Cognitive Learning
- Excellent rote memory in certain areas
- Unregulated fears; may be overly fearful in safe situations, yet fearless in dangerous situations
- Very detail-oriented
- Difficulty seeing overall picture or situation
- Exceptionally high skills in some areas, but very low skills in others
- Prefers concrete, rather than abstract, concepts
Language
- Pronoun reversal (not as bad anymore)
- Excellent vocabulary
- Speaks with phrases borrowed from other situations or people
- Makes honest, but often inappropriate observations
- Difficulties adjusting volume and speed in speech
- Literal language
- Difficulty understanding figures of speech, similes, parodies, allegories, etc.
- Repeating words or phrases others have said right after they say them (similar to echolalia but not true echolalia by definition)
- Difficulty understanding some language, i.e. directional terms
Emotions
- Rage/anger/hurt may all be expressed in unexpected ways or at unexpected times
- Perfectionism
- Easily overstimulated by sensory stimuli
- Inside feelings not matching outside behaviors
Motor Skills
- Difficulty with some skills requiring motor skill development
- Unusual walking gait or clumsiness
- Difficulty with motor skills requiring visual perception accuracy, i.e. walking through a parking lot, revolving doors, sports, etc.
Preservation
- Obsession with certain things
- Compulsions
- Fascination with rotation
- Many and varied collections
- Redirection very difficult (changing focus or thinking from one activity or idea to another)
Social Cues
- Difficulty reading facial expressions and emotions in others
- Difficulty understanding body language
- Difficulty understanding rules of conversation
- Difficulty understanding group interactions
- Too much or too little eye contact
- Difficulty understanding others' humor
- Problems recognizing faces out of the usual setting or known context
- Stand-offish or overly friendly
- Sometimes adopting others' behaviors, speech, or dress habits to aid in more fluid communication and social adaptation
Senses
- Very sensitive or undersensitive to light, pain, taste, touch, sound, or smell
- Sometimes have injuries I'm unaware of
- Sometimes experience physical pain from oversensitivity to light, sound, or touch
- Very picky eater
- Sometimes crave specific touch, taste, smell, sight, sound, or lights
- Over-sensitive to change in surroundings, people, or places
- Over stimulation can result from too many verbal directions or instructions
Comfort Skills
- Desires comfort items to produce calming effect
- Sometimes need external stimulation for calming
- Comforted by minor motor stimulation
- Sometimes need separate space or area to decompress
- Unusual attachment to objects
- Self-stimulation
Neurological Function
- Attention difficulties to things outside my interests or when to much is going on
- Irregular sleep patterns
- Difficulty understanding and working with time concepts
- Sensory processing disorders
New Situations, Patterns, People
- Rule-oriented
- Prefer known patterns with little unexpected surprises
- Prefer familiar places, clothing, people
- Difficulty with transitions when changing activities
- Difficulty making and maintaining friendships; more successful with people who are older than me
