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prillix
Snowy Owl
Joined: Aug 12, 2008
Age: 23
Posts: 160
Location: Sudbury Ontario --- Soon Edmonton Alberta
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 Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:19 pm Post subject: Childhood obsession? |
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autismaspergerssyndrome.suite101. com/article.cfm/aspergers_syndrome_as
(hasnt been 5 posts yet so i had to break it apart)
"Limited Interests and Asperger’s Syndrome
Restricted areas of interest are a common symptom of pervasive developmental disorders. In severe autism this may manifest as an overriding attachment to a specific object. Aspies tend to focus on an area of interest to the point of obsession. A child with Asperger’s may develop an interest in buses, for instance, and memorize every bus number and route in town. He or she may also be able to recite the makes and model yea of every bus in the fleet."
Anybody else have any personal experiences?
Me for example, when i was a kid, i cant remember doing anything more then sit there and reorganize my hockey cards nearly every single night. Sort them by teams, then sort them by positions, then sort them by names, then put the "better cards" in stronger protective cases. Kinda feels like i wasted my very early years doing so.
Ironically, i absolutely hate hockey. Never liked the sport whatsoever. I actually got a job at a hockey arena, had it for 3 years, and never sat there and watched a full game. |
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donkey
we have met the enemy, he is us.
Joined: May 22, 2006
Age: 37
Posts: 1478
Location: ireland
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| Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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what you describe is typical of As children.adolescents.
interesting you should note that this is wasted time...it was.
but then think about this.
if you can develop an interest that is of onterest to others and commercially viable then the As obsessive character becomes an advantage.
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a great civilisation cannot be conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within- W. Durant |
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PunkyKat
Phoenix
Joined: May 15, 2008
Posts: 693
Location: Twlight Zone
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| Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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| I think being so obsessive about things is my main Asperger's "problem". My interests have never really changed. It was always animals. Maybe I was more obsessive about a certain species at certain times but I was always obsessed with animals. When The Lion King came out that was my chief obsession. I could recite the whole script with no mistakes. I still have all of my Lion King stuff which mainly consisted of stuffed animals and a few action figures. The only things I do not have are my old childhood T-shirts because my mom have them away when I outgrew them. I am always on the lookout for adult size Lion King T-shirts and am wearing one almost everyday. Most physiologists and so called "therapists" wanted my parents to take everything Lion King related away from me and to punish me whenever I talked of it. They did not and would go find another shrink when that was even hinted. I think I freak out other Lion King fans. I was on a Lion King message board and couldn't understand why these so called "fans" had other favorite movies or talked of other things. Everyone else on the message board liked TLK because of the animation. I liked it because of the animals and something was missing. People. I hated people as a kid. I had to deal with them in real life so why should I watch their movies. I once had a dumb physiatrist ask me why I liked TLK so much and I told her because there was no people in it. She then preceded to ask me why I didn't like people. She just answered her own question by getting in my face and interrogating me. I hated the stage show more than any human being alive because it showed the people's faces and turned it into a people story. Zebras do NOT have human heads sticking out of their necks. Someone give the director an animal anatomy guide. Meerkats are now my main obsession. In a way it is Lion King related. Timon is a meerkat and he is what introduced me to them. I knew practically everything about meerkats before Meerkat Manor became so popular. I hate meerkat manor because it has made it cool to like meerkats. It was not cool to like them before. |
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Callista
Phoenix
Joined: Feb 04, 2006
Age: 25
Posts: 1663
Location: Central USA
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| Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 8:08 pm Post subject: |
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"The Brave Little Toaster" and appendectomies.
I was a weird little kid. 
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Stereokid
Deinonychus
Joined: Dec 12, 2005
Posts: 372
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| Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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This summer, I have been a little overly obsessed with the Pokemon games. IN pokemon battle revolution, I am constantly switching the Pokemon on my battle passes trying to find the perfect balance. I have been doing this this whole summer pretty much, and have forgotten to call friends over.
