The Last Bass Outpost

Ok apologies for taking a while to get round to answering your question Uwe.

the short answer is that there is no clear dividing line between Aspergers and Autism. the newest  version of DSM (the psychiatrist's diagnosis manual ) states that Aspergers is no longer a separate condition , that it is now high functioning autism.

They both revolve around difficulties with making sense of the world, but with lower functioning autism that relates to sight sound and touch, whereas with Aspergers they struggle to understand more complex social constructs such as emotions or sarcasm

the problem is that Autism research is a fiendishly tricky thing, teasing apart skeins of different symptoms such as ADHD, OCD, PDA, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, body dysmorphia and obsessional behavior (trains, people, numbers) and trying to understand whether they are symptoms of ASD or separate conditions that are co-morbid with ASD. All of these conditions occur within the neurotypical community although in ASD patients they are more common, more intense and more likely to cluster in the same individual.

Hence the current definition of ASD: Autistic Spectrum Disorder the idea that we are all autistic to some degree, with mild dyslexia, social awkwardness  or OCD at one end , Aspergers a quarter of the way down and fully locked in, non verbal, rocking,  twitching Autistic at the other end.

 So to answer your question in laymans terms, an Aspie (not derogatory that is how they describe themselves) is someone with ASD symptoms but enough verbal and comprehensive skills to often pass for neurotypical. in fact one of the problems with working with them is often their verbal skills so  high as  to give you a wrong impression about how much they are actually understanding their social milieu, and one of the theories about the male/female discrepancies in numbers is that female social aptitude means that many undiagnosed aspies are able to hide their difficulties

 A good way of getting your head around it is popular characters, Rain man was Autistic, Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory is Aspergers (so much so that I wince when I watch it, so much of the humor is based around laughing at his disability)

I will caveat that I have only been working with ASD for 4 years during which i have encountered probably a 100 kids with autism so I am by no means an expert.
 
My previous assertion that Aspergers is a separate condition is based on my observations that the term " typical Aspie behavior"is often used whereas one of the defining characteristics of regular autism is that there is no typical autistic behavior, in fact one of our headmistress' favorite quotes is " once you know one child with autism... you know one child with autism"

 Also, literally in the week after the draft DSM definition of ASD ,a study was published where a trial of a blood test for autism had a 70% accuracy, but when those with a previous Asperger's definition were removed from the figures the accuracy jumped to 97% implying that there is chemically something different going on

hope that helps

I cant talk about Ayn rand because not a single thing I have heard about them ever has been positive, I probably should but Ive been through a period of pushing myself to read distasteful things to try and maintain objectivity, but you know what? lifes too short.

Autism I can speak to: Autism and Asperger's are different things, there's a yo-yo in the science between how their connected, and the  current consensus is that they are part of a "spectrum" but no sooner had the definitions for the latest psychiatry manual been set when new experiments based on blood tests showed them to be separate. I speak as someone who works with both, you definitely approach things in a very different way with an Asperger than an autistic. one of the defining characteristics of autistic kids is that they all present so differently, what soothes  for one is distressing for another, it is very difficult transfer lessons learnt from one to help you work with another in any meaningful way. when presented with an Aspie on the other hand, you kind of know where you are to start with, they are still individual but theres a broad type you can get your head around.
 its quite tricky as a practitioner to work under a scientific "consensus" that needs to be paid lip service to while knowing empirically that they are blatantly different

what is that thing next to the twin ?

I'm confused. How is this a Tele?

its not really
 its a scrapyard sally with a Telecaster shaped headstock
its also now Wednesday
 

    \m/

some of my students have challenging behaviors, so I sometimes have to just drop my bass to deal,
 hence  the Kill switch and  the cupboard handle on the back so it stays in tune when laid on the ground



Maybe I should call it the Opti-drop

If I win the lottery, a Cataldo is on my shopping list,
that is pretty much exactly what i would want to order

when I was playing as a performer I would have died of shame rather than contemplate playing a bass solo (although hypocritically i had myself some pretty showboaty intros)

    Now that I am coaching the type of kids I do, its really important for morale (at least with my advanced group) that they all get their moment in the spotlight. so everyone gets a solo as often as the song allows.

   One of the things that i try and impress on them is that any solo (although particularly for bass) lives or dies by what the rest of the band do beneath it.

   in the case of the bass solo, its imperative that the keys and/or guitar picks up the groove that the noodling bass player has to relinquish temporarily, and that the drummer, as well as keeping the beat has to really try to connect to what the bass player is playing so they can accent and support it.
 the singer just has to STFU