Lynda Lim Abstract Multiple Females
Lynda Lim "Multiple Females"

This list is meant equally a springboard for discussion and more awareness into the female experience with autism.

By Samantha Craft

Females with Autism: An Unofficial Listing

Section A: Deep Thinkers

  1. A deep thinker
  2. A prolific writer drawn to poetry
  3. *Highly intelligent
  4. Sees things at multiple levels, including her ain thinking processes
  5. Analyzes existence, the meaning of life, and everything, continually
  6. Serious and matter-of-fact in nature
  7. Doesn't have things for granted
  8. Doesn't simplify
  9. Everything is complex
  10. Often gets lost in own thoughts and "checks out" (blank stare)

Section B: Innocent

  1. Naïve
  2. Honest
  3. Experiences problem with lying
  4. Finds information technology difficult to empathise manipulation and disloyalty
  5. Finds it difficult to sympathise vindictive behavior and retaliation
  6. Easily fooled and bamboozled
  7. Feelings of confusion and being overwhelmed
  8. Feelings of being misplaced and/or from some other planet
  9. Feelings of isolation
  10. Abused or taken reward of as a child simply didn't think to tell anyone

Section C: Escape and Friendship

  1. Survives overwhelming emotions and senses past escaping in thought or action
  2. Escapes regularly through fixations, obsessions, and over-interest in subjects
  3. Escapes routinely through imagination, fantasy, and heedless
  4. Escapes through mental processing
  5. Escapes through the rhythm of words
  6. Philosophizes, continually
  7. Had imaginary friends in youth
  8. Imitates people on television or in movies
  9. Treated friends as "pawns" in youth; e.g., friends were "students" "consumers" "members"
  10. Makes friends with older or younger females more so than friends her age (often in young adulthood)
  11. Imitates friends or peers in fashion, dress, mental attitude, interests, and mode (sometimes voice communication)
  12. Obsessively collects and organizes objects
  13. Mastered fake
  14. Escapes by playing the same music over and over
  15. Escapes through a human relationship (imagined or real)
  16. Numbers bring ease (could be numbers associated with patterns, calculations, lists, time and/or personification)
  17. Escapes through counting, categorizing, organizing, rearranging
  18. Escapes into other rooms at parties
  19. Cannot relax or residue without many thoughts
  20. Everything has a purpose

Department D: Comorbid Attributes

  1. OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)
  2. Sensory Issues (sight, audio, texture, smells, taste) (might have Synthesia)
  3. Generalized Feet
  4. Sense of awaiting danger or doom
  5. Feelings of polar extremes (depressed/over-joyed; inconsiderate/over-sensitive)
  6. Poor muscle tone, double-jointed, and/or lack in coordination (may take Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and/or Hypotonia and/or POTS syndrome)
  7. Eating disorders, nutrient obsessions, and/or worry about what is eaten
  8. Irritable bowel and/or intestinal bug
  9. Chronic fatigue and/or immune challenges
  10. Misdiagnosed or diagnosed with a mental illness
  11. Experiences multiple physical symptoms, perhaps labeled "hypochondriac"
  12. Questions place in the world
  13. Oftentimes drops pocket-sized objects
  14. Wonders who she is and what is expected of her
  15. Searches for correct and wrong
  16. Since puberty has had bouts of low (may have PMDD)
  17. Flicks/rubs fingernails, picks scalp/skin, flaps hands, rubs easily together, tucks hands under or between legs, keeps closed fists, paces in circles, and/or clears throat ofttimes

Department E: Social Interaction

  1. Friends have ended friendship suddenly (without female with AS understanding why) and/or difficult time making friends
  2. Tendency to overshare
  3. Spills intimate details to strangers
  4. Raised hand too much in course or didn't participate in class
  5. Little impulse control with speaking when younger
  6. Monopolizes conversation at times
  7. Brings subject back to self
  8. Comes across at times as egotistic and decision-making (is not narcissistic)
  9. Shares in club to reach out
  10. Oft sounds eager and over-zealous or apathetic and disinterested
  11. Holds a lot of thoughts, ideas, and feelings within
  12. Feels as if she is attempting to communicate "correctly"
  13. Obsesses about the potentiality of a relationship with someone, particularly a love interest or viable new friendship
  14. Confused by the rules of authentic eye contact, tone of voice, proximity of body, body stance, and posture in conversation
  15. Conversation are often exhausting
  16. Questions the actions and behaviors of cocky and others, continually
  17. Feels as if missing a chat "gene" or idea-filter
  18. Trained self in social interactions through readings and studying of other people
  19. Visualizes and practices how she will act around others
  20. Practices/rehearses in mind what she volition say to another before inbound the room
  21. Difficulty filtering out background racket when talking to others
  22. Has a continuous dialogue in mind that tells her what to say and how to act when in a social state of affairs
  23. Sense of sense of humor sometimes seems quirky, odd, inappropriate, or dissimilar from others
  24. Equally a child it was hard to know when information technology was her turn to talk
  25. Finds norms of conversation confusing
  26. Finds unwritten and unspoken rules difficult to grasp, remember, and utilise

