damn...some of those habits are straight up crazy.
Strange Habits You Realised You Have
by Stephanus 26 Replies latest jw friends
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OUTLAW
Every time I drink something..I have to pee later..Theres a conection there somwhere..??..LOL!!...OUTLAW
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Terry
This place is crawling with Asperger's Syndrome patients!
(symptoms)
- Limited interests or preoccupation with a subject to the exclusion of other activities;
- Repetitive behaviors or rituals;
- Peculiarities in speech and language;
- Socially and emotionally inappropriate behavior and interpersonal interaction;
- Problems with nonverbal communication; and
- Clumsy and uncoordinated motor movements.
The most common and important characteristics of AS can be divided into several broad categories: social impairments, narrow but intense interests, and peculiarities of speech and language. Other features are commonly associated with this syndrome, but are not always regarded as necessary for diagnosis. This section mainly reflects the views of Attwood, Gillberg, and Wing on the most important characteristics of AS; the DSM-IV criteria represent a slightly different view. Unlike most forms of PDDs, AS is often camouflaged, and many people with the disorder blend in with those that do not have it. The effects of AS depend on how an affected individual responds to the syndrome itself. [10]
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Social differences
Although there is no single feature that all people with AS share, difficulties with social behavior are nearly universal and are one of the most important defining criteria. People with AS lack the natural ability to see the subtexts of social interaction, and may lack the ability to communicate their own emotional state, resulting in well-meaning remarks that may offend, or finding it hard to know what is "acceptable". The unwritten rules of social behavior that mystify so many with AS have been termed the "hidden curriculum". [13] People with AS must learn these social skills intellectually rather than intuitively. [14]
Non-autistics are able to gather information about other people's cognitive and emotional states based on clues gleaned from the environment and other people's facial expression and body language, but, in this respect, people with AS are impaired; this is sometimes called mind-blindness. [15] Mind-blindness involves an impaired ability to: read others' feelings, understand intended meanings, gauge level of interest in a conversation, take into account others' level of knowledge and predict someone's reaction to a comment or action. [16]
Some people with AS make very little eye contact because it triggers a possible threat response, [17] whereas others have unmodulated, staring eye contact that can cause discomfort in other people. [18] Similarly, the use of gestures may be almost nonexistent or may seem exaggerated and differ from what would normally be considered the most appropriate for a situation. [19]
A person with AS may have trouble understanding the emotions of other people: the messages that are conveyed by facial expression, eye contact and body language are often missed. They also might have trouble showing empathy with other people. Thus, people with AS might be seen as egotistical, selfish or uncaring. In most cases, these are unfair labels because affected people are neurologically unable to understand other people's emotional states. They are usually shocked, upset and remorseful when told that their actions are hurtful or inappropriate. It is clear that people with AS do not lack emotions. The concrete nature of emotional attachments they might have (i.e., to objects rather than to people), however, often seems curious or can even be a cause of concern to people who do not share their perspective. [20]
Failing to show affection?or not doing so in conventional ways?does not necessarily mean that people with AS do not feel it. Understanding this can lead partners or care-givers to feel less rejected and to be more understanding. There are usually ways to work around the problems, such as being more explicit about one's needs. For instance, when describing emotions, it can be helpful to be direct and to avoid vague terms such as "upset" when the emotion being described is anger?some individuals with AS would interpret "upset" as mere annoyance, or even nausea. It is often effective to present in clear language what the problem is, and to ask the partner with AS to describe what emotions are being felt, or to ask why a certain emotion was being felt. It is helpful if the family member or significant other reads as much as he or she can about AS and any comorbid disorders. [21] Sometimes, the opposite problem occurs; the person with AS is unusually affectionate to significant others and misses or misinterprets signals from the other partner, causing the partner stress. [22]
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Speech and language differences
