the situation was unwinnable. I'd either do one of two things; 1. Give the toy over. I...

Aspies are often their own worst enemies in the area of self worth. They often set themselves unattainable or inappropriate levels of perfection. It is not uncommon for an aspie to consider a B- mark, or anything below it to be a failure. They will often berate themselves severely after such a "failure", usually calling themselves failures etc, and sometimes resorting to self-harm. On the positive side, this means that aspies are very hard workers who strive not only to do impossible amouints of work but also to do it perfecly. The downsides of employing an aspie are that; Sometimes they introduce so many steps into a process (striving for perfection), that the process ends up being overly long and complicated. They will work themselves into the ground. Personally, I tend to clock 9 to 10 hours per day and have tripped off overuse injuries on more than one occasion. They find it impossibly hard to delegate work because although they generally don't apply the same perfect...