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Has anyone ever heard of a learning disability or other disability in which the adult person is of normal intelligence, but has significant deficits in verbal language, and his thinking is very compartmentalized? He is very inflexible, and is not able to see the big picture. He is truly handicapped in relationship skills, but is a college student who does very, very well in his courses.

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Male , Age: 25

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Customer (name blocked for privacy)

I would suggest not seeing the young person that the following would apply per your description.

Autism is considered to be the most significant of these PDD's. It is a neurological disorder in which affected individuals have impaired social interaction, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, and unusual or severely limited activities and interests (2).

This is not a true Autistic person but an Autistic Savant.

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro01/web2/Shah.html

Edited by 4ren6 on July 26 2006 at 12:07 AM

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Reply to 4ren6's Post: He is not autistic. I am very familiar with autism, as I am a Speech-Language Pathologist. It is some kind of condition that includes inability to express himself, especially in emotional or stressful situations, and his thinking is very compartmentalized, and everything is a checklist in a certain category, and he can't crossover the boundaries he has in his mind. He is somewhat controlling in relationships, and extremely inflexible with his schedule and his idea of what, when, or how things happen. He is a college student, and does an excellent job with his studies, but definitely to the detriment of his relationships. If you have any other ideas-I'd love to hear them.

well my comment was:This is not a true Autistic person

But I do believe that he is a branch of that disorder as described.

Other then neurological disorders NOS I can not give any further explanaton. He meets from your description a text book case of Savant.

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Reply to 4ren6's Post: I don't understand that he could be a savant. He is not a genius-but of normal intelligence. He is a bit weird, nerdy, and spends hours studying, and is very neglectful of his spouse, but doesn't seem to understand why she is upset about the little amount of his time and attention she gets. (He asked her if an hour a day would do it.) He is a bit socially off,(not too bad) and says strange things, and doesn't understand why people laugh at things he didn't intend to be funny, but it definitely doesn't bother him if others don't agree with him, and keeps on doing the same things he has always done. Getting married didn't seem to change/alter his lifestyle at all.

Let me see if I can find a Psychologist to reply to you on this.

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Reply to 4ren6's Post: Okay

Thank you for your question -- and for your concern regarding this young man. I had a roommate, when I was a freshman college who was very much like this.

Please review this material on Adults with Asperger's Syndrome -- and let me know if this symptom-picture fits better with what you are seeing. If AS does not fit -- please point out the areas where your student's behavior differs from the AS picture.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

Edited by Oreport on July 27 2006 at 12:35 PM

Counselor /listener/collaborative problem solver. Thanks!

Reply to Steve -- a.k.a. Oreport's Post: Yes, I believe this fits the best of anything else I have come across. This is a 25 year old male college student whose marriage is falling apart because of his rigidity and inflexibility, and seeming lack of ability to have a normal close relationship with another person, even a spouse, and he has never been diagnosed. Do you think it's appropriate to talk to him about it at this point in his life, or would it be too devastating for him and his parents? Although, the breakup of the marriage has been devastating at this point, and he and his family don't get it. (My daughter is the wife, and is pretty determined to go through with the divorce--when I told her that I thought he had Asperger's--she laughed--I don't think she believes me.)

Glad Steve was of help to you. He should respond to you soon.

Dear Customer (name blocked for privacy)-

Just an additional thought: You might want to consider a personality disorder. More specifically, it sounds like he may be dealing with Schizoid Personality Disorder (possibly in conjunction with AS). Frequently this personality disorder is considered an alternative diagnosis to AS, if the criteria for AS is not met.

For more information, see:

http://www.mentalhealth.com/dis1/p21-pe02.html and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_personality_disorder

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