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INSIDE PERSPECTIVES of AS & Neurodiversity |
TICS· Vocal and/or motor tics seem to often co-occur with ASD, ADHD and OCD, either within the same individual and/or within the same family, so there seems to be a strong genetic component to one’s susceptibility to developing tics.
“I have tics, I see it as a reaction to a feeling in the body. I need to restore the balance. My tics appear so quickly that if someone wants me to suppress them they have to be quick as lightning. But I usually feel when they are about to occur and can at best stop them for a while or redirect the energy into something else.
“I can also get ‘stuck’ in something, e.g. tapping a pen on my desk, repeat a series of figures over and over etc. I see that more as a compulsion because I can stop if asked, even if it doesn’t feel good to do so.”
- Paula, adult with TS/ADHD from Sweden
· Besides being a side-effect of some medication, some say that tics can be induced by environmental triggers and diet.
“Many individuals have found that proper evaluation and treatment of underlying allergic disease, along with dietary and environmental controls (lifestyle changes) gave significant and sometimes profound relief of TS symptoms.” - From Tourette Syndrome - The Allergy/Environmental Connection
“Many parents report that the Feingold diet consistently improves or controls Tourette Syndrome. We are still waiting for the research to show WHY this happens.” - From Diet & Movement Disorders, Tics, Tourette Syndrome
· Some only have tics under stress.
“I get tics in my jaw when I am stressed. They are a nervous reaction. A tic is an involuntary response, like a heartbeat. On the rare occasions when mine appears (times of extreme stress), there is very little I can do to control it except to try and calm down.”
- Tom, adult Aspie from USA
· People with tics or Tourette Syndrome are often gifted, bright, fun and original. If you enjoy stimulating company, a person with tics and/or ADHD might be the perfect companion.
I really don’t see why many have such problem with people who have tics. I don’t have any myself but when I see someone with tics I think, ‘Oh, cool! This is probably a really interesting person!’ - Inger, site-author
ECHOPHILIA
Echopraxia & echolalia (repetition of other people’s movements or words) is considered related to tics and seems to be fairly common in the Autistic/Neurodiversity Spectrum, especially towards the ‘lower-functioning’ end. Possible reasons:
· Hyper-receptive nervous system on which external stimuli make such a strong impression that they come out through one’s mouth or body more or less automatically (like a groovy drum rhythm can make your body move on its own accord, but more subtle) and not having the ability to control them. According to Swedish autistic autism consultant Iris Johansson, people with TS and tics often lack filter, both in and out -> sensory impressions go in unfiltered -> words & actions come out unfiltered.
· Amusement. Conscious imitation may be due to focusing mainly on the form side of things rather than on content; e.g. that one likes the sound or rhythm of words or the feel of a movement and taking pleasure in copying them, rather than in using them for communication.
“I’m 36 and still like to imitate accents. I can do Arnold Schwarzenegger, Eddy Murphy, Worf (the Klingon in Star Trek TNG), the convenience store clerk in the Simpsons, Hank Hill from King of the Hill, the Emperor in Return of the Jedi, among others. I like accents because it allows me to play with sounds and my vocal chords. It’s like creative composition, except it isn't music.” - Tom, adult Aspie from USA
· Learning. Mimicry is a how both humans and animals learn, but this behaviour seems to only be socially acceptable for very small children. For those who learn slower than others, it makes sense to retain this behaviour longer than their peers.
· Coping mechanism.
“I have TS, but I copy other people. That is how I make myself ’normal’ and stop ticing for example. This is how I managed not to tic at the neurologist’s despite being really stressed and nervous. I simply ’acted’ him and he was as relaxed as can be. It is like when people stutter, if they change their voice or sing the don’t stutter... weird huh? :-) A survival strategy I call it.” - Paula, adult with ADHD/TS from Sweden.
What can be confusing to an Aspie is that communication experts often recommend copying the movements, expression and body position of the person you are talking with to facilitate rapport and trust - which to my mind is manipulation to do with someone you don’t know; this copying is something which often occurs naturally and unconsciously between friends when there already is a rapport! But obviously there is some fine line where the copying becomes not flattering but rather offensive instead. Such fine lines usually escape the socially clueless Aspie and non-Aspies probably can’t explain it either - they just know instinctively what’s appropriate and not.
