Commonly, it is stated that people with Asperger's Syndrome have poor handwriting and walk with a funny gait. Neither has been the case with me, for some reason. My handwriting is fairly neat but it is quite small and my walking is, fairly "normal" if there is such a word! I took my first steps at the age of 10 months, even before I said my first word. My co-ordination is unaffected with riding a bicycle or with catching. I was six years old when I first rode a bicycle without stabilisers.
It is my fine motor skills that are largely affected, rather than my gross motor skills. When I was a child I used to struggle to tie my shoelaces, but that is of no problem to me now. I don't have any difficulty imitating simple body movements, but find it very, very difficult to imitate complex movements. I also have problems sequencing my movements.
At school, I was poor at cricket. I excelled at running though, where stamina and speed was more important than motor skills. Running wasn't a team sport. I was fair in the goals at soccer and defence, but I wasn't a good player outside. It used to take me quite a long time to get dressed when at school.
If I ever go ten-pin bowling, I have an unorthodox method of bowling. NT's often roll the ball, sweeping their arms along. I throw it about two feet. It then rolls towards the bowls. However, I still can play the game. In May 2004 when I went bowling, this man who worked at the bowling alley pulled me up on my bowling method, and informed me that I don't bowl "Like that". I told him that I bowl how I want to and that it is my business how I do it, nobody else's. I also added that it wasn't a problem, because it was fairly effective, even if it looked unsightly and odd. In truth, I would like to bowl in the same way as NT's. Of course, even they have to practice to reached a gifted level at any activity, task or skill. There aren't many people whom this comes naturally to, but it is easier for them to learn skills which rely on co-ordination and complex body movements than Autistic and AS people.
I don't go swimming very often. I can't dive. I was 10 years of age when I learned to swim, but I am not the world's greatest swimmer. I can get myself out of danger and that is it. If I were to take up Karate, I would need to be taught at a slow pace. I get confused when too much happens too quickly, and the speed the routines are taught at would be too fast for my brain to process.
I can touch type at a recorded speed of 70 words per minute. That ability has arisen through many years of keyboard usage and practice, not formal teaching. I always seem to learn best when I teach myself a skill, as opposed to being formally taught. However, it shows what I could do if I practiced skills and activities which require complex movement every day on an intense basis, or what could have been had my condition been detected 10 or 12 years before it was, and I was sent to attend an intense programme of improving my co-ordination and movement. I must have some level of co-ordination in me, but it needs intense work to develop it.
On a similar vein, my handwriting is unaffected probably because I write a lot. Reading and writing have both always been two activities that I enjoy. I started to learn to read when I was four years of age, in September 1980, and that is when I started to write. It is a long time ago, so you can see I have had a lot of practice!
MRI scans have shown that the Cerebellum is smaller for individuals with Asperger's Syndrome than it is for NT's. The above information shows why early diagnosis is essential for those with AS. When someone with AS has motor control problems, as is common for those with the condition, if diagnosed early in life, they could have physical therapy or could be taken to see an occupational therapist to bring about improvements. With intense physical therapy, their co-ordination and control can be vastly improved. Perhaps in future, as they advance, an MRI scan could be all that is needed to determine whether someone has AS or Autism or not. Differences in the Frontal Lobe and Hippocampus also probably contribute to the difficulties seen in either fine or gross motor co-ordination, or both, for those on the spectrum.
In May 1987, four months before I entered secondary school, a report about myself stated that I am "Unable to follow instructions". In July 1988, after entering secondary school, a French report stated that I "Failed to heed instructions carefully". I don't dispute or argue with these assessments, made of me over 20 years ago because they are as valid now as they were then.
It is just a pity the people who made them didn't bother to look into the causes of why I was unable to follow instructions. However, that's another story...... you know what my feelings are towards them. I wish I could find it in my heart to forgive, but I am afraid I can't, and I never will.
I experience difficulty in following spoken instructions for several reasons. Due to the information processing problems that I experience in life, my brain, which is, don't forget, a monotropic processor, as opposed to the NT multitropic processor, finds it difficult to process and absorb information at the same rate as NT's. Also, NT's are using NT methods of communication. Not Autistic or Asperger. So therefore, it is inevitable difficulties will arise at times, due to the differences between the two cultures and methods of communication. These difficulties do not arise because I have General Learning Disabilities, but because of the way I am wired.
Whilst I dislike rambling instructions or communication, I also dislike vague or ambiguous instructions. Say a few items are on a table, and someone asks me to get "That", I don't often understand what they mean, because "That" could mean any item. However, if the request specifically names the item, then I am fine. If the instructions are clear, direct, broken down into small components, but not delivered in a patronising manner, and there are no outside distractions for myself to contend with, then I am fine.
My information processing system gets confused and thrown out of sync when too many people are around me at the same time. It certainly is too much for my monotropic processing and thinking system. You may ask, "Surely having a monotropic system would make it easy for you to block outside noises and distractions?". No. If my brain could filter outside noises and distractions out in the manner of the NT brain, then I would be able to function a great deal better. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that.
