Lynda Lim Abstract Multiple Females
Lynda Lim "Multiple Females"

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

By Samantha Arts and crafts

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 own 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 circuitous
  10. Frequently gets lost in own thoughts and "checks out" (blank stare)

Section B: Innocent

  1. Naïve
  2. Honest
  3. Experiences trouble with lying
  4. Finds it difficult to understand manipulation and disloyalty
  5. Finds it difficult to understand vindictive behavior and retaliation
  6. Easily fooled and conned
  7. Feelings of confusion and being overwhelmed
  8. Feelings of being misplaced and/or from another planet
  9. Feelings of isolation
  10. Driveling or taken advantage of as a child only didn't think to tell anyone

Section C: Escape and Friendship

  1. Survives overwhelming emotions and senses by escaping in thought or action
  2. Escapes regularly through fixations, obsessions, and over-interest in subjects
  3. Escapes routinely through imagination, fantasy, and daydreaming
  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 boob tube or in movies
  9. Treated friends equally "pawns" in youth; e.g., friends were "students" "consumers" "members"
  10. Makes friends with older or younger females more than so than friends her age (often in immature machismo)
  11. Imitates friends or peers in style, wearing apparel, attitude, interests, and manner (sometimes speech)
  12. Obsessively collects and organizes objects
  13. Mastered imitation
  14. Escapes by playing the same music over and over
  15. Escapes through a relationship (imagined or real)
  16. Numbers bring ease (could be numbers associated with patterns, calculations, lists, fourth dimension and/or personification)
  17. Escapes through counting, categorizing, organizing, rearranging
  18. Escapes into other rooms at parties
  19. Cannot relax or remainder without many thoughts
  20. Everything has a purpose

Department D: Comorbid Attributes

  1. OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)
  2. Sensory Issues (sight, sound, texture, smells, gustatory modality) (might take 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 have 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 issues
  9. Chronic fatigue and/or allowed challenges
  10. Misdiagnosed or diagnosed with a mental disease
  11. Experiences multiple physical symptoms, maybe labeled "hypochondriac"
  12. Questions identify in the world
  13. Often 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 depression (may take PMDD)
  17. Flicks/rubs fingernails, picks scalp/peel, flaps hands, rubs hands together, tucks hands under or between legs, keeps airtight fists, paces in circles, and/or clears throat ofttimes

Section Due east: Social Interaction

  1. Friends have ended friendship all of a sudden (without female with Every bit understanding why) and/or difficult time making friends
  2. Tendency to overshare
  3. Spills intimate details to strangers
  4. Raised hand too much in class 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 narcissistic and controlling (is not narcissistic)
  9. Shares in social club to accomplish out
  10. Oftentimes sounds eager and over-zealous or blah and disinterested
  11. Holds a lot of thoughts, ideas, and feelings inside
  12. Feels equally if she is attempting to communicate "correctly"
  13. Obsesses about the potentiality of a relationship with someone, peculiarly a beloved interest or feasible new friendship
  14. Dislocated past the rules of accurate eye contact, tone of vocalisation, proximity of body, body stance, and posture in conversation
  15. Conversation are often exhausting
  16. Questions the actions and behaviors of self and others, continually
  17. Feels as if missing a conversation "cistron" or thought-filter
  18. Trained cocky in social interactions through readings and studying of other people
  19. Visualizes and practices how she volition act around others
  20. Practices/rehearses in mind what she will say to another earlier entering the room
  21. Difficulty filtering out background noise when talking to others
  22. Has a continuous dialogue in mind that tells her what to say and how to deed when in a social situation
  23. Sense of humor sometimes seems quirky, odd, inappropriate, or different from others
  24. As a child it was difficult to know when it was her turn to talk
  25. Finds norms of conversation confusing
  26. Finds unwritten and unspoken rules difficult to grasp, remember, and apply

Department F: Finds Refuge when Lonely

  1. Feels extreme relief when she doesn't have to go anywhere, talk to anyone, answer calls, or leave the business firm but at the aforementioned time volition often harbor guilt for "hibernating" and non doing "what everyone else is doing"
  2. One visitor at the home may be perceived equally a threat (this can fifty-fifty be a familiar family fellow member)
  3. Knowing logically a house visitor is non a threat, just that doesn't relieve the anxiety
  4. Feelings of dread near upcoming events and appointments on the calendar
  5. Knowing she has to leave the house causes anxiety from the moment she wakes up
  6. All the steps involved in leaving the house are overwhelming and exhausting to think about
  7. She prepares herself mentally for outings, excursions, meetings, and appointments, often days earlier a scheduled event
  8. OCD tendencies when it comes to concepts of time, being on fourth dimension, tracking fourth dimension, recording time, and managing time (could be carried over to money, as well)
  9. Questions adjacent steps and movements, continually
  10. Sometimes feels as if she is on stage being watched and/or a sense of always having to act out the "right" steps, even when she is home alone
  11. Telling cocky the "right" words and/or positive cocky-talk (CBT) doesn't typically convalesce feet. CBT may cause increased feelings of inadequacy.
  12. Knowing she is staying habitation all day brings bully peace of mind
  13. Requires a big 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 existence 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 surround in an endeavour to find comfort
  3. Dreams are anxiety-ridden, bright, complex, and/or precognitive in nature
  4. Highly intuitive to others' feelings
  5. Highly empathetic, sometimes to the point of confusion
  6. Takes criticism to heart
  7. Longs to be 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 ain limitations in many areas daily, if not hourly
  12. Becomes hurt when others question or doubt her piece of work
  13. Views many things equally an extension of self
  14. Fears others opinions, criticism, and judgment
  15. Dislikes words and events that hurt animals and people
  16. Collects or rescues animals (oftentimes 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 assist, offers unsolicited advice, or formalizes plans of activeness
  20. Questions life purpose and how to be a "better" person
  21. Seeks to understand abilities, skills, and/or gifts