People with AS typically have a highly pedantic way of speaking, using a far more formal register of language than appropriate for a context. A five-year-old child with this condition may regularly speak in language that could easily have come from a university textbook, especially concerning his or her special area of interest. [23]
Literal interpretation is another common, but not universal hallmark of this condition. Attwood gives the example of a girl with AS who answered the telephone one day and was asked, "Is Paul there?" Although the Paul in question was in the house, he was not in the room with her, so after looking around to ascertain this, she simply said "no" and hung up. The person on the other end had to call back and explain to her that he meant for her to find him and get him to pick up the telephone. [24]
Individuals with AS may use words idiosyncratically, including new coinages and unusual juxtapositions. This can develop into a rare gift for humor (especially puns, wordplay, doggerel and satire). A potential source of humor is the eventual realization that their literal interpretations can be used to amuse others. Some are so proficient at written language as to qualify as hyperlexic. Tony Attwood refers to a particular child's skill at inventing expressions, e.g., "tidying down" (the opposite of tidying up) or "broken" (when referring to a baby brother who cannot walk or talk). [25]
Children with AS may show advanced abilities for their age in language, reading, mathematics, spatial skills, or music, sometimes into the 'gifted' range, but these talents may be counterbalanced by appreciable delays in the development of other cognitive functions. [26] Some other typical behaviors are echolalia, the repetition or echoing of verbal utterances made by another person, and palilalia, the repetition of one's own words. [27]
A 2003 study investigated the written language of children and youth with AS. They were compared to neurotypical peers in a standardized test of written language skills and legibility of handwriting. In written language skills, no significant differences were found between standardized scores of both groups; however, in hand-writing skills, the AS participants produced significantly fewer legible letters and words than the neurotypical group. Another analysis of written samples found that people with AS appear to be able to write quantitatively similarly to their neurotypical peers using grammatical rules, but have difficulty in producing qualitative writing. [28]
Tony Attwood states that a teacher may spend considerable time interpreting and correcting an AS child's indecipherable scrawl. The child is also aware of the poor quality of his or her handwriting and may be reluctant to engage in activities that involve extensive writing. Unfortunately for some children and adults, high school teachers and prospective employers may consider the neatness of handwriting as a measure of intelligence and personality. The child may require assessment by an occupational therapist and remedial exercises, but modern technology can help minimize this problem. A parent or teacher aide could also act as the child's scribe or proofreader to ensure the legibility of the child's written answers or homework. [29]
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Narrow, intense interests
AS can involve an intense and obsessive level of focus on things of interest. For example, one person might be obsessed with 1950s professional wrestling, another with national anthems of Africandictatorships, and another with building models out of matchsticks. Particularly common interests are: means of transport (e.g., trains), computers, foreign languages, mathematics, science fiction, astronomy, geography, history, and dinosaurs. Note that many of these are normal interests in ordinary children; the difference in children with AS is the unusual intensity of their interest. [30] Repetitive interests in children with autism are more often in the domain of "folk physics" (how things work) and less often in the domain of "folk psychology" (how people work), suggesting that obsessions are not content free. [31]
Sometimes these interests are lifelong; in other cases, they change at unpredictable intervals. In either case, there are normally one or two interests at any given time. In pursuit of these interests, people with AS often manifest extremely sophisticated reasoning, an almost obsessive focus, and a remarkably good memory for trivial facts (occasionally even eidetic memory). [3] [32] Hans Asperger called his young patients "little professors" because he thought his patients had as comprehensive and nuanced an understanding of their field of interest as university professors. [33]
Some clinicians do not entirely agree with this description. For example, Wing and Gillberg both argue that these areas of intense interest typically involve more rote memorization than real understanding, [3] despite occasional appearances to the contrary. Such a limitation is an artifact of the diagnostic criteria, even under Gillberg's criteria, however. [9]