When I was a little child, I was obsessed with ceiling fans (still am to a certain degree up to this day), clocks, watches, round air conditioning vents. |
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Mum2ASDboy
Phoenix
Joined: Jan 28, 2008
Posts: 537
Location: New Zealand
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| Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:19 pm Post subject: |
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The bus thing, my HFA son is beyond obsessed with our buses. he knows all the numbers, where they go. If he sees say the number 4 bus turning down a street he will tell me where is has been and where it is going next. If he sees a bus in the distance we MUST stop and wait till it hs gone past, even if it is raining. He saw a bus on a Sunday and was highly confused because buses don't go on Sundays.
Does my ***** head in but he is happy so I'll tolerate it. oh he is 5 by the way |
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patternist
Stirring the pot....
Joined: Jul 29, 2008
Age: 35
Posts: 1833
Location: wouldn't you like to know?
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| Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | When I was a little child, I was obsessed with ceiling fans (still am to a certain degree up to this day), clocks, watches, round air conditioning vents. |
This is how my kid is. And he draws circles. "Round and round" was his first phrase. His father and I used to joke about him reinventing the wheel.
I was obsessed with geography, maps. I knew more about the country of Wales than an American nine year old should. And classical music. Also, Doctor Who was an obsession as a kid, I must have grown out of it, because I watched it a few years back and couldn't get into it.
Do you remember a lot from your obsessions? I find a lot of things have faded with time. |
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Aalto
Velociraptor
Joined: May 04, 2008
Age: 17
Posts: 404
Location: W. Yorks, UK
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| Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Steam trains and dinosaurs. I also read a huge amount. |
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-JR
Phoenix
Joined: Jul 11, 2008
Age: 22
Posts: 891
Location: Somewhere in Time
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| Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:21 pm Post subject: |
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Reading. TONS. Read so much they tried to bore me out of it by giving me a dictionary to read. Kind of worked. 
Building with legos. Remember building the frames of houses with my legos, tried to get exact angles, but as you know-legos are square little blocks, can't get nice neat diagonals... Did damn fine job tho. I copied things as exactly as I could, boats in books, airplanes, and scenarios. Later I built "robots" (no motors unfortunately>.>), the obsession then was "movable parts," IE-claws, legs, fingers and toes, any joint I could I would replicate.
Also, digging holes, and finding uses for them. Neighbors actually call me when they need a hole dug for whatever reason. This desire has passed, but people still assume I'm crazy about holes...
One of my favorite hobbies as a child was creating "scenarios." A terrible accident at a race track for instance, required much thought on how everyone around would react (cops, ambulance, drivers, even fans if they were affected). Also thinking up how the "accident" occured was just as much fun. I've read that Aspies have a hard time with imagination, and am a little weary at my self dx these days, mainly for this reason, creating dramas...
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Still grateful.
"...do you really think you're in control...?"
Diagnosis: uncertain. |
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chocoholic
Phoenix
Joined: May 22, 2008
Posts: 514
Location: At a Chocoholics Anonymous meeting
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| Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:59 pm Post subject: |
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I loved anything and everything to do with weather. I would watch the Weather Channel for hours on end, I had a bunch of weather books including one from the Weather Channel. At the time I could name every type of cloud there is and was obsessed with the tornado and hurricane strength categories, I loved looking at weather maps, and enjoyed reading severe weather alerts. Natural disasters also interested me, particularly earthquakes.
I also enjoyed reading geography books, not so much for the landscapes but more for learning about other people, their culture, customs, language, pretty much their way of life. There was a point in my school years when I would have to read an academic hardcover book and answer questions from it, which was something I had a hard time with, so my teacher got me a large book on world geography and cultures to answer questions from, knowing it was one of my obsessions. It did help somewhat.
I was completely obsessed with American Standard toilets as well. When my mom and I would go shopping and we had to use the restroom, I would refuse to use the toilet unless it was an American Standard. It got to the point where my mom would actually have to call places ahead of time just to ask if they had American Standard toilets, before we went. We also went shopping at an appliance store that has since gone out of business, and every time I saw an American Standard toilet for sale, I would get so excited and point it out to my mom. Ahh, fun times. |
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patternist
Stirring the pot....
Joined: Jul 29, 2008
Age: 35
Posts: 1833
Location: wouldn't you like to know?