Section H: Sense of Cocky

  1. Feels trapped between wanting to be herself and wanting to fit in
  2. Imitates others without realizing information technology
  3. Suppresses truthful wishes (often in young adulthood)
  4. Exhibits codependent behaviors (frequently in young adulthood)
  5. Adapts self in society to avoid ridicule
  6. Rejects social norms and/or questions social norms
  7. Feelings of extreme isolation
  8. Feeling good well-nigh cocky 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" but doesn't know why until later
  13. Young sounding voice
  14. Trouble recognizing what she looks like and/or has occurrences of slight prosopagnosia (difficulty recognizing or remembering faces)
  15. Feels significantly younger on the inside than on the outside (perpetually twelve)

Section I: Confusion

  1. Had a hard fourth dimension learning that others are not 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 interim a sure way certain results can be achieved, but realizes in dealing with emotions, those results don't ever manifest
  5. Spoke frankly and literally in youth
  6. Jokes get over the caput
  7. Confused when others ostracize, shun, belittle, trick, and betray
  8. Trouble identifying feelings unless they are farthermost
  9. Trouble with emotions of hate and dislike
  10. Feels sorry for someone who has persecuted or hurt her
  11. Personal feelings of anger, outrage, deep love, fear, giddiness, and anticipation seem to exist easier to identify than emotions of joy, satisfaction, calmness, and quiet
  12. Difficulty recognizing how extreme emotions (outrage, deep dearest) will touch her and challenges transferring what has been learned most emotions from one state of affairs to the next
  13. Situations and conversations sometimes perceived as black or white
  14. The middle spectrum of outcomes, events, and emotions is sometimes disregarded or misunderstood (all or nothing mentality)
  15. A small fight might signal the cease of a relationship or collapse of world
  16. A minor compliment might boost her into a country of bliss

Section J: Words, Numbers, and Patterns

  1. Likes to know word origins and/or origin of historical facts/root crusade and foundation
  2. Confused when there is more than than 1 meaning (or spelling) to a discussion
  3. High involvement in songs and song 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 certain details
  8. Writes or creates to salvage 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 Operation & Motor SkillsThis area isn't always as evident every bit other areas

  1. Simple tasks can cause farthermost hardship
  2. Learning to drive a car or rounding the corner in a hallway tin exist troublesome
  3. New places offer their own set of challenges
  4. Annihilation that requires a reasonable amount of steps, dexterity, or know-how tin can rouse a sense of panic
  5. The idea of repairing, fixing, or locating something can cause anxiety
  6. Mundane tasks are avoided
  7. Cleaning self and home may seem insurmountable
  8. Many questions come to heed when setting nigh to do a job
  9. Might leave the house with mismatched socks, shirt buttoned incorrectly, and/or take dyslexia and/or dysgraphia
  10. A trip to the grocery shop can exist overwhelming
  11. Trouble copying dance steps, aerobic moves, or direction in a sports gym class
  12. Has a hard fourth dimension finding sure objects in the house simply remembers with exact clarity where other objects are; non beingness able to locate something or thinking about locating something tin can cause feelings of intense anxiety (object permanence challenges), fifty-fifty with something equally simple as opening an envelope

This unofficial checklist can be copied for therapists, counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, professors, teachers, and relatives, if Samantha Craft's 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 after 12 years of researching about autism and being officially diagnosed with Asperger'south Syndrome. It is not meant to replace the DSM-Five Autism Spectrum Disorder definition nor is this listing meant to serve as an official diagnostic tool. Hundreds of women have used this list in conjunction with the DSM-4 or DSM-V and a professional mental health professional person's guidance. Information technology is likewise based on 4.5 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 not exist 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 with Asperger'south Syndrome (Every bit) who has a son with Asperger's Syndrome. Samantha Craft has a Masters Degree in Education. Samantha Arts and crafts does not agree a doctorate in Psychiatry or Psychology. She has a life-credential as a outcome of being a female with Asperger's Syndrome and existence a parent of a child with Asperger'south Syndrome. She has created this list in an effort to assistance health professionals in recognizing Asperger'southward Syndrome in females—for in-depth data regarding females with Equally refer to Craft'due south book Everyday Aspergers.

This post is courtesy of Samantha Craft. Her original postal service tin be viewed here. Samantha Craft is writer of the book Everyday Aspergers: A Journey on the Autism Spectrum. Take a look within Everyday Aspergers.

Related Weblog:  Ten Ways to Assistance Your Autistic Loved Ane

Top 10 Signs You Take Aspergers

The Fine art of Autism realizes many people come to this folio with the questions, Do I have Autism? or Practise I have Aspergers? We recommend diagnosis past a professional. There are a couple of popular online quizzes which will give you lot an indication if you are on the spectrum:

  • The Aspie Quiz
  • Autism Spectrum Caliber online test

Header Art Work: Artist Lynda Lim