My survival kit

People have wondered, what are your tools for getting through the day? I carry things with me always, with more at home, so that I can cope. What I use varies on my situation, what I need varies on my situation, but I always make sure to have things available, because need frequently occurs.

I carry my backpack with me almost always. This is because its filled with tools that I need to assume I'll need except in unusual situations, and can be really awkward to swap stuff around for carrying things in alternate ways. When I need to assume I need everything, carrying a backpack is basically a necessity. When I'm not carrying my backpack its because I've pulled some of these things out, and also have a human there to assist me who knows how to if it is necessary to. I don't want to rely on my boyfriend if it is not necessary to though, so unless it is a minimal risk situation and he is there, I'm bringing my backpack.

Backpack's default set of items:

• Medication: prescription meds and supplements organized in a 4x a day weekly pill box, OTC things in my keychain, migraine abortatives, medication is necessary to always have available with me, and organized where it is needed rather than just thrown into my backpack and expected for me to figure it out when its necessary

• Earplugs: Noises are too loud and overwhelming. Earplugs are itchy and problematic, but laying hearing protection is sometimes necessary to survive without feeling like I'll explode. Also, I carry them on my keychain, so if I need to just pull my keys and wallet, I'll still have something to help reduce sensory input.
• Earmuffs/Ear defenders/whatever you want to call them: Primary hearing protection, I use earmuffs despite them being more visible, because they don't itch inside my ears. Sounds are too loud, too painful, mess with my balance...No matter how much hearing protection I use they're still easily understandable, but sometimes its no so overwhelming when I'm using it, and worth the discomfort of wearing things that do something like squeeze my head.
• (Folding) Long cane (also referred to as a white cane, though mine isn't white): Being able to always process vision isn't something I can do. How well I can understand what I see varies drastically, and how much it costs to go through that process of decoding what it means varies drastically. When it is more costly, or when no matter what I do I either am running on a few seconds delay for vision, extreme tunnel vision, or simply seeing but not understanding, I implement (more) strategies used by blind people. It allows me to use my mental power for things other than attempting to navigate the world by sight when sight isn't working with me.
• Folding balance cane: My migraines come with bad vertigo at times. I vary from being able not being able to walk with my cane, to running up mountains which require awkward navigation. I plan for both. Sensory overload, migraines, vertigo setting in, my body might feel itself or the world moving, my leg might spasm and tense up, not wanting to work without being in pain. Whatever it is, I'll not be limited, so I'll move with things that I carry instead.

• Tangle Jr: Such a useful stim toy! I carry the one which is covered by a squishy rubbery material, I don't remember what its called. So many reasons to want to pull out a toy and such a useful one to have
• Rite in the Rain notebooks: Because my hands hurt when touching normal paper. They feel like the sound of nails on a chalkboard. I can't handle it, and it makes me want to bite myself, though I rarely follow through with the urge. Having paper that is coated for waterproofing changes the texture enough that it doesn't hurt anymore! And they're waterproof paper too which is awesome.
• Compression gloves: My hands are the most reactive to everything texture, and frequently hurt. Showers hurt them badly. Sometimes simply the air hurts them. Compression gloves help, though don't get rid of it completely, so I wear them when it gets bad. They make it harder to do things, and make me prone to losing my medical alert bracelet, so I try to limit it to necessity, but when necessary, its the difference between being able to concentrate at all, and all my focus being on "my hands hurt".
• Altoids: PEPPERMINT
• the heaviest drafting pencil the stationary store had: Heavier pencil makes my handwriting so much neater, and makes it so much more comfortable to write.
• Kindle: Always have something to turn to! I always can go to any of my books. I don't need to read paper books. I can always turn to my books no matter where I am or what I'm doing!

Other tools:

• Smartphone/tablet (7"): I use both my phone and tablet (both android) heavily. I have communication apps, stimming apps, executive functioning apps. I use alarms to help me organize my day, complete with different sounds for different things. Having a computer on me always has been a thing I've relied on, but with smartphones I've been capable of swapping to just having my phone, though my laptop is very important to me.
• Tinted lenses: I wear greyish blue tinted lenses in order to help with visual processing. They help with having fewer visual distortions, fewer headaches, better depth perception, and generally, better visual processing.
• Medical alert bracelet: I'm always wearing a medical alert bracelet that tells people about my migraines, autism, and medication allergies. I've needed to use it before to communicate to people on my behalf.
• Compression shirts: Compression shirts are very useful for deep pressure that you wear on your body and carry with you always. Wearing them under whatever you'd wear that day for clothing, just works well. For extra compression, breast binders work well but some people would prefer not to use such a thing.
• Weighted blanket: I spend most my time at home under my weighted blanket, despite some people saying this is a bad idea. Without my weighted blanket I struggle with understanding where I am in space. With it, I can think clearer, and am more aware of how things are supposed to be, rather than the weird feelings of wrongness that exist in my limbs.
• Weighted vest: While the weighted vest doesn't work as well as the weighted blanket, it is a useful tool to add when going in public along with the compression shirts.
• Vibram Five Fingers: We have a theme here on the propioception impairments...Using minimalist shoes means that despite propioception impairments, I don't have issues with things like constantly spraining my ankle anymore! I'm able to use touch - feeling the ground beneath my feet - in order to adapt for the fact that my propioception is impaired.
• Peppermint oil mixture: I carry this in my backpack if I have a choice, but at the moment its in a bottle where the lid might get broken :(. A mixture of 50% peppermint oil/50% everclear, its useful for so many things! Topically its a good muscle relaxant. It's a strong peppermint oil, so it can be added to drinks, for peppermint flavoring, dealing with the fact that I can't drink water straight. The fact that I seek peppermint also has great benefits with such a mixture...
• My swing: I have a swing in my bedroom! It's awesome. It's an egg-swing I describe it as. Whether I'm actively swinging, just sitting in it hanging from it rather than sitting on something stationary, it is calming, and gives me a different sort of sensory input than not being in my swing does.
• My cat: She does so much for me. She's my ESA, my migraine alert cat, just my cat. She could easily be a service cat if I lived somewhere where I could have a public access service cat. I can't read my own emotions, but she can, and I can read hers, reading them off of her. She leads me away from situations when I'm getting overwhelmed. She helps with meltdowns. She alerts to migraines. She is too smart of a cat, and the perfect cat for me, doing so much for me.
• My cloak: In the winter, or fall or spring really, I wear a cloak for a coat. It's like a portable blanket! As well as all the other benefits of wearing a cloak (really, they're just better in so many ways), I get the feeling of wrapped up like I do in a blanket, and can use it like a blanket in public. When I prefer to wrap up in a blanket so strongly, this is so useful.
• Cefaly: This is an incredibly useful and incredibly interesting device. It's frequently referred to on the internet as a space crown or a space tiara. It's a device you wear on your forehead, have do electrotherapy for 20 minutes a day, and it reduces the number of migraines you have. Also, if you wear it during a migraine it can reduce the severity or even get rid of the migraine! It's really awesome, and my favorite part of my migraine treatment.