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| Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Also, digging holes, and finding uses for them. Neighbors actually call me when they need a hole dug for whatever reason. This desire has passed, but people still assume I'm crazy about holes... |
Lol, have you ever seen the movie "Holes"? You would have been perfect for it!
About self-diagnosis: You know yourself better than a psychiatrist does. Is the imagination thing the only reason you are not convinced? You have to look at the "gestalt". What do people that know you IRL think?
I don't think any person is doled out a set amount of "imagination". I also don't think psychiatrists completely understand all the presentations of AS . Not that I pretend to, either. I don't think people with Aspergers lack imagination, just maybe a lot of things associated with imagination don't come as easily. Making a story up on the spot, for instance.
Anyway, there may have been a certain pattern or theme to your pretend catastophies as a kid. I was always imagining my own world, but it usually revolved around whatever particular theme I was getting into at the time. And it was always intense. So much so that the other kids didn't want to play with me. Maybe one or two of them occasionally. It was pretty random. |
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quirky
Deinonychus
Joined: Sep 24, 2007
Posts: 340
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| Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:05 am Post subject: |
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| Rocks - I used to spend recess picking out shiny rocks and putting hundreds of them in my backpack to take home ever day. I did the same with acorns. I got a rush out of collecting things - I'd fantasize endlessly about owning every color crayon, or every cat beanie baby, and in 5th grade I had a collection of pencil lead. I was just strange - I love collecting information on everything. |
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Spokane_Girl
I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more
Joined: Jul 17, 2007
Age: 23
Posts: 3853
Location: Benny & Joon town (I wish)
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| Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:06 am Post subject: |
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| Mum2ASDboy wrote: | The bus thing, my HFA son is beyond obsessed with our buses. he knows all the numbers, where they go. If he sees say the number 4 bus turning down a street he will tell me where is has been and where it is going next. If he sees a bus in the distance we MUST stop and wait till it hs gone past, even if it is raining. He saw a bus on a Sunday and was highly confused because buses don't go on Sundays.
Does my ***** head in but he is happy so I'll tolerate it. oh he is 5 by the way |
I am not obsessed with buses but I take them everyday to work so I pretty much know the routes on the ones I have taken but only on the routes I have taken and the stops I have seen. But I do not know the whole routes on them because I have not been on them going to Transit centers and then taking it again to go back to the other transit center.
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Spokane_Girl
I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more
Joined: Jul 17, 2007
Age: 23
Posts: 3853
Location: Benny & Joon town (I wish)
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| Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:13 am Post subject: |
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I was obsessed with London and 101 Dalmatians and Dalmatians. I would spend my time reading about them when there were Encyclopedias and internet. I did the same with weather when I was 10. My mother got me a book about weather and I would spend my time reading about it and then talking about it what I knew. I would even watch The Weather Channel everyday. I did the same with Benny & Joon by looking at the pictures on the internet from the movie and reading about it, even opinions about it posted by people.
I even wrote fictional stories about my obsession which involved London and 101 Dalmatians.
My mother told me I was obsessed with Barbies when I was 5. I would spend all my time playing with them, and I had to take them with me everywhere I went. I can remember having to do that or I be unhappy without them and not enjoy my day out of the house. This was only when we went somewhere.
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A place to check for the real truth in politics. |
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Warsie
OG Balla Representin' Da Souf Sydeeee of Chi-City
Joined: Apr 04, 2008
Age: 17
Posts: 1634
Location: Chicago, IL, USA
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| Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:15 am Post subject: |
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Addicted to Stoplights. Yes, stoplights. Drew them, looked at them, wanted to BUY one, looked at all the typed when I was growing up and going in road-trips, the different typed of Stoplights in cities and suburbs and states, etc. (did you know that Chicago tends to have Green and Black stoplights (on poles), but the Illinois Suburbs tend to have them Yellow (on poles), and Indiana Stoplights tend to be hanging from wires and with a 'cone' shape for the top hoods)?
LOL.
and I remember looking at maps when I was younger lol. Following the express ways from state to state.
And Star Wars when I got a little older (still a fan; my username is a term for a Star Wars Fan; the Star Wars equivalent of Trekkie)
EDIT: and stuff...
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