People with AS may have little patience for things outside these narrow interests. In school, they may be perceived as highly intelligent underachievers or overachievers, clearly capable of outperforming their peers in their field of interest, yet persistently unmotivated to do regular homework assignments (sometimes even in their areas of interest). Others may be hypermotivated to outperform peers in school. The combination of social problems and intense interests can lead to unusual behavior, such as greeting a stranger by launching into a lengthy monologue about a special interest rather than introducing oneself in the socially-accepted way. In many cases adults can outgrow this impatience and lack of motivation, however, developing more tolerance to new activities and meeting new people. [26]
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Other differences
Those affected by AS may show a range of other sensory, developmental, and physiological anomalies. Children with AS may evidence a slight delay in the development of fine motor skills. In some cases, people with AS may have an odd way of walking, and may display compulsive finger, hand, arm or leg movements, [34] including tics and stims. [35] [36]
In general, orderly things appeal to people with AS. Some researchers mention the imposition of rigid routines (on self or others) as a criterion for diagnosing this condition. It appears that changes to their routines cause inordinate levels of anxiety for some people with this condition. [37]
Some people with AS experience varying degrees of sensory overload and are extremely sensitive to touch, smells, sounds, tastes, and sights. They may prefer soft clothing, familiar scents, or certain foods. Some may even be pathologically sensitive to loud noises (as some people with AS have hyperacusis), strong smells, or dislike being touched; for example, certain children with AS exhibit a strong dislike of having their head touched or their hair disturbed while others like to be touched but dislike loud noises. Sensory overload may exacerbate problems faced by such children at school, where levels of noise in the classroom can become intolerable for them. [34] Some are unable to block out certain repetitive stimuli, such as the constant ticking of a clock. Whereas most children stop registering this sound after a short time and can hear it only if they consciously attend to it, a child with AS can become distracted, agitated, or even (in cases where the child has problems with regulating emotions such as anger) aggressive if the sound persists. [38] A study of parent measures of child temperament found that children with autism were rated as presenting with more extreme scores than typically-developing children. [39]
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MidwichCuckoo
I look in people's fridges when I'm over at their house
Stephanus - I do that too - I call it a 'Fridge Fetish' - maybe we could start a support group, lol.
I'm also a book-sniffer.
When I hang washing out, the pegs on each item MUST match.
I'd better stop there.....
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Stephanus
Stephanus - I do that too - I call it a 'Fridge Fetish' - maybe we could start a support group, lol.
More like a social club for people with a common interest - so long as the fridge is well stocked, everyone's happy!
I'm also a book-sniffer.
I used to do that sort of thing, but books and magazines seem to use less aromatic inks and glues these days, and it ain't the pleasure it once was. Of course, my sense of smell might just not be what it once was. I used to love the smell of new paper money, when we had paper money. Now that it's printed on polymer notes, it just doesn't smell like it used to!
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Apostate Kate
Apostate Kate---I know what you mean by other peoples air. I am very picky about that. I am always holding my breath around people and then getting all panicky because I have to get away from them in order to take another breath.
I cannot drink a soda unless I rinse the top
Shopping carts..oh geez, where do I begin. I cannot wear my shoesd past the door because of all the gross things they have touched in parking lots etc.
Oh yes soda cans must be rinsed! There was a case where soda can tops were giving people a very serious illness because where they were stored they had rodents crawling and urinating on them. Shopping carts really bother me but I use germicide as soon as I get back in my car. No this is ocd not aspergers. I know why I am this way. The germophobe thing started when I was young after learning about the world of bacteria and microbes. It was well controlled as an adult until I became chronically ill from a genetic disease. My immune system is not normal from lupus so germs can prove to be a problem. The feet thing...I am suseptible to fungi. But that started young too, a family trait. The air thing is also born out of fear of contamination by airborn viruses and such. so seeeeeee it is compleeeeeetly nooooormal
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Good Girl or Bad Girl?
OMG, thanks a lot, you guys, I now have about 1,000 more things to be germophobic about... I thought I was being careful but I so wasn't!! GROSS!!!!!