Other sensory things that I'm not currently using as much

• Brush for Wilbarger's brushing protocol: This protocol has been very useful! I still have brushes for "tune ups", though I don't do so frequently, just because of being out of habit. It's useful to have for when I need and remember, even if being out of habit makes it hard to use every time I'd prefer to. And the protocol was drastically useful when I went through the protocol.
• CDs and Headphones for Therapeutic Listening: Similar to Wilbarger's Brushing Protocol, I went through this program, and use these for tune ups now when I'm most sensorily in need. In these one's case it has more to do with when I have the time to be spending 20 minutes no doing anything mentally stimulating, and not moving (because while you're allowed to move around during the program, my body cannot handle moving at all).
• Theraputty: Great stim toy, even better for strengthening wrists when you've injured yourself stimming. I have the set of 6 different colors and will work my way up to the second to strongest from usually the second to weakest if I've done something like bothered my wrist. Otherwise, I like the second or third to strongest to play with.
• More stim toys: Description unnecessary in my opinion.
• Noise cancelling headphones: Really useful to have some proper noise cancelling headphones, but it requires having good noise to play with them. Wrong noises and I can't focus on what I want to focus on.
• Respro Mask: I have an activated charcoal/HEPA combo filter mask, for dealing with smells, how toxic the air is, etc. It used to be one of my commonly used items and always in my backpack. The issue is that my face is too small for it now :( and in order to get a smaller one I need to buy both a more expensive mask and a filter that isn't the filter it originally comes with so I keep forgetting to order it.

Plus, on top of my tools, I have many coping strategies that are internal. I have taught myself how to use sensory information that isn't the "expected" one for a situation. I will visibly stim. I will use things like walking following lines, with my hand on the wall, or feeling where the grass is and where the sidewalk is. I've taught myself how to turn off processing for senses at will, allowing me to not be overloaded by them, or to be more easily able to process other senses, or other ability (such as speech). I've taught myself how to alternate necessary skills, in order to get through a situation, when I should need all of them, but can't do all of them simultaneously, by turning off everything that isn't completely necessary; keeping myself balancing, walking, seeing, speaking, in turn.

I have lots of skills, lots of tools, and use them. Because I know I am impaired, but I want to do things anyways. If that means doing them in odd ways, where I end up exhausted, dependent, and in pain, I'll do them anyways, because I'm going to choose at times its worth it and know how to do it when it is worth it.

Snippets of trying to explain hypersensitivities

I've been trying to try to explain hypersensitivities (and SPD and sensory issues in general but usually its hypersensitivities), pretty frequently now. I've been ending up putting together snippets from explanations that I give to people trying to understand their children, thinking that they'd be good to share. I hope to repetitively do this, but have no clue if I'll actually do so. Also, this is good to refer back to either way.

The sound of nails on a chalkboard, the wrongness of it combined with some sort of pain, that penetrates deep into you, take that feeling, and extend it, take it so that it doesn't just happen with nails on a chalkboard, it doesn't just happen with sounds. It might happen if someone touches you, or if the wind blows wrong. It might happen when you get your nails clipped. It might happen when you hear certain voices, even ones that are popular singing voices.

Things are just so much you can't understand it. Lights so bright you can't see. Streetlights, the sun when its setting, headlights on low, they are so much light that that's all it is, is light. It's meaningless. Everything around is also meaningless. It becomes overwashed by light-light-light. That's all there is. Noises so loud you can't understand them. Even single noises become hard to identify at times. When they combine, multiple noises at the same time, you drown in a cacophany, whether its voices, sirens, or something as simple as a clock ticking.

You notice it all. The feeling of your clothes, all the little details down to the seam in your socks and how its not sitting straight, and how one shoe is tighter than the other shoe, the texture chair you're sitting on through your clothes. You hear the clock ticking, the fan, the cars outside, the voices in the room next door, the steps of people walking, and the creaking of the floor. There's the smells of each of the people, any perfumes, any smoke, what they washed with, as well as the smells of what the place was cleaned with. You notice it all. And then, after noticing it, it doesn't stop. You don't stop noticing it. Don't get used to it. At the end of the day you're still feeling your shoe, and how it is the wrong tightness. At the end of a meeting, you're still hearing the clock ticking, even if you've been trying to listen to someone talking the entire time. It's still all there. You don't habituate either.

There are thing's flying at you from all sides, and you're trying to catch enough to make sense of them. It's a bombardment. Except, everyone around you is denying its a bombardment, and frequently making it worse, after denying it. Eventually, you're hit too many times, and you can't keep catching them. You fall. You try to regroup, and get backup, but people are just telling you that its not happening still, while you're trying to get back together, even without their support. Meltdowns occur, shutdowns where you lose abilities to do things occur, but you just keep going, and people still don't listen.

Things actually hurt. They're not just "overfeeling", its actually to the point of pain. Sometimes its like the wrongness like I mentioned before, but sometimes, its more general. Sounds similar to getting punched, for example. Of course people deny you can even feel some of these things that cause pain because they can't feel them. But...that doesn't make them hurt any less.

Sensory Processing Disorder

It has really started to appear that people think of sensory processing disorder specifically as a disorder of hypersensitivities. While it is true that hypersensitivities are a part of SPD, they are far from the whole disorder. If you only have hypersensitive senses, you would not fall into the majority of those diagnosed with SPD, or even diagnosed with a sensory modulation disorder.

So, what is a sensory modulation disorder? Those are the cases that you'd probably think of first. Someone's senses are too sensitive. Someone's senses are not sensitive enough. Someone's senses no matter how sensitive they are always needing more input or they just feel wrong and out of their body. These people's bodies don't get the proper amount of sensory input, whether its too much, too little, or just the wrong sort.

All of three of these categories exist here. People with hypersensitive senses exist, and get diagnosed with SPD. These people are getting too much in those senses. It is overwhelming, painful, too much. These are the people who cover their ears when any sort of noise is made, or even start screaming, because its too painful to hear the other noise. They're the people who cut out tags from clothing and otherwise can't wear them. They're the people who the world is too much for.

