Published on 12, July, 2020
When I was diagnosed I was told that I had either high functioning autism or Asperger's. The official letter I received stated that my diagnosis was Asperger's. I don't have a special interest that I obsess over though. Well not that I can think of. Do you have to have one if you have Asperger's? Thanks
Can anyone define speical interest exactly or is it a broad term?
Like for me I do delve deep into most of not all my hobbies so is it this deep diving into the rules the workings and the history of something t what makes it speical or do you think its 1 interest without others that makes it speical ?
507train said:Can anyone define speical interest exactly or is it a broad term?
The NAS 's description includes:
"Many autistic people have intense and highly-focused interests, often from a fairly young age. These can change over time or be lifelong. It can be art, music, gardening, animals, postcodes or numbers. For many younger children it's Thomas the Tank Engine, dinosaurs or particular cartoon characters.
Autistic people might also become attached to objects (or parts of objects), such as toys, figurines or model cars – or more unusual objects like milk bottle tops, stones or shoes. An interest in collecting is also quite common.
Autistic people often report that the pursuit of such interests is fundamental to their wellbeing and happiness, and many channel their interest into studying, paid work, volunteering, or other meaningful occupations. The interest can:
what I understand, special interest is a topic that the person studies deeply or spends most of their time doing it and refuses doing other things. Normal NT hobby is something that a person does for for example 1 hour a day. And then they go meet friends and do other things and think about other things.
with the special interest it’s something that the person thinks constantly about and does only this 1 or 2 things all the time whenever possible, sacrificing other activities and socialisation, doing it also often gives feeling of safety. Which also leads to a high level of expertise. I don’t have dx but I know from my own experience what is a special interest. Currently I have a little child and job and I’m tired and probably burnt out, but even short time before I got a job my special interest were aliens. And I’m gonna be back on track. I also remember having special interests such as trams - models, history, photos, I observed how they move etc. it was in my childhood, when participating in a school trip I was not interested in my peers at all, only with the tram we had a ride. Then there was Russian for almost 12 years my big love, I used to do it all the time. My only friend says I could give Putin some lessons and my family said I’m obsessed. All of them played in the garden and I was sitting only with my Russian. So these are examples of special interests. Please correction if I’m wrong