Section F: Finds Refuge when Alone

  1. Feels extreme relief when she doesn't have to go anywhere, talk to anyone, answer calls, or get out the business firm but at the same time volition oft harbor guilt for "hibernating" and not doing "what everyone else is doing"
  2. One visitor at the home may be perceived as a threat (this can even be a familiar family unit member)
  3. Knowing logically a house company is non a threat, but that doesn't relieve the anxiety
  4. Feelings of dread almost upcoming events and appointments on the calendar
  5. Knowing she has to go out the house causes anxiety from the moment she wakes upwards
  6. All the steps involved in leaving the house are overwhelming and exhausting to call back about
  7. She prepares herself mentally for outings, excursions, meetings, and appointments, frequently days before a scheduled outcome
  8. OCD tendencies when it comes to concepts of time, beingness on time, tracking time, recording time, and managing time (could exist carried over to coin, as well)
  9. Questions next steps and movements, continually
  10. Sometimes feels as if she is on stage being watched and/or a sense of e'er having to human activity out the "right" steps, even when she is dwelling house lonely
  11. Telling self the "right" words and/or positive self-talk (CBT) doesn't typically alleviate anxiety. CBT may cause increased feelings of inadequacy.
  12. Knowing she is staying dwelling house all day brings cracking peace of mind
  13. Requires a large amount of down time or solitary time
  14. Feels guilty after spending a lot of time on a special involvement
  15. Uncomfortable in public locker rooms, bathrooms, and/or dressing rooms
  16. Dislikes beingness in a crowded mall, crowded gym, and/or crowded theater

Section G: Sensitive

  1. Sensitive to sounds, textures, temperature, and/or smells when trying to slumber
  2. Adjusts bedclothes, bedding, and/or environment in an try to find condolement
  3. Dreams are anxiety-ridden, vivid, complex, and/or precognitive in nature
  4. Highly intuitive to others' feelings
  5. Highly compassionate, sometimes to the point of confusion
  6. Takes criticism to heart
  7. Longs to exist seen, heard, and understood
  8. Questions if she is a "normal" person
  9. Highly susceptible to outsiders' viewpoints and opinions
  10. At times adapts her view of life or actions based on others' opinions or words
  11. Recognizes own limitations in many areas daily, if non hourly
  12. Becomes hurt when others question or doubt her work
  13. Views many things as an extension of self
  14. Fears others opinions, criticism, and judgment
  15. Dislikes words and events that injure animals and people
  16. Collects or rescues animals (ofttimes in childhood)
  17. Huge compassion for suffering (sometimes for inanimate objects/personification)
  18. Sensitive to substances (environmental toxins, foods, alcohol, medication, hormones, etc.)
  19. Tries to help, offers unsolicited advice, or formalizes plans of action
  20. Questions life purpose and how to be a "better" person
  21. Seeks to understand abilities, skills, and/or gifts

Section H: Sense of Self

  1. Feels trapped between wanting to be herself and wanting to fit in
  2. Imitates others without realizing information technology
  3. Suppresses true wishes (ofttimes in young machismo)
  4. Exhibits codependent behaviors (often in young machismo)
  5. Adapts self in order to avert ridicule
  6. Rejects social norms and/or questions social norms
  7. Feelings of extreme isolation
  8. Feeling good most self takes a lot of effort and work
  9. Switches preferences based on environment and other people
  10. Switches behavior based on environment and other people
  11. Didn't care about her hygiene, clothes, and appearance before teenage years and/or before someone else pointed these out to her
  12. "Freaks out" simply doesn't know why until subsequently
  13. Immature sounding voice
  14. Trouble recognizing what she looks similar and/or has occurrences of slight prosopagnosia (difficulty recognizing or remembering faces)
  15. Feels significantly younger on the inside than on the exterior (perpetually twelve)

