Autism DSM 5 ICD 11 Special interest validity basis?

[Rachie]

I would like to sort this out for myself and pin this theory down.
Special interest is this some term that has come about and been drummed up online etc and not actually used in the profession.
Now it is an interest, special interest or restricted interest.

It can be difficult to get actual definitions for these neurodevelopmental disorders/conditions
I know what I have been thinking but really I need to see if i've got it right and therefore why I am posting.

To me I would say it goes on for sometime and an element at times of cataloguing like getting it all together and organised and pinning it down in different ways sometimes . Then the niche part of it like no not just a tshirt but a niche part to it like cartoon funny for such.
Going quite far with you like a colour, soon your house is knitted with it, clothes bags you name for decades.
Parks not just parks, ducks in them and be filiming in the all the parks. No ducks your heart is broken and you won't want to go and be lamenting and it's just not the same. Sometimes it may be unrealistic and you still keep it going for years. It can sure get intense with a good hyperfocus. It be very repetitive for sure and you can be inflexible even if you try something you may dump soon after.

An interest I would can come from a natural talent which all of us as human beings I would presume.

Now what is DSM 5 saying about interests
Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus (e.g, strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects, excessively circumscribed or perseverative interest).
Autism diagnostic criteria: DSM-5 | Autism Speaks

What is ICD 11 saying about interets

In ICD-11 [11], ASD is characterized by persistent deficits in the ability to initiate and sustain reciprocal social interaction and social communication and by a range of restricted, repetitive, and inflexible patterns of behavior, interests, or activities that are clearly atypical or excessive. These deficits are usually a pervasive feature of the individual’s functioning observable in all settings, although they may vary according to social, educational, or other context.

Autism spectrum disorder in ICD-11—a critical reflection of its possible impact on clinical practice and research - Molecular Psychiatry

In your defintion what makes special interets.

The special term is not actually used. This is thing I have heard professors boffins at a subject. This is sometimes best used in a setting unless essay writing in situations that may handle it better. Some people struggle to understand sometimes these terms people use especially when it is not their subject area. Considering if there is a point to it, it is not an essay and you won't be marked. Sometimes you may read you don't understand you cannot be reached all the time a dictionary for entertainment. Try and simple as possible. There is something in journals called plain English version or professional version. No point the professional all on the time on forums for it stands out if too often. May be some people try and buy into and show of their a full professor. Yes I may try and get in overdrive and switch it a knotch depending where I am bit in such in presenting a topic I am passionate about and read freshly may more be dressed in a lingo a bit more.

I cannot help feeling a bit it seems there is no actual special interests as such but restricted it seeming.

 

[Tiffany Kate]

I think the DSM and ICD are trying to describe exactly what makes an autistic “special interest” an autism thing, rather than just… an interest.

“Special interest” itself, as a phrase, doesn’t mean anything in particular other than that the person is more interested than the average person. For instance, in the UK, we have GPs (family doctors) with a “special interest” in specialities such as dermatology. They’re not autistic - they just have more expertise in that speciality than most GPs, and will advise their colleagues on it. Sort of like more expert than an ordinary GP, but not as expert as an actual dermatologist.

So, if you want to be able to define whether a person’s interest in aircraft spotting is an “autistic special interest” or just an ordinary interest/hobby that anyone could have, you need be able to say what makes the difference.

And the difference seems to be:
- It’s abnormally (compared to neurotypicals) intense/obsessive: you don’t just like spotting aircraft, you spend a lot of time doing it, classifying aircraft, tracking down aircraft you haven’t seen yet (unusual or not), you’ll talk about spotting aircraft for hours, looking through your aircraft-spotting records is relaxing, and so on.
- It’s restricted (maybe you are just interested in spotting certain types of aircraft)
- It’s repetitive and inflexible (You are unhappy if you can’t go aircraft-spotting for some reason)
- It’s excessive (you spend an abnormal amount of time on activities related to aircraft-spotting)

With the aircraft-spotting example, aircraft spotters probably all do that. It’s the intensity and pervasiveness that pushes it into “autistic” territory, plus potentially not having many (any?) other interests alongside.

“Special interest” is probably used as a shorthand for all that, plus it sounds “friendlier” than using words like “excessive” and “abnormally intense”.

 

[Rachie]

Thank you Tiffany for your thoughts. I want to commit and say this is homework for today for I should have a good bit of time on my hands but I think I may need someone in real life to speak it to me in their terms to grab it for I am floundering still to see the big picture perhaps it seems. I am continuing with it and will say so I have confidentally have.
I am going to scruntise your post again and again perhaps.
I wish they would come with it bodly special interest as a term seeing that it is used so much.
I thought it might be useful to drop how ADOS worded using I think ICD 11 in the UK not sure. I have taken out my scores I don't think it is really relevant.

I don't want to use find on the report for information on the above as the wording can be awkward to read about yourself.

 

[Judge]

* Maybe neither protocol should even bother attempting to describe "special interests".

Regardless of nebulous or insufficient formal descriptions of "special interests", I've always thought of them not in terms of what they are, but rather simply how we communicate them in a more intensive manner than our NT counterparts. Big deal.

That from such a perspective, they may seem uncomfortable to hear with such intensity, whereas from our own point of view, it simply reflects elevated enthusiasm and determination to learn and perhaps master something. What's wrong with that?

After all, I'd think anyone going to med school would stick out inappropriately using such a metric. Imagine stigmatizing med school students to a point where their numbers drop off.

Though the mere implication that one cannot be passionate about something- anything seems inherently bizarre to me. Perhaps yet another unintended example of where such protocols are really more about support levels than as a viable diagnostic tool.