Asperger's & Autism Forum

So I can only sleep in one of two positions. I sleep on my stomach with one leg sticking out at an angle. I hold a pillow under my arm on the side that the leg is sticking out. It doesn't have to be a particular pillow, but I have one I have beaten into shape over the years that I prefer. The two positions differ by which leg I favor.

I can't sleep in other positions. On my back or on my side, forget it. I can't sleep on planes or buses. The only time I can remember sleeping in a different position was because I was exhausted. But if I am merely tired, I need to get into the right position.

If I do that, I am usually asleep in a few minutes.

Is this something folks here can relate to?

I'm not looking for advice. I'm looking for people to relate to.

I met this man who seemed lovely. He asked me for my number and wanted to know all about me. He would text me a lot and we'd have great, weird conversations about things. We would meet up with friends and go out places.

He seemed to really like me. Other people thought there was something there.

But looking back. There wasn't. He didn't want to spend time with me at times. I'm not pushy or clingy, but I felt like he can't have been in love with me because he didn't long to spend time with me. Not like how my other friend is with his girlfriend. He just wants to be with her all the time. This guy didn't seem to want to be completely in my life.

However, this man that I grew to love is an aspie... so I cut him some slack. I figured he needed his space. I need space myself at times. So if he said "no" to spending time with me, i didnt take it to heart. Because we would spend time together at a later date. It's not...

In mulling over why some people complain a lot, yet don't act on very appropriate advice, I am reminded of a model of behavior change I heard about in graduate school. Called the "Stages of Change Model," it defines readiness to implement change. Originally applied to smoking cessation, and later to alcohol abstinence, it might also apply to people with autism who view themselves as stuck and not able to do anything about it.

The six stages of change in this model are the following:

Precontemplation ("not ready") – "People are not intending to take action in the foreseeable future, and can be unaware that their behaviour is problematic"
Contemplation ("getting ready") – "People are beginning to recognize that their behaviour is problematic, and start to look at the pros and cons of their continued actions"
Preparation ("ready") – "People are intending to take action in the immediate future, and may begin taking small steps toward behaviour change"
Action – "People have made...

I am a single 49 year old father of a two year nine month old boy. He has some very peculiar traits and I'm hoping that maybe someone can help me.

He is:

1. Very intelligent. The smartest child that I have ever come across and he is routinely acknowledged by strangers as being extremely intelligent

2. His vocabulary is enormous. Far beyond children much older than him. He has been talking non stop forever.

3. He is and always has been extremely social and friendly.

What he does:

1. Repeats things over and over and over and over again. Seems pathological.

2. Fixates on one thing. He's been on Cows for months. As I sit here he is repeating "Lets make gravy, lets make gravy".

3. The repeating seems to get worse the more that he is tired.

4. He holds his hands in a stiff way all the time. He bends his wrists in and holds his fingers straight.

5. He doesn't always like to make eye contact .

6. He doesn't like to be touched and doesn't like blankets on him.

7. He doesn't...

Aloha All,
I am curious at what age different children (or not children) were diagnosed with autism. I've read that they are trying to really put an emphasis on early detection, however, the age of diagnoses spans anywhere from before 1 year of age to as late as 50+.

There was a thread a few weeks ago about stimming that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. I wondered what makes a stim an autistic stim versus a normal, everyday one? Articles I've read about it all point out that almost everyone stims, not just autistic people. Toe tapping, twirling hair, biting nails, bouncing leg, etc.--these are common ones. But I've noticed that many autistic people, myself included, tend to view everything we do and everything about us as being the result of autism. But of course this isn't the case. We are autistic, but we are also people--we're people who happen to be autistic. So, then, in addition to autistic stimming (and keep in mind that not all autistic people stim), we must also stim in ways that are not the result of autism. But how do we distinguish?

Here's what I've found: autistic stimming differs from normal stimming in type, quantity, and obviousness of the behavior (I pulled this from verywellhealth.com). If your stimming...

I think that my situation is a bit known here, so I will skip it. Anyway I spent most of my life, since age 4 or 5 up to age 28 studying hard, to the detriment of both my dating and social life. If you can call it that, because usually I have had no dating nor social life.

In high school I was studying most of the time, often until 1 or 2 in the morning, having to wake up early at 05.30 to go to school, then repeat each day. University was similar, except that I could wake up later. But still, I studied in my "free time" which was not really free time, and I basically did not hang out much with friends nor go on dates. Absolutely no time at all to date or go out with friends.

My social and dating skills in my late 20s were so poor that probably a teenager had better skills that I did. I felt that with three different STEM degrees, I had accomplished something. Yet my desire to have regular friends plus a girlfriend have year after year been stymied by my stunted social skills,...

I had an MRI of brain because of increased headaches, pressure and other symptoms - visual, weakness and balance, and other stuff. Any time I got for a test like this, I always get a dvd copy for myself. So yesterday, my doctor's office called wanting to schedule an appointment with a neurosurgeon for a pineal gland cyst, which, after looking it up, would not cause all the symptoms I'm having. Speaking with the nurse I asked her to send me a copy of the written results, so she did. Looking at that, and the other findings, there is fluid where I thought I had seen fluid, which is causing the pressure - location exactly where I feel the pressure. Also, another finding is ectopia where the brain stem and brain connect which will cause all the symptoms I expressed and goes along with all my neck issues. I really need to consider finding a new doctor, but I like her.

Anyhow, I found an image comparing a normal brain to 2 different types autistic brains:

My MRI pictures look...

Firstly, I would like to preface this and say that I get stressed out in crowded places. Especially when I am rushed. So keep that in mind.

________

Today was not a good day for me, at all. A lot of things went wrong consecutively.

As I mentioned I have got a new car a few weeks ago. I have hit it twice. But I do have a particular problem with getting my car manoeuvred around the bollards (our car parks have thin, narrow lanes with concrete bollards around them). 6/7 times out of 10 I will drive on the kerb or hit the bollard. My car is simply too big for me to see where I am going.This causes me a lot of stress.

So this comes on to awkward drivers, people who drive slow, people who speed up when I overtake, people who take too long to move off etc.

I do fine driving but I am having particular problems in dealing with awkward drivers. I nearly always come across people driving slow.

I don’t know how to deal with awkward drivers. This evening I could not get out of a parking...

Here's a type of scenario that has happened often enough to be a pattern. Let's say in online communication - it can happen face to face as well but is somewhat easier to manage.

1.
Someone proposes a theory or a solution to a problem.

2.
I see a possible flaw in the theory or solution and say something pointing to this. Because a) that's what I see, b) I'm interested in the accuracy and truth of the thing and c) if you want something that works it's obviously useful to know about problems with the current proposed version.

3.
The original poster at this point goes wildly off-track and pretty soon suggests I have some nefarious reason for wanting block their proposal or... something. The response makes "no sense", just, what the? Where the blazes did that come from? It's based on literally no evidence. Online all the actual words are there to see, but invariably that's not good enough.

Obviously there's some psychological / cognitive thing going on with this, which is why I put...