People with hyposensitive senses exist. These people don't get enough, their bodies don't react with the level of sensory input the world gives them. They might not react to pain, and injure themselves worse because they don't realize they're hurt. They might not be wake-up-able in the morning no matter how loud of an alarm clock you give them, despite the fact that they can hear.

People who just need more sensory information exist. These people seek it out. They crave it. No matter how much you give them, they need more, more, more. They run into things, bouncing off them, and seem made of rubber, as they run off in the other direction, happy. They add the spiciest of hot sauces to every food they eat. They spin whenever given the opportunity too. They always want more.

These three basic kinds of modulation disorders; the hypersensitive, the hyposensitive, and the seeker, are straightfoward. But people aren't that straightforward. What about the person who always wants to spin but any noise they hear hurts their ears? Or the person who doesn't recognize when their name is called, wants squeezed tightly always, and seeing any sort of lights they start getting headaches? People don't always fall neatly into one category. People actually usually don't fall neatly into one category. More people fall into more than one of these three categories than only one.

To make this more complicated, as well as hypersensitive touch, and hyposensitive smell, for example. It is possible to have multiple of these in the same sense. Some items are extremely painful, others are actively seeked out is a common method of this occurring, but it doesn't have to be that simple. It can be "this touch hurts because its too much, but I crave it because without it I don't feel like I know where my body exists", or pretty much any combination you can imagine. They can occur in the same sense at different times, about different items, or at the same time, about the same items. It can present in extremely complicated ways.

However, modulation disorders aren't the only part of SPD. They're the most known type, and the most common type, but, definitely not the only type. Difficulties with discrimination between sensory input, and motor planning difficulties because of improper sensory data also occur.

Sensory discrimination disorder is, I'd guess, the least known part of sensory processing disorder, but a part that can lead to some severe impairments. It's rather getting the wrong amount of information, getting jumbled information. It's not being able to identify what direction sounds are coming from; it's seeing items as the wrong size and the wrong distance away. It's not being able to actually trust what you're sensing because it may or may not be actually true, or not being able to identify what it is that you are sensing.

Sensory discrimination disorder is about not being able to sort out information, not being able to understand the information. It can be extremely difficult to be able to understand what it is like to have this without having it because its so strange to think about someone seeing, but only being able to understand 10% of their vision, and the rest of it being nonsense, or hearing, but hearing things on the wrong side of their head, or tasting, but the food not feeling hot when its burning their mouth... its just wrong data, it being all jumbled up.

Improper sensory information also leads to movement disorders. The body not being able to do what the brain tells it to do can lead to poor motor control, inability to plan out actions, or poor muscle tone and poor balance. The body's sensory system not being able to communicate with itself, makes the body struggle with movement.

Awkward movements, injuring yourself, being unable to ride a bike, being unable to dress yourself without aid, all of these can occur with a motor disorder occurring from a sensory basis rather than any other basis. Choking too frequently on food, having the different body parts not being willing to work together when trying to do a task, again, things which occur.

Sensory Processing Disorder has all of these different components. Some people have one, a modulation disorder, discrimination disorder, or movement disorder, some have two of the three, others have all three. Again, it can combine in any way. All sorts of combinations come out, including people who have every sort of SPD, all three modulation disorders, discrimination disorder, and a movement disorder. SPD can be quite complex.

Which leads us to the other way we can split it up; there are each of our senses. In grade school we are taught there are five senses. This isn't true. There are actually more than five senses. Touch itself is more than one sense, temperature sensing, and feeling a thing just brushing against your skin both fall into "touch" when initially teaching senses, yet are completely different.

For SPD, we tend to think of 8 senses; the five you learn about in grade school, the vestibular sense, propioception, and interoception. The vestibular sense is your sense of balance and spatial orientation. It's that part of your inner ear that tells you whether you are spinning, as well as if you are falling. Propioception is the sense of your body parts knowing where neighboring body parts are. It's your joints understanding their positions, and your fingers knowing where the other parts of the fingers are and how hard to squeeze to pick something up. Both of these senses, are overlooked when describing the senses, but are used every day for interacting with the world.

Interoception is different in that its the group of sensors that tells you about your internal body. It's knowing how hungry you are, how thirsty you are, when you need to pee. It's understanding swallowing, and vomiting. Any of these senses don't necessarily work right either, the information about your internal organs stretching and contracting doesn't necessarily work any better than the external senses does.

All of these different senses, can have any of these different categories of SPD occur. Any of the senses you're used to, the ones you aren't. Things you don't think of as senses, like temperature sensing, or pain sensing. Lots of different options for very individualized descriptions of how its like for individuals.

Because that's what it is, is a very different disorder for every person who has SPD. No two people have the same symptoms. No two people can be treated the same. Every person has their own individualized needs for their own individualized traits. Two people might both have hypersensitive touch, but even then, we can't assume to treat them the same. Everything is about making people understand their bodies needs, and meet their bodies needs. And having others understand those needs and help not cause problems helps immensely there.

If you care to know the numbers used for "most" or such; They're from Sensational Kids by Lucy Jane Miller Ph.D OTR. This book is a good resource on the subject if you want to read more.

Modulation disorder

• 12% of those with sensory modulation disorder have only hyposensitivity
• 26% have only sensory seeking
• 5% have only hypersensitivity
• 14% have [only] hyposensitivity and seeking
• 15% have [only] hypersensitivity and seeking
• 5% have [only] hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity
• 25% have all three, hypersensitivity, hyposensitivity, and seeking.

(Adds up to >100% due to rounding errors)

All SPD

• 4% of those with SPD have only sensory discrimination disorder
• 4% have only a sensory based movement disorder
• 22% have only a modulation disorder
• 4% have [only] discrimination disorder and a movement disorder
• 16% have [only] a movement disorder and a modulation disorder
• 23% have [only] a modulation disorder and a discrimination disorder
• 27% have all three, a discrimination disorder, movement disorder, and modulation disorder

Weighted Blankets

Weighted blankets are really powerful things. Maybe people have heard of Temple Grandin's squeeze machine (if you haven't, its quite cool), or maybe not, but very frequently deep pressure is something that regulates our sensory systems, and resets our bodies.

For those of us who are hypersensitive, for many of us, deep pressure is the one thing that resets us, or at least is the one that does it best. Our bodies hate most senses, they're attacks on our systems, but deep pressure, instead of being attack, calms us, protects us, and makes us feel safe. One of the things that is quite interesting about deep pressure is that it frequently helps those who are hyposensitive or seeking as well, because in both of those cases, they require increased sensory input, and this provides the increased sensory input. Deep pressure is the only area where all three of the sensory modulation areas seem to agree in enough cases that its worth defaulting to assuming it'll likely work; giving someone deep pressure is more likely than not to help them regulate better.

