Heavy concentration and stimming?

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The poll to the question of concentration led me to this idea.

For those who have a tendency to enter a state of deep thought, does it create a trance-like state at times, so much so that you tend to lose a level of awareness with the outside world? Like, when I'm in deep thought at times, I can sometimes fail to hear someone talking to me. Such concentration can also have the ability to sort of alter my mood.

I have noticed that I stim much more when under heavy concentration. I fidget a lot more, twisting paper shreds, rubber bands, or whatever in my hands. I tend to pace back and forth a lot as well. It will always lead to some sort of self-conversation, as I'm battling with my internal emotions.

- Ray M -

when i am playing with lego or when i am doing somthing that facinates me i tend to block the whole world out and complely lose any attension on anything.

but somtime i find i cannot concentrate at all. escially if i am not intreested or motavated with it.

jammie

I can get sucked into things pretty deep. I've noticed it most of all when of all things I watch tv. I feel like I'm literally getting sucked into the TV.

I feel like there is nothing esle but what I'm consentrateing on I don't hear much but myself muttering about it and compleatly lose track of time and other people if not aready alone till I'm done or snap out of it

When I was a kid, I would chew on my clothes. My kids do it now.

Now I just chew on a pencil or pen or finger (not hard enough to break the ski, more of a gnaw).

I can't concentrate much due to ADD, but I've found that I can concentrate better if I'm stimming. The problem is, I can't do it when I am in a public place. Apparently most people don't think that holding your right breast with your left hand is appropiate.

The concentration was so strong that yesterday while I was driving I was in a state of total inward thinking and not only did I almost end up running through a red light I also could have ran through a bunch of people walking across the street. A close friend who was in the car at the time stopped me by shouting "red light, red light!".

This has never happened before; to this extreme, and thats when I started to realise perhaps I'm not as "normal" as other people are when they think on things.

I made up my own term on it before I read about Aspergers which I called mind tunnelling - meaning you can only focus on one specific thing and every other stimuli is temporarily "blocked out" as if you were in a tunnel. When in a mind tunnel, being interrupted is just as irritating as having a cold bucket of water being thrown on one while they are in bed.

Conversely, I find it extremely hard to concentrate (and slip into my mind tunnel) if I am consciously trying to understand and process something in my mind and there are continuous noises and smells about to distract.

Examples:
*My husband clicks his toes when reading. When I'm reading and he does that, I have to re-read my sentance over and over again unless it stops.
*The smell of smoke distracts me because is smells really bad. I have a very highly developed sense of smell. When I was being forced to watch a movie with hubby (don't like movies much), the cigarette smoke from my housemate was drifting in from a closed door to the balcony, which was quite a distance away.

I haven't been diagnosed by a doctor of any kind as having AS but in taking a test online and through the forums I see myself as definately borderline if not AS and can find behaviours in common with alot of the people posting here.