Understanding differences in neurotypical and autism spectrum special interests through internet forums

Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Volumn 50, Issue 5, 2012, Pages 391-402

  Jordan, Chloe Jennifer ^a   Caldwell Harris, Catherine L ^a  

^a BOSTON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Adults; Asperger syndrome; Autism spectrum disorder; Internet discussion forums; Special interests

Indexed keywords

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGED; ARTICLE; ASPERGER SYNDROME; AUTISM; CHILD; COMPREHENSION; FEMALE; HUMAN; INTERNET; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; SOCIAL NETWORK;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGED; ASPERGER SYNDROME; CHILD; CHILD DEVELOPMENT DISORDERS, PERVASIVE; COMPREHENSION; FEMALE; HUMANS; INTERNET; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; SOCIAL NETWORKING;

EID: 84871021480     PISSN: 19349491     EISSN: 19349556     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1352/1934-9556-50.5.391     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
2. Asperger, H. (1991). "Autistic"psychopathy in childhood. In U. Frith (Ed., Trans.), Autism and asperger syndrome (pp. 37-92). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
3. Attwood, T. (1998). Asperger's syndrome: A guide for parents and professionals. London, England: Jessica Kingsley.
4. Attwood, T. (2003). Understanding and managing circumscribed interests. In M. Prior (Ed.), Learning and behaviour problems in Asperger syndrome (pp. 126-147). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
5. Autism Self Advocacy Network. (2011). About autism. Available at http://www.autisticadvocacy.org/modules/smartsection/
6. Back, M. D., Stopfer, J. M., Vazire, S., Gaddis, S., Schmukle, S. C., Egloff, B., & Gosling, S. D. (2010). Facebook profiles reflect actual personality, not self-idealization. Psychological Science, 21(3), 372-374.
7. Baron-Cohen, S. (1999). The extreme-male-brain theory of autism. In H. Tager-Flusberg (Ed.), Neurodevelopmental disorders (pp. 401-423). Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
8. Baron-Cohen, S. (2009). Autism: The empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1156, 68-80.
9. Baron-Cohen, S., Richler, J., Bisarya, D., Gurunathan, N., & Wheelwright, S. (2003). The systemizing quotient: An investigation of adults with Asperger's syndrome or high functioning autism, and normal sex differences. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society, 358(1430), 361-374.
10. Baron-Cohen, S., & Wheelwright, S. (1999). "Obsessions" in children with autism or Asperger syndrome: A content analysis in terms of core domains of cognition. British Journal of Psychiatry, 175, 484-490.
11. Baron-Cohen, S., & Wheelwright, S. (2004). The empathy quotient: An investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high functioning autism, and normal sex differences. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 163-175.
12. Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Skinner, R., Martin, J., & Clubley, E. (2001). The autismspectrum quotient: Evidence from Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism, males and females, scientists, and mathematicians. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31, 5-17.
13. Bartak, L., & Rutter, M. (1976). Differences between mentally retarded and normally intelligent autistic children. Journal of Autism and Child Schizophrenia, 6, 109-120.
14. Bashe, P. R., & Kirby, B. L. (2001). What Asperger syndrome looks like. In B. L. Kirby & P. R. Bashe, The OASIS guide to Asperger syndrome: Advice, support, insight, and inspiration (pp. 39-63). New York, NY: Crown.
15. Bodfish, J. (2009, December). A role for interests and reward in the pathogenesis and treatment of autism. Colloquium presented at the Autism and Developmental Disorders Colloquium Series at MIT, Cambridge, MA.
16. Bodfish, J. W., Symons, F. J., Parker, D. E., & Lewis, M. H. (2000). Varieties of repetitive behavior in autism: Comparisons to mental retardation. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30, 237-243.
17. Brownlow, C., & O'Dell, L. (2006). Constructing an autistic identity: AS voices online. Mental Retardation, 44, 315-321.
18. Caldwell-Harris, C., Murphy, C. F., Velazquez, T., & McNamara, P. (2011, July). Religious belief systems of persons with high functioning autism. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Boston, MA.
19. Carruthers, P. (1996). Autism as mind-blindness: An elaboration and partial defense. In P. Carruthers & P. K. Smith (Eds.), Theories of theories of mind (pp. 257-273). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
20. DeLoache, J. S., Simcock, G., & Macari, S. (2007). Planes, trains, automobiles-and tea sets: Extremely intense interests in very young children. Developmental Psychology, 43, 1579-1586.