Deep pressure is the squeezing of strong hugs, the compression of joints when you jump, the weight of lying under a mattress. And this feeling, helps many on the autistic spectrum, with sensory processing disorder, with anxiety disorders, and even without any diagnoses, calm down, think better, sleep better, and generally function better.

For some of us, this is necessary, things that calm our sensory systems are the only way to be able to manage to get through daily life activities. For many on the autistic spectrum, sleep is a huge challenge; the same thing holds here.

So we get back to weighted blankets. Weighted blankets are, as it sounds like, blankets that are weighted instead of just being fabric, while still being functional as a blanket rather than stiff or uncomfortable. Sleeping with these blankets allows those of us who need sensory calming to sleep better; I know of multiple cases of melatonin being stopped after a weighted blanket was used while before it was required for sleep. It also allows our days to function better because we're starting from a more de-escalated state sensory-wise at the beginning of the day. Throughout the day, they can be used as a blanket might, wrapping up on a couch while working. Again, it causes reduction of sensory-overload even before it hits, holding it off or even preventing it if it reduces it enough. If overload, meltdowns, and shutdowns occur, they tend to be shorter if the blanket is provided, because it gives the sensory needs without someone constantly worrying about providing a type of input that can be difficult for people to provide for themselves or others for anything more than a very short period of time.

My weighted blanket is one of the largest coping skills I use. If I go somewhere for a weekend, I deal with carrying around a 24 lb queen size blanket. It's not convenient but its worth it. I frequently can write when I otherwise wouldn't be able to only because of my blanket. It helps me through many overloads. It helps drastically with my sleep. It's a very valuable tool, enough that I'm working on getting another blanket.

The downside of weighted blankets is that most places that sell them are expensive. However, the other option to buying one is making one. What I'd done for mine was make it. If you sew, have a sewing machine and have time free, its not bad to make one, just time consuming

The method I'd used might not be the most efficient at times; but it seems to have generally been a good one. The basic idea is that that you want evenly weighted pockets, all about 4 inches x 4 inches (that's been found to be the right size), that add up to the proper weight. The proper weight will generally be 10%+1 lb of the body weight of the person who will be using the blanket.

Instructions

1. Determine size and weight

   I wanted a blanket that I could both completely wrap around me and would work for two people sleeping. I thus decided I wanted a blanket about 55-60 inches wide. As my boyfriend is 6'4", I decided to make a 80" long blanket. For a 43" wide blanket (twin size) its recommended to use 10% of body-weight + 1 pound. Because this is larger, I'll use an increased weight, probably about 23 pounds instead of 15 pounds.

2. Gather equipment

   In order to make this blanket it required I borrowed things such as a sewing machine. Necessary equipment includes

   • Sewing machine
   • Measuring tape, pins and other sewing supplies
   • Kitchen scale for measuring weights
   • Butter knife
   • Funnel (can just be paper)
   • 2 cups for measuring plastic in and pouring into that first cup.
   • Tweezers or pliers
3. Gather supplies

   In order to make my blanket, I needed to gather up supplies to make it out of, including trying to minimize prices. Optimal design seemed to include having four layers of fabric, to increase durability, the outer shell being removable for easier cleaning, and weighting with poly-pellets.

   • Poly Pellets for weight

     Online research suggests that poly pellets tend to work best if you don't mind the increased bulk in using plastic. This wasn't an issue for me and durability matters much more to me than how bulky it is anyways. You can get poly pellets at craft stores. If you care about price, don't. You can get it drastically cheaper on ebay. I ordered 30 pounds of plastic in two 15 pound increments for $2/lb shipped.

     Some people suggest using beans, be aware that any food product can get moldy, and has major issues being washed (as dried food products rehydrate when put in water). Either poly pellets or aquarium rocks that you are sure won't hold water if its washed tend to be your best bet for a filling material - poly pellets would be my suggestion, as the increased bulk is actually something that is nice to me, and is not nearly as large as people make it out to be.

   • Fabric

     You want durable and comfortable. If you don't get distracted like me, a duvet cover for it is a good idea, and allows you to only worry about durable for what you are building the pellets into. If you don't want to, or expect to, manage that, then plan on that. I used sheets for my fabric. The convenience of sheets is very high.

4. Measure fabric

   While nominally I had 60" wide fabric, one queen sheet, and two full sheets, truthfully, the 60" fabric was actually 69" wide. This was far more over its nonimal size than I expected, and its relevant to know that now.

5. Wash fabric

   If you prewash fabric then it'll shrink before you make the blanket rather than shrink unevenly after.

6. Cut and hem fabric

   These are large peices of fabric. In order to cut them straight I used the method described here. I found that using a small pair of pilars worked drastically better than tweezers - it was easier to pull straight, and thus I was able to pull out longer strands. Ripping the fabric also works.

7. Sew two peices of fabric on 3 edges, leaving one open for filling.

   Be careful while doing this that your fabric lines up. In my case, it one of the sides wasn't actually straight - I left that side open so I could patch it at the end.

8. Flip the fabric inside out into a giant pillow-case like thing
9. Measure and mark every 4 inches down the sewn bottom
10. Sew columns

    For each column, first measure out and mark a few point on the column to help you keep it straight, then sew using the sewing machine. Because I was filling mine from the side, I had 20 of these.

11. Calculate wight per pocket.

    4"x4" pockets are recommended. Each one of these should have equal weight. Calculate the number of pockets your blanket will have (mine will have 340 pockets), and divide the weight you want by the number of pockets. I'm ending up making about a 25 lb blanket because it is so large, and will put 34 grams of plastic in each pocket.

12. Measure plastic and put it in each row.

    Measure equal weights of plastic and put it in the bottom of each row. Even though you can do it without a funnel, use the funnel, it both increases the speed to mess ratio, and is a useful marker of how far along the row you've gotten.

13. Pin the pockets shut

    Measure 4 inches for the height of the pocket, push all the plastic down (with the butter knife), and pin it shut.

14. Sew along making those pockets

    This is a very slow process. This is also where a butter knife comes in handy. In order to not have the plastic pellets get caught and stop the sewing machine, you need to kepe them out of the way. The best way I found was to go pocket by pocket and use the flat side of a butter knife to push them down into the very bottom for each pocket. When you inevitably get a pellet in the foot of the sewing machine, pick it out with something small - likely the tweezers or piliers you used earlier.

