Hi everyone, this is not concerning a child but an adult (46 years old).
It concerns by brother-in-law. I would like to know if his behavior is due to Asperger. The problem is that my in-laws have always closed their eyes to the problem, pretend they don't see, or avoid to talk to him about it. Here are some of his behaviors.
First of all he is extremely gifted : he reads a lot : history, litterature, poetry, etc., he remembers most of what he reads. He is also very gifted in music.
I was with him in the first grade and I remember the teacher telling him to stop daydreaming. The kids would tease him about it also.
It took him about 3 years to finish his grade twelve, because he would quit before year end and would prefer to go to summer school instead.
He has been working as a dishwasher in a restaurant for the past 25 years (minimum wage - no pention etc). When we try to tell him what to do to get a better job - (that he would like) - he doesn't act on it.
He stayed with is parents into adulthood, but now is staying in an apartment, that is owned by his sister (same house as his sister). The house is right beside his mom's. He is paying less than he should in rent.
For many years now, we noticed that he has "ticks". All of a sudden he will start to rub (twist) is hands together under the table. And sometimes we can hear a little of mumbling when he is doing that.
He does not like change. You half to make sure to ask him something way in advance, if not you can see his anxiety going up, or lash back without hearing out the details.
He never had a girlfriend. Just has a very few friends. He can be social, but is mostly a loner.
Lately, his sister decided to paint with a lot of warning in advance. When she got inside his apartment their was a lot of damage (not of his own making) ex : tiles fallen from the ceiling (water coming from roof), broken door knob etc that he never told her about. They found in the fridge about four milk containers dating from a year ago.
This is late. I remember you from the Inner Ear Boards. Yes, it is likely some form of Autism. My son has it. Sounds classic. This is an old post, any progress since?
There are definite signs of an ASD, but as to if it could be AS, the main question is if he has any special interests/obsessive fixations in a topic. That's the hallmark sign of AS. It's estimated that only around 10% of us Aspies have never had any special interests.
-GatsbyLuvr1920-
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"Not everything that steps out of line, and thus 'abnormal,' must necessarily be 'inferior.'"
-Hans Asperger