21. Fleischmann, A. (2004). Narratives published on the Internet by parents of children with autism: What do they reveal and why is it important? Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 19, 35-43.
22. Fleischmann, A. (2005). The hero's story and autism: Grounded theory study of Websites for parents of children with autism. Autism, 9, 299-316.
23. Frith, U. (1991). Asperger and his syndrome. In U. Frith (Ed.), Autism and Asperger syndrome (pp. 1-36). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
24. Frith, U. (2003). Autism: Explaining the enigma. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
25. Grandin, T. (2011). The way I see it: A personal look at autism and Asperger's (2nd ed.). Arlington, TX: Future Horizons.
26. Grandin, T., & Duffy, K. (2008). Developing talents: Careers for individuals with Asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism. Shawnee Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing.
27. Happé, F. (1991). The autobiographical writings of three Asperger syndrome adults: Problems of interpretation and implications for theory. In U. Frith (Ed.), Autism and Asperger syndrome (pp. 207-242). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
28. Heaton, P., & Wallace, G. L. (2004). Annotation: The savant syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(5), 899-911.
29. Jackson, L. (2002). Fascinations and fixations. In L. Jackson, Freak, geeks, and Asperger syndrome: A user guide to adolescence (pp. 43-59). Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley.
30. Jones, D. (2010). LiveWire teen forums [Statistical breakdown]. Available at http://www.golivewire.com/
31. Jordan, C., & Caldwell-Harris, C. L. (2011, March). Systemizing and special interests: Understanding neurotypical and autism spectrum disorder differences. Abstract presented at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Cambridge, MA.
32. Jordan, C. J. (2010). Evolution of autism support and understanding via the World Wide Web. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 48(3), 220-227.
33. Ma, T. (2007). Query Google. Available at http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/hayes/querygoogle/
34. Mazzocco, M. M. M., Pulsifer, M., Fiumara, A., Cocuzza, M., Nigro, F., Incorpora, G., & Barone, R. (1998). Brief report: Autistic behaviors among children with Fragile X or Rett syndrome: Implications for the classification of pervasive developmental disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 28(4), 321-328.
35. Mercier, C., Mottron, L., & Belleville, S. (2000). A psychosocial study on restricted interests in high-functioning persons with pervasive developmental disorders. Autism, 4, 406-425.
36. Mitchell, C. (2003). Autism e-mailing lists: A discussion, from a subscriber, of the pros and cons of autism e-mailing lists for people with Aspeger's syndrome. Health Information, 33(1), 3-4.
37. Mueller, F., Agamanolis, S., & Picard, R. (2003). Exertion Interfaces: Sports over a distance for social bonding and fun. Proceedings of CHI (pp. 561-568). Fort Lauderdale, FL: ACM Press.
38. Pingdom, A. B. (2009). Study: Males vs. females in social networks. Available at http://royal.pingdom.com/2009/11/27/study-males-vs-females-in-socialnetworks/
39. Plank, A. (2010). WrongPlanet.net: The online resource and community for autism and Asperger's. Available at http://www.wrongplanet.net/forums.html
40. Robison, J. E. (2008). Look me in the eye: My life with Asperger's. New York, NY: Random House.
41. Sasson, N. J., Elison, J., Turner-Brown, L., Dichter, G. S., & Bodfish, J. (2011). Brief report: Circumscribed attention in young children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 41, 242-247.
42. Sasson, N. J, Turner-Brown, L., Holtzclaw, T. N., Lam, K. S. L., & Bodfish, J. W. (2008). Children with autism demonstrate circumscribed attention during passive viewing of complex social and nonsocial picture arrays. Autism Research, 1, 31-42.
43. Seale, C., Ziebland, S., & Charteris-Black, J. (2006). Gender, cancer experience and Internet use: A comparative keyword analysis of interviews and online cancer support groups. Social Science and Medicine, 62(10), 2577-2590.
44. Simonton, D. K. K. (2009). Varieties of (scientific) creativity:Ahierarchical model of domain-specific disposition, development, and achievement. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 441-452.
45. Sturm, H., Fernell, E., & Gillberg, C. (2004). Autism spectrum disorders in children with normal intellectual levels: Associated impairments and subgroups. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 46, 444-447.
46. Wing, L., & Gould, J. (1979). Severe impairments of social interaction and associated abnormalities in children: Epidemiology and classification. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 9, 11-29.
47. Winter-Messiers, M. (2007). From tarantulas to toilet brushes: Understanding the special interest areas of children and youth with Asperger's syndrome. Remedial and Special Education, 28, 140-152