    For the first two or three rows its easier to pass the weighted section through the sewing machine. By the time you're half done its far easier for the weighted section to be supported next to the sewing machine.

15. Repeat steps 12 through 14 for each row.

    If you want to fill the last row you can. Do be aware though, that its far more likely than the other rows to cause a broken needle if you didn't give sufficient room for the seam. I started filling the last row, then broke the needle, and gave up on it.

(btw, for just linking to the instructions and not scrolling down, if you're saving a link or such, click here)

Emotional Support Animals (aka Tuttle gets a cat :))

This post I've been meaning to write up for the past week and have been being distracted from it every time I go to start. The distraction is rather straight-forward - she's 11 pounds, just over a year old, and a brown tabby :).

Earlier this year, I heard about Emotional Support Animals, since that point jonored and I had been looking into the possibility of me getting an ESA. When I was younger I functioned far better in many ways because of the pets. When I went to college, me not having a pet had a huge affect on me. My inability to identify my own emotions suddenly because far more of an issue; not knowing when I'm slightly upset means that its far more likely to hit very upset. Stress has started affecting me far more. I've been having many more meltdowns and shutdowns. I have been getting even more needy with attention from jonored because of being lonely with others not having time for me (as they actually do things like work and I'm still unemployed and am unable to drive.)

So, I started researching ESAs. Animals often help the people they are around, even by just be there and acting the way they normally do. Emotional Support Animals are animals which reduce the impact of their person's disability by acting as a pet does, rather than requiring special training like a service dog does. Rather than going out in public like a service dog, they stay at home, and only have rights when it comes to housing, flying on airplanes, and possibly a few other very specific situations.

The main right than an ESA has is that they are allowed in pet-free housing (or if there is a fee to have a pet the fee must be waived). How this works is rather straightforward. A physician or licensed mental health worker must write a letter for the disabled person stating that the person is disabled and should have a cat, dog, or whatever sort of animal in order to help with their disability. This allows for the request of letting this person have their ESA with them be a request for accommodation. As long as its a reasonable accommodation, (so you can't have a dog that barks all night and keeps everyone else up), then denying the accommodation is discriminating against the disabled, which is illegal. (However, the person is fully responsible for keeping the animal well behaved and all damages that it does).

This does require the person to be disabled. This can't be used to let a random person take their pet into an apartment that doesn't allow pets. Simply someone having an anxiety or depression diagnosis isn't even enough, because its built around the person being disabled, not simply having an impairment. However for those of us who are disabled it can mean a lot.

So, we went through this and talked to my doctor and she'll write up letters whenever I need her to. She specifically has stated on multiple occasions that she thinks I should have a cat.

On December 31st, we got me a cat. We'd been looking at a kitten the week before but found out we'd not be able to get it, then went and looked at the local cat shelter, and ended up coming home with a kitty.

She's a nice cat. Just over a year old, very playful, very alert, and surprisingly good at learning not to scratch things or not to sit on my computer (though she's still working on those). She also is crazy in certain manners like how she'll meow at you to come and stand in the kitchen with her so she doesn't have to be alone in the room while she eats. We named her Kitty Ada after Ada Lovelace (Kitty is her title, in place of Lady)

We've definitely already seen situations that she's helped me. If either of us are upset she comes up and meows very clearly saying "You're supposed to be petting me, not moping, cheer up and pet me already."

She also helps me regulate my emotions and identify when I'm upset. When I'm upset she'll come up to me, and her being there helps me not become more upset. In these situations I'm unable to go out of my way to try to regulate my own emotions because she's identifying them before I am.

However, probably the most relevant situation, is that she has already shown that she can prevent meltdowns. I get depressive meltdowns - didn't when I was younger but between not having animals around and dealing with much higher stress I started getting these. I also get shutdowns. Despite the fact that shutdowns tend to last longer than meltdowns, I find them easier to deal with. I was faced with something that is a huge meltdown trigger for me and managed to hold it off until I was around Ada. I sat down and she came up next to me and I started petting her. Somehow she managed to cause me to disassociate in a positive way, externalize my being upset, and just have me sitting there thinking "I have a kitty." I also lost speech for 3 hours, but I didn't have any sobbing fit. It was very good of her.

I'm definitely glad we went through and got me a cat. Some things will be harder now, but she's definitely helping me as well.

My path to diagnosis and the diagnosis process

As I last covered what are the benefits of getting a diagnosis, it seems logical to actually complete this post about what the diagnosis process was like for me. As this is from my memory there are likely mistakes in the early parts of it - I don't remember exactly when everything was.

There are three main paths to getting a diagnosis - hearing about Asperger's (or whatever else) somehow, deciding you match the symptoms, and finding someone to professionally agree or disagree with your self-assessment; seeing a professional for other reasons and it being identified and diagnosed; and getting someone else bringing you to a professional to see about a diagnosis of something (usually in that case the person bringing you is a parent). I consider my process of diagnosis having taken 9 years and consisting of bits of each of these paths.

During the 2001/2002 school year I was in seventh grade. It was during this year that we split my math education off from the school system. During this year we also tried asking about me going up to the high school for math while being in the eighth grade the next year. The school system denied this request. This was the last straw and we started looking into me going to a different school, and decided on me going to a charter school (essential school specifically), in the fall.

It was also either that school year or the summer after that for some reason that I'm still unsure of, possibly being worried about bullies but I have no idea, that my sister and I each had an initial meeting with a psychologist. She decided that my sister had no reason to see her again after one or two meetings while it was worth it for me to continue seeing her. From those meetings I remember turtling a lot, not knowing what to say or how to make decisions (like normal for me), and going through the decision process of whether I should go into the 8th or 9th grade in the fall. (We decided for various reasons the 9th grade would be better, one of the people running the school thought I wasn't socially ready to skip a grade, 3 weeks into the school year they realized they were wrong, moved me up, and I was in a far better place socially after skipping a grade).

At some point she diagnosed me with social anxiety developed from being bullied in school. This ended up relevant when later in the year I ended up sobbing in school and in a terrible shape. In this new school we swapped who was in classes together every 6 weeks. One of these occurred and I was put into a class where none of the people I knew well were and one where most of the people were those who didn't do their work. I couldn't cope with this at all. Because of my social anxiety diagnosis I ended up with a 504 plan that said they couldn't place me in a class without one of the people I knew best. They dealt with this by always putting me and my best friend in a class together rather than having to deal with a larger set of people that they needed to have one of them in the class with me.

