I am really intrigued by the possible connection too, I read in another thread about the child who exhibited autistic traits only during gym class and it got me thinking about how, in retrospect, my own DD's "Aspie" issues really didn't start to become prevalent until she first moved into a bad school situation in middle school.
After reading "Aspergirls" by Rudy Simone, I recognized so many of my own traits that I was convinced that I too had Aspergers. After more reading, I see that many of my "Aspie-traits" could also be explained as simply "gifted over-excitabilities". For example, noises such as: whistling, the constant hum of distant machinery or fluorescent lights etc, the feel of certain textures on my fingernails: that flame retarded polyester they make children's pjs out of, chalk, and oh the horror of paper grocery bags.
Even at 40+, I have felt capable of having a complete meltdown in the presence of a whistler at work. Thankfully, there aren't too many of them, but I carry earplugs everywhere, just in case. And I have surprised several previous co-workers by asking them to PLEASE STOP TOUCHING ME!!!
BUT, after reading about the kid in Gym class, whose symptoms went away completely once he went to a different school, I started thinking about how my own issues really don't surface in a problematic way when I am really engaged in, and happy with what I am doing. Those things still bother me, but not in an all-consuming, I am going to explode way, I am able to tolerate them much better.
I mentioned the Gym class kid to my DD, and she totally got it, she said "he just didn't like the class" so I asked if she thought he was mimicking traits (hand-flapping etc) just to get out of the class and she said "no, it's just shutting down in an intolerable situation to escape from it". Maybe we all have varying degrees of autism and we have just developed varying abilities to mask or deal with it, but certain triggers bring out the "aspie-ness" in some of us gifties?
