Do I Know You? ~This Aspie's Experience with Face Blindness.

I can feel him casually glancing in my direction. I make a point to look away and not  make eye contact, because I don't feel like having polite conversation at the pool with strange men I don't know.  Eventually, we cross paths and he asks me how I am. I can tell by his demeanor that he's not a stranger. He is someone I've met before and should be acquainted with. I search the pool to see if I recognize his children. I'm looking for any clues that can help me here, but none come. I just make small talk and try to figure it out later. It turns out to be one of my daughter's friend's parents. I've spoken to him in the last couple of weeks. I should know who he is.

The above scenario is probably something that has happened to most people before at some point, but for me (and many others on the spectrum) it happens often. There is a phenomenon called face blindness or Prosopagnosia.  I am unsure if I fit the criteria for this diagnosis. I took the face blindness test of famous faces and scored 93%. That is above average. I have no trouble identifying faces of famous people, even those I have not seen in 20 some years. My memory is quite good in that way. However, when social interaction in everyday life is introduced to the scenario I seem to lose the ability to identify acquaintances.

As you can imagine, this is troublesome. If I run into someone, say at the store it is very likely that I will not recognize them. I live in a small town, so it is certain to happen often, just based on the statistics alone.  So, maybe you are one of the son's paras, the secretary at the school, or the bank teller, the principal that I've sat through 10+ IEP meetings with, or my neighbors.... I will walk past you as if I've never met you, unless you make the first move.  I'm certain that this doesn't help my social life, as I know that I come off as snobby. It has to be terribly confusing to others, especially the ones that I warmly chat with on a regular basis to suddenly find me oblivious to them in another environment.

I wonder if Beans has this issue, too. He always smells people upon greeting them.He reaches out and grabs your clothes, and hair and sniffs.  I think he may be trying to identify who you are by your scent.

If you took the test, feel free to leave your score in the comment section, as well as any experience you may have with this issue, either with yourself, or your ASD loved one.

When "just not a math person" doesn't add up: Dyscalculia and what it means for kids

http://chicagoparent.com/magazines/chicago-parent/2011-august/back-to-school-special-section/discalculia-math-disability
Above is a link to a site that describes something called Dyscalculia.  It is basically like dyslexia, except for words and letters, its math and numbers.  I think I may have this.  I have always struggled with math, and I still do, though with lots of practice it is better.  Good enough to get through the day.  I think most of that was strenuous practice when I was a cashier.  There was one place I worked at where I was required to count change back to the dollar before they let me on the register.  Not only that, but I was trained with a group.  This was extra incentive to get it right.  So, I bought a bag of play money, went home and practiced it.  Even if my register broke I could, without error, count back your change to the dollar even to this day.

As a child, I really struggled through math tasks.  When I had to work, I had to rely on counting on my fingers, which was very frowned upon by my second grade teacher.It got to the point to where she recommended I be tested for special ed.  Even though this was 20 yrs ago, they did special ed testing quite a lot the same as today.  I was tested in all areas and when was all said and done I was found to be gifted, with the exception of math, of course.  The school forgot all about my math issues and focused on the where I can get my needs met in all the other areas.  Which was okay, because I was just as bored in class as they thought I to be after seeing where I was academically.  The school I attended was very small and didn't have a gifted program for grade school students, so the faculty tried to move me up a grade in effort to alleviate my boredom.  I as a young aspie child was vehemently opposed to such a drastic change.  So, I remained in the same grade, but without any aid in my math skills, which seemed more and more behind with each passing year.  By the time I got to algebra I was failing.  I had no concept of what to do and no amount of extra tutoring seemed to help.  I wish that I had gotten the extra help when I was young.  I get by, but still count on my fingers. ;)

Sanity Test-How Sane Are You?

I took the Sanity Score test at http://www.sanityscore.com/ .  My  score was 75 out of a possible 200 something.  The lower the score supposedly the more 'sane' one is! lol It declared me sane, but with two areas that need work, self-esteem was the highest followed by anxiety, even suggesting I have an anxiety disorder, which I have been diagnosed with.  The anxiety was indicated by obsessions and compulsions, which here again, is quite true.  It's fun and free, so go ahead and take it.  If you do, please come back and share your results and thoughts on the test.

Authentic Happiness Tests

Authentic Happiness

The link above is a site that I have found interesting. It has several questionnaires designed to see how happy you are when compared to others in the same gender, occupation, ect... There's also a lot of positive psychology info that I have not had the chance to do more than browse through, yet.  So far, all the tests that I've taken seem to place me in the middle of the happiness scale, suggesting I'm not happy or unhappy.  Seems about right! lol I always seem more neutral than anything.  Seems to be my default mood!