I don't know exactly when I stopped seeing her. I'm pretty sure it was during 9th grade. Whenever that was is also the first time I heard of Asperger's. Before that point I'd only ever heard of autism at the non-verbal level. I'd never thought it might apply to someone like myself. The last session I had with her she told my family and I that she thought I had Asperger's and that she'd be unable to help me anymore because she didn't work with people with ASDs.

So in 2002 or 2003, I first heard that I was likely autistic, yet at that point I wasn't diagnosed, and didn't go on to see anyone else. What I was told at that point was that because I was high functioning and female, it wasn't worth pursuing a diagnosis. The bias against being female and autistic was strong enough that it removed the little benefit that I'd have gained at that point as I was successful academically. The other thing I was told at this point was, like her not being able to help me anymore, that I'd not really get any help from anyone who didn't work with people on the spectrum. So the recommendation was for me to see someone who worked with people on the spectrum who didn't require a diagnosis.

Of course most people who work with people on the autistic spectrum want diagnoses, and because I wasn't diagnosed I couldn't work with them. This means that at that point I didn't see anyone because of the lack of diagnosis. I don't know whether I would have if I did have a diagnosis. So through tenth grade and the beginning of junior year I saw nobody for any of this.

Junior year was interesting when it comes to all of this. For junior and senior year I went to another different school - in this case, I had been accepted into the junior and senior year only exam school. This school accepts 50 students per year of those who apply, of their choice, and push these students incredibly hard junior year such that your effective freshman year of college that follows senior year seems like an incredibly easy break. While my parents have very low opinions of this school, it did a huge amount for me, though it wasn't simple even outside of academic situations. I had problems come up that should not have came up that, as I found out years later, meant that they almost kicked me out of the school.

Junior year I ended up having rather problematic miscommunication problems with multiple of the teachers, without my knowledge that it was happening. I had one teacher convinced that I was lying about doing my homework because of being uncomfortable presenting when I wasn't completely sure of what I was doing. (I'd done the work but I wasn't sure that I was right.) I had another teacher convinced that I didn't understand the foreign language at all because of not participating in conversations that I had no interest in nor knowledge about content of. Because of these types problems, we ended up needing a meeting about me not leaving the school. They ended up agreeing that I'd stay in the school as long as we pursued help for me.

This ended up leading to me ending up on anxiety medication and seeing a therapist. We managed to actually find someone who accepted me and worked with adolescents on the autistic spectrum. Her specialty was "social learning disabilities". I still don't think the medication was worth it - the first one caused interesting problems (I'd remember to do my homework and forget to turn it in), and the second one I was unable to tell if it helped and when I eventually weened off of it I ended up with near daily migraines. However, seeing that specialist was incredibly good for me. She worked with me using the knowledge of Asperger's rather than treating me like any other person and helped a lot. The difference between me at that point in junior year and when I went to college was something I could tell.

In college, well senior year of high school, I found the SFS. When I got there, the SFS was so aspie friendly that we ended up at one point with everyone in the room identified with Asperger's to some degree. This was incredibly good for me in a different way than my high school friends were (who I still feel far closer to and still trust far more, but didn't have this particular aspect of being able to relate on this topic).

Unfortunately, relating to Asperger's went a bit too far in the SFS at this point in time. It became such a big thing that it started bothering me to have people identifying with it with as little information as they had. It started feeling like with so many people involved people started holding individuals to expectations created because of other individuals who may or may not actually have been on the spectrum. Relating to this was good, but at the same time, we were going over the top. I no longer felt comfortable identifying with Asperger's. I stopped considering myself self-diagnosed. When I started thinking about it again I ended up deciding that I identified as not neurotypical. I wasn't sure what I was, but I was clearly not "normal".

The June 2008 was the first time I was on the lease of an apartment. The July 2008 my grandmother died. January 2009 I started my MQP (in major senior project). January 2009 my grandfather died. March 2009 my other grandfather died. Throughout this entire time the group of people in that apartment were not an appropriate one. We'd thought it'd work fine, but different needs for things like temperature just didn't mesh at all. I ended up crashing hard. My mental state couldn't deal with so much going on at the same time, especially so many deaths in the family.

April 2010 I got a new primary care doctor. She thought it was incredibly important for me to see a counselor after how that year had gone and how much it was affecting me. For all of 2009 I had basically pushed it off, focusing on academics, and when I finished my MQP in December 2009, I was unable to cope. I no longer had something to throw myself into and without something to do, everything that happened hit at the same time. We went through who was available in my insurance, found someone, I tried seeing her. She was good but hard to get to, looking back I agree that she wasn't worth the awkward travel, though she was far better than I expect out of a generic counselor. We tried looking for someone who would see me who worked with people on the autistic spectrum, people kept either not returning calls or being unable to take someone without a diagnosis. We found someone else for me to try, she didn't work at all for me, I regularly left her and went home in tears. That didn't work. We needed something else.

During this we process began the research of what it actually took to get my a diagnosis. My parents got a recommendation from a local autism resource center for a particular person for diagnosis (as well as some counselors we tried to get in contact with, but failed at). October 2010 we met with this person for the first time. We went through an initial review of me and my past. After this meeting he decided that yes, I should be evaluated for Asperger's, and submitted a request to my insurance for them to cover it. They denied it saying that they didn't feel it was necessary for me to be evaluated for some reason or another. When the second of those counselors failed so drastically my parents decided that we were going to just get the evaluation anyways, going ahead and paying themselves instead of via insurance. (Later the cost was included in the insurance deductible because of ARICA having triggered in January 2011).

July 8th, I had a 4-5 hour evaluation done.

July 14th I got the results, a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome, and an 11 page report of the evaluation.

The diagnosis process

This might should go in a different post, but I think of them together whenever I think of the subject, so they're going to go ahead and be together. I'll at least set it apart with the above header

The diagnosis process for me consisted of three meetings with a neuropsychologist - the background information, an evaluation, and the results meeting.

The first meeting was entirely background information, both my parents and I were interviewed about me at work (of which there was little), at home, and at school throughout my life. A wide variety of questions were asked including about my past with mental health professionals and why we were pursuing a diagnosis. This meeting ended with determining that he agreed that I was likely autistic and that further testing should be done to determine whether that is true.

The second meeting was long. I went in at 10 am and left between 2:30 and 3 pm. This meeting was the primary evaluation. These hours were spent primarily with me doing tests and answering long lists of questions on paper. For each of these he observed me taking it as well as looking at the results of the tests. There was also a bit more verbal questioning but not much of that.