Department I: Confusion

  1. Had a difficult time learning that others are non always honest
  2. Feelings seem confusing, illogical, and unpredictable (self's and others')
  3. Confuses date times, numbers, and/or dates
  4. Expects that by acting a sure way sure results can be achieved, but realizes in dealing with emotions, those results don't always manifest
  5. Spoke frankly and literally in youth
  6. Jokes become over the head
  7. Confused when others ostracize, shun, belittle, play a joke on, and beguile
  8. Trouble identifying feelings unless they are extreme
  9. Trouble with emotions of detest and dislike
  10. Feels sorry for someone who has persecuted or injure her
  11. Personal feelings of anger, outrage, deep love, fear, giddiness, and anticipation seem to be easier to identify than emotions of joy, satisfaction, calmness, and tranquility
  12. Difficulty recognizing how farthermost emotions (outrage, deep love) will bear on her and challenges transferring what has been learned nearly emotions from i situation to the next
  13. Situations and conversations sometimes perceived as blackness or white
  14. The middle spectrum of outcomes, events, and emotions is sometimes overlooked or misunderstood (all or nothing mentality)
  15. A small fight might bespeak the cease of a relationship or collapse of globe
  16. A small compliment might boost her into a state of bliss

Section J: Words, Numbers, and Patterns

  1. Likes to know discussion origins and/or origin of historical facts/root cause and foundation
  2. Confused when there is more than ane meaning (or spelling) to a word
  3. Loftier involvement in songs and vocal lyrics
  4. Notices patterns frequently
  5. Remembers things in visual pictures
  6. Remembers exact details about someone's life
  7. Has a remarkable memory for sure details
  8. Writes or creates to save anxiety
  9. Has certain "feelings" or emotions towards words and/or numbers
  10. Words and/or numbers bring a sense of comfort and peace, akin to a friendship

(Optional) Executive Performance & Motor SkillsThis surface area isn't e'er as evident equally other areas

  1. Simple tasks can cause extreme hardship
  2. Learning to drive a machine or rounding the corner in a hallway tin can be troublesome
  3. New places offering their ain set of challenges
  4. Anything that requires a reasonable corporeality of steps, dexterity, or know-how can rouse a sense of panic
  5. The thought of repairing, fixing, or locating something tin can cause anxiety
  6. Mundane tasks are avoided
  7. Cleaning self and abode may seem insurmountable
  8. Many questions come up to mind when setting virtually to exercise a task
  9. Might get out the house with mismatched socks, shirt buttoned incorrectly, and/or have dyslexia and/or dysgraphia
  10. A trip to the grocery store can exist overwhelming
  11. Problem copying dance steps, aerobic moves, or direction in a sports gym class
  12. Has a hard time finding sure objects in the house but remembers with exact clarity where other objects are; not being able to locate something or thinking near locating something can cause feelings of intense anxiety (object permanence challenges), even with something as simple as opening an envelope

This unofficial checklist can be copied for therapists, counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, professors, teachers, and relatives, if Samantha Arts and crafts'due south name and contact information remain on the print out. This list was created in 2012 and updated in May, 2016.

Samantha Craft

Disclaimer: This is my opinion and based on my experience afterwards 12 years of researching virtually autism and being officially diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. It is non meant to supervene upon the DSM-Five Autism Spectrum Disorder definition nor is this list meant to serve as an official diagnostic tool. Hundreds of women have used this list in conjunction with the DSM-4 or DSM-Five and a professional mental health professional'due south guidance. Information technology is also based on 4.v years of communicating almost daily with those that are diagnosed with autism and some that believe themselves to be on the spectrum. It is not all inclusive. Some will fit into categories and non be autistic/Asperian. This is meant as a springboard for discussion and more awareness into the female feel with autism.

This is an unofficial checklist created by an adult female person with Asperger's Syndrome (As) who has a son with Asperger's Syndrome. Samantha Craft has a Masters Caste in Educational activity. Samantha Arts and crafts does non hold a doctorate in Psychiatry or Psychology. She has a life-credential every bit a result of being a female person with Asperger's Syndrome and existence a parent of a child with Asperger'due south Syndrome. She has created this listing in an effort to assist health professionals in recognizing Asperger'south Syndrome in females—for in-depth data regarding females with AS refer to Craft'due south book Everyday Aspergers.

This post is courtesy of Samantha Craft. Her original mail tin can be viewed hither. Samantha Craft is author of the book Everyday Aspergers: A Journey on the Autism Spectrum. Take a look inside Everyday Aspergers.

Related Weblog:  X Means to Help Your Autistic Loved I

Top X Signs You Have Aspergers

The Art of Autism realizes many people come to this page with the questions, Do I have Autism? or Do I accept Aspergers? Nosotros recommend diagnosis by a professional. At that place are a couple of popular online quizzes which will requite you an indication if yous are on the spectrum:

  • The Aspie Quiz
  • Autism Spectrum Quotient online test

Header Art Work: Creative person Lynda Lim