In ASD, there seem to be two extreme ends when it comes to imitating ability:
· A. On the one hand, we are supposed to lack ‘mirror neurons’ which are said to help one imitate other’s facial expressions and thereby experience the same feelings they do. (My guess is that this lack may be partly due to not being overly interested in social interaction with the majority of people.)
· B. On the other hand, many on the spectrum are self-taught experts at imitation, though mainly just for the fun of the thing rather than to figure out how others may be feeling. Being great at imitations can sometimes make you a highly successful entertainer. I suspect quite a few comedians have AS, TS, or ADHD traits (Peter Sellers and Rowan Atkinson springs to mind).
· A. Some Aspies may grow up in different parts of the country but never pick up local accents, customs or mannerisms if they don’t find them pleasing or logical. (Such ‘cultural independence’ can be a good trait to have, e.g. to resist peer pressure to develop a bad habit, but can also preclude smooth interaction with others.)
“I have never copied any dialects even though I lived in different parts of Sweden during my childhood..”
· B. Others unconsciously and automatically adapt to new accents, ways of being in a matter of hours or days - which too may be seen as rather odd.
I learned English through communicating with my American cousins when I was a child, so the English I think and talk in still has an American accent. But when talking with an Englishman, the difference in accent makes such a strong auditory impression on me that I soon find myself speaking with a British accent. And when I was in Ireland for a few weeks it didn’t take more than a couple of days before I started slipping into an Irish accent and using typical Irish expressions – much to the amusement of the locals! - Inger, site-author
‘ZELIG CHAMELEON’
Some find themselves automatically adapting to the person they’re talking with like a chameleon.
“I have a form of ‘social echolalia’ [something that seems to be common in some females with neuropsychiatric disabilities] which has similarities with Woody Allen’s Zelig - the film about a man who to such a degree took after his environment that he was a human chameleon.”
“I’m not as extreme as Zelig but strikingly often people take me for a peer. Younger people think I’m younger than I am, older that I’m of the same age as themselves. When submitted to the hospital this summer the nurse thought I was a nurse and the doctor that I was a doctor myself. (Both things may not be so odd, my mom was a nurse and I have a short past as medical student - plus several friends who are doctors. Of course I may unconsciously have acquired the same jargon as the nurse and the doctor without meaning to.)
“The Lebanese cashier at my local grocery store thought I was from some Mediterranean country (I have dark hair and eyes but pale skin and light eyebrows). When I was au pair in London in the 80s I was taken for a genuine Londoner, even when speaking, which impressed my mom.”
”Even though I’m rather eloquent and try to be myself, I had the feeling during my senior highschool years that elderly female teachers saw me as a copy of how they were themselves as younger and that this was the reason they overlooked things like me sleeping in their class etc.
”This is nothing I do consciously. I’m not trying to show off with medical terms when at the doctor’s. If the child has an ear infection I don’t call it otitis. But somehow it happens anyway, that little gliding that I don’t notice myself but which makes them take me for someone else. If it is a change in my own way of speaking or if I so lack my own characteristics that they can project anything at all onto me, I don’t know. It is quite a useful trait to have, since most tend to be nicer to those they regard as their peers.
”It also has nothing to do with my subjective feeling of belonging in different groups. I can feel very lost in a group of Hungarian body-builders - yet they think I too am an exercise freak with Hungarian descent.
”At least I’m happy that I know who I am and who I’m not. With Zelig-tendencies but without a solid core of one’s own it could easily become a deep identity crisis.” - ’Mammuten’ - adult female with ADHD from Sweden
”I’m not so good at imitating that I get taken for something I’m not, but I easily get infected by other people’s thoughts and feelings. This makes it hard to stand up for my own views in a discussion and show what I really feel.”
”To give an example. The first time I got to see my psych-doctor I was quite down in the dumps. But my doctor was so talkative, in such a good mood and curious about who I was, that I got infected by it and we had a good discussion. When I left he said I didn’t seem very depressed since I appeared so alert and happy and gave good responses to what he said, but then when I got home I felt just as depressed as always.”
links
Tic Disorders Wikipedia
Tourette Syndrome Wikipedia |