The first thing I filled out was a way too long multiple choice question about general mental health, the Personality Assessment Inventory. Mostly this was long, though I might have confused him with some of the questions I asked while filling it out. They were certainly not normal questions.

The next major thing I did was an IQ test - the WAIS-IV one in particular. I definitely don't think my score on this was actually accurate but it got enough of the information necessary across. This was used to compare my IQ percentile to my later percentile on things to do with recognizing emotions in others. The reason I find it innacurate was because I ended up beginning to completely shutdown in the middle of it because of how the testing was going. I had to give quick definitions for words until I stopped being able to do so with the list he was giving me. I'm not sure whether he noticed that the point that I failed was as soon as the words became emotions based. This was fine, except that I was shutting down beyond just being able to answer those questions when I was unable to answer word after word, all of the same type. Also of note was the memory test where I had issues focusing on trying to remember the numbers being listed rather than putting the effort into trying to find a pattern so I only had to remember the pattern. I think I mentioned that to him on that subject. It was just so hard to not look for a pattern instead of just remembering the numbers.

I also had to do some arithmetic, reading, and spelling tests. I'm not quite sure why those were there. One of the reading tests was amusing however. He gave me a thing to read, told me I'd read it while he measured how fast I read and then I'd have to answer questions, and specified I had to read for content rather than speed. I asked him "What if I finish reading before the minute is up?" got the response "You won't", asked again "No really, what if I finish early?", got the response "Well, I guess you finish early then, but nobody's done that yet.".... So I read it and when I finished I looked up and said "I'm done" and surprised him. I think I finished in under half a minute. He questioned the reading for content and I reassured him that no, I really did read that quickly, I really had to ask him that question before hand. In my later report he noted that all he could get in my reading speed score was that I read faster than 99% of college graduates.

I also had to do multiple tests on executive function. This included the Trail Making Test, as well as the Conners' Continuous Performance Test. The latter one was frustrating. I had to click the space bar after every letter that popped up on the screen that wasn't an X (and only letters popped up). It didn't matter how much I focused, I kept failing to not click the space bar on the X. He eventually noted that my results on that were borderline ADHD levels, but when he gave me the self report scales for ADHD there was no way that I matched the symptoms on that

And then there's the tests that specifically have to do with autism diagnoses. For this I had the AQ test, EQ test, pictures of faces to match emotions to, voices to match emotions to, voices to match to faces, and stories that I needed to answer whether anything someone did was 'awkward', and why. I feel quite awkward not including more here with this being such a big part of the evaluation, but it really is far more straightforward than the rest of it was.

Anyways, the third meeting was when I got my results. He wrote up an 11 page report on what he saw from watching me and going through my test results. This meeting was going through the basic points through all of it, making sure that it made sense to my parents and I (as my parents went with me, it was my choice if they went). He asked after going through this whether anything he'd said was surprising, my parents responded no, and he then gave the diagnosis matching how he'd described me. I was then given my report that has been useful to have. How he went through this, giving the description before the diagnostic label was really the appropriate way to do it. If someone wanted a result they'd not be able to complain about the result when it occurred after the description, while if there were inaccuracies, they'd come up. That followed by specifying the describing the symptoms rather than the person (so the individual can identify as autistic or having autism) was a really nice way to get the results.

Once I got my diagnosis I was really able to start associate with this. Before that point I'd been too uncomfortable to do so much. Now, well, it rather turned into a special interest. Oops?

What do you get out of a diagnosis.

Well, I said I was starting this because of being tired of answering the same questions over and over. This is one of those questions, it was just asked again and I had to start going through the mental list rather than just linking to a post like my eventual response will be. Anyways for a list of things that I've gotten out of my diagnosis and others have mentioned getting out of their diagnoses.

The ability to work with specialists

This is in particular what caused me to get my diagnosis. Most counselors and people of that sort don't actually have knowledge about the autistic spectrum - and if they do, then it is often doesn't include actually working with people on the spectrum, just a researcher's view of it. While these people don't necessarily work with only people with diagnoses, its unusual for one of them to have the time in their schedule to take on undiagnosed patients.

Various sorts of therapy covered by insurance

A decent number of states at this point have laws regarding insurance and the autistic spectrum. These laws vary wildly from it not being able to be counted as a pre-existing condition, to requiring coverage of things that are not necessarily otherwise covered. In Massachusetts, ARICA is worth looking into. Speech therapy, occupational therapy, and the like are required to be covered by at least some sort of insurance. I've not taken advantage of this but have had it recommended to me that I should look into sensory integration occupational therapy.

Accommodations at work, in school, or in other relevant places

Accommodations are the standard thing that people get out of a diagnosis. These vary from having more time on exams, to taking exams separate from the class, to having all instructions written instead of given verbally. Personally, when I eventually retake the GRE subject test, I'm going to be needing to request a separate room with a non-smoking proctor, and the room not having florescent light bulbs. When it comes to work, I'm going to have a huge challenge finding the right accommodations to deal with my sensory needs (other than we've figured out I need a closet or something that's mine to hide in if I start getting a migraine from things getting to be too much).

Generic 'for disabled people' monetarily-based things from the government

These seemed just worth grouping together because they're all related. I get reduced fare public transit tickets because of my Asperger's (which is incredibly nice with the inability to drive and lack of income). It can be enough to qualify people for SSI and/or SSDI. With SSI you qualify for things like food stamps, Mass Health, and such without employment. In general, if someone need monetary assistance it'd be the huge pain that it is with the government, but its far more of an option than without a diagnosis.

Others understanding you better

This can actually be far more than people give it credit for. Assumptions that some of your actions aren't for other reasons going away can mean a lot.

A diagnostic report that helps you understand yourself better

When you get a diagnosis, you don't just get a paper with a label on it, you get a full report of the testing done. This is a description of some of your strengths and weaknesses, which you may have not known about before. This might be because of not having realized that people functioned any differently than you did. It wasn't until reading my diagnosis report that I realized that not everyone fully analyzed a situation before deciding whether something was "awkward" or such. The idea of intuitive understanding of social situations had never occured to me.

The diagnostic report also allows you to inform others about yourself

My doctor is interested in doing everything she can do to help me, but hasn't worked with another patient with an ASD before. She has a copy of my diagnostic report as well and is using that to help to understand me. The report is a formal way of giving her this information. It is also not me needing to explain details about myself that I have no idea how to put into words.

There may be more of these, and if I come up with more then I'll edit this, but this should at least be a useful list that I can link to.

What is Asperger's?

