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Asperger's Syndrome and Special Interests

© Barbara Fowler

Many individuals with Asperger's Syndrome develop special interests in certain topics that can last their entire lives and provide them with reasonable career opportunities. It is important to encourage your child's special interest if it will lead to a future (even if you cannot clearly see the future at this point). Take the case of Temple Grandin, her interest in animal machinery led her to a prestigious position as a University Professor. Or Glen Gould, the famous musician who has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome posthumously. Dare I mention Bill Gates, whom some people suspect has Asperger's Syndrome? Without his special interest developing, I wouldn't be writing this article using Windows 98.

When my son was 3, his special interest was dinosaurs for two years. Do you have any idea how many dinosaur books can be read in two years? Although my husband and I tired of dinosaurs after a few months, my son went on to become very proficient at pronouncing the names of all the dinosaurs to the degree that he astonished his kindergarten teacher with his ability. When my son was 4 we took him to see the Dinosaur Museum in Drumheller, Alberta and he thoroughly enjoyed it. By the time he had watched all the Littlefoot and Jurassic Park movies, he had his fill of this topic and moved onto another one.

Video games fired up his imagination and creativity in ways that we didn't forsee. Although he has poor eye-hand coordination and found some of the jumps and movements of the characters difficult to do, he loved playing video games. He spent the next three years spending all his spare time trying to "beat" the game. As the games got harder and more frustrating, he turned his creativity towards thinking up video games, wondering how they were made, spending many hours drawing his ideas on paper. He would create games on paper for the whole family to play (his way, of course!).

His latest special interest has entertained him for over the last two years - making computer games. We have researched how games are made, what the different roles are for each of the participants in the making of a game and spent many hours on the internet downloading games, discussing what he likes and doesn't like about them. About 6 months ago, we found a role playing game maker program which again, fuels his imagination and creativity. He will spend hours creating characters, background scenes, monsters, music and the story for his game.