Asperger's Syndrome, like everything on the autistic spectrum, is incredibly hard to describe because it varies so widely between people. One of the more common lines I've seen is "If you've met one person with Asperger's Syndrome you've met one person with Asperger's Syndrome." However, there is still the possibility of a basic description.

Asperger's Syndrome is an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) along with Autistic Disorder (also known as classic autism or Kanner's autism - classic autism being my preference but not the label in the diagnostic manuals), and PDD-NOS. Asperger's Syndrome is often thought of as "milder" or "higher functioning" than classic autism, though these words mean little and there is a wide range of severity of symptoms among people in all parts of the spectrum.

Specifically, Asperger's Syndrome is an ASD in which there is no delay in speech, self-help skills, or creativity about the environment.  It is specifically associated with the descriptions given by Hans Asperger, an austrian physician who described the similarity of traits between 4 patients of his in a 1944 paper. As his paper was not translated into English until 1989, and autism as a concept separate than schizophrenia was first made in 1943, Asperger's Syndrome is a relatively new diagnosis.

Possibly the best way to define what Asperger's Syndrome is by the set of various diagnostic criteria.

The current version of the DSM, the diagnostic standards manual which is how diagnoses are made in the US is the DSM-IV, which came out in 1994. It was the first diagnosis manual with a diagnosis for Asperger's.

DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for Asperger's Syndrome

1. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:
   
   
   1. marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction
   2. failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
   3. a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interest or achievements with other people, (e.g.. by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)
   4. lack of social or emotional reciprocity
   
   
2. Restricted repetitive & stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities, as manifested by at least one of the following:
   
   1. encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus
      
   2. apparently inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
   3. stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms (e.g. hand or finger flapping or twisting, or complex whole-body movements)
   4. persistent preoccupation with parts of objects
   
   
3. The disturbance causes clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
4. There is no clinically significant general delay in language (E.G. single words used by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years)
5. There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development or in the development of age-appropriate self help skills, adaptive behavior (other than in social interaction) and curiosity about the environment in childhood.
6. Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia.
   

Note that this specifically talks about what people see rather than what's going on.

Also meaningful is noting the additional criteria for classic autism as something like 80% of people with Asperger's technically meet the criteria.

Additional Criteria for Autistic Disorder

Qualitative impairments in communication as manifested by at least one of the following:

1. delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language (not accompanied by an attempt to compensate through alternative modes of communication such as gesture or mime)
2. in individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in the ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others
3. stereotyped and repetitive use of language or idiosyncratic language
4. lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play appropriate to developmental level

and
Delays or abnormal functioning in at least one of the following areas, with onset prior to age 3 years:

1. social interaction
2. language as used in social communication
3. symbolic or imaginative play

However, other diagnostic criteria are likely far more useful. There is a new proposed version for the DSM-5 (which is coming out in 2013), in which the Asperger's diagnosis is merged in with classic autism and PDD-NOS into just "autistic spectrum disorder".

That diagnostic criteria is:

DSM-5 Proposed Diagnostic Criteria

1. Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across contexts, not accounted for by general developmental delays, and manifest by all 3 of the following:
   
   
   1. Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity; ranging from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back and forth conversation through reduced sharing of interests, emotions, and affect and response to total lack of initiation of social interaction,
      
   2. Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction; ranging from poorly integrated- verbal and nonverbal communication, through abnormalities in eye contact and body-language, or deficits in understanding and use of nonverbal communication, to total lack of facial expression or gestures.
      
   3. Deficits in developing and maintaining relationships, appropriate to developmental level (beyond those with caregivers); ranging from difficulties adjusting behavior to suit different social contexts through difficulties in sharing imaginative play; and in making friends; to an apparent absence of interest in people
      
2. Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities as manifested by at least two of the following:
   
   1. Stereotyped or repetitive speech, motor movements, or use of objects; (such as simple motor stereotypies, echolalia, repetitive use of objects, or idiosyncratic phrases).
      
   2. Excessive adherence to routines, ritualized patterns of verbal or nonverbal behavior, or excessive resistance to change; (such as motoric rituals, insistence on same route or food, repetitive questioning or extreme distress at small changes).
      
   3. Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus; (such as strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects, excessively circumscribed or perseverative interests).
      
   4. Hyper-or hypo-reactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of environment; (such as apparent indifference to pain/heat/cold, adverse response to specific sounds or textures, excessive smelling or touching of objects, fascination with lights or spinning objects).
      
3. Symptoms must be present in early childhood (but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities)
   
4. Symptoms together limit and impair everyday functioning.
   

The most descriptive criteria, and closest to Asperger's writing, is however the Gillberg criteria, one which is rarely used but tends to be a very good description of Asperger's. This criteria is actually descriptive.

The Gillberg Criteria for Asperger's Syndrome

All of the following six criteria must be met for confirmation of diagnosis:

1. Severe impairment in reciprocal social interaction (at least two of the following)
   
   1. inability to interact with peers
      
   2. lack of desire to interact with peers
      
   3. lack of appreciation of social cues
      
   4. socially and emotionally inappropriate behavior
      
2. All-absorbing narrow interest (at least one of the following)
   1. exclusion of other activities
      
   2. repetitive adherence
      
   3. more rote than meaning
      
3. Imposition of routines and interests (at least one of the following)
   
   1. on self, in aspects of life
      
   2. on others
      
4. Speech and language problems (at least three of the following)
   
   1. delayed development
      
   2. superficially perfect expressive language
      
   3. formal, pedantic language
      
   4. odd prosody, peculiar voice characteristics
      
   5. impairment of comprehension including misinterpretations of literal/implied meanings
      
5. Non-verbal communication problems (at least one of the following)
   1. limited use of gestures
      
   2. clumsy/gauche body language
      
   3. limited facial expression
      
   4. inappropriate expression
      
   5. peculiar, stiff gaze
      
6. Motor clumsiness: poor performance on neurodevelopmental examination
   

I personally find this last criteria by far the most informative, and tend to use it to show people for what's different between just being "socially awkward" and Asperger's.

The thing that does need to be noted about all of these diagnostic criteria is that they're made for children. While plenty of of us still fully meet the criteria as adults, and in fact, if you don't meet the criteria you cannot be diagnosed even if you met it when you were younger, there will be changes between a child and an adult. Adults often have learned how to make eye contact (at least to some degree), have made progress on physical clumsiness, and have created large numbers of coping skills of various levels of effectiveness. This does not change that this is a description of that person, even when they are able to memorize a script of what is to be said in each situation and have learned that carrying certain items make drastic changes to their abilities.