A Fifteen-Year Longitudinal Case Study of the Development of An Asperger Syndrome Obsession

Background:

Intense and all-absorbing interests are among the defining features of Asperger syndrome (APA, 2000); however, the literature in this area is limited and inconclusive. While some clinicians and parents feel that these interests have a negative impact on the lives of individuals with autism because they interfere with socialization (Tantam, 1991), others emphasize their positive aspects, such as importance for enjoyment, self-esteem, and occupation (Asperger, 1944/1991; Atwood, 1998; Grandin & Scariano, 1986). Moreover, while some studies that specifically explored this issue found that special interests increased in severity over time (South et al., 2005), others found the opposite (Mercier et al., 2000).

Objectives:  

The objective of this study was to systematically document the evolution of an unusual interest of a young adult with Asperger syndrome from the time he was eight until he was twenty-two years old.

Methods:  

This study employed observations and interviews with the subject and the people who know him best—his parents, grandparents, teaching assistant, and best friend.

Results:

The subject’s highly intense special interest began as a fascination with bus routes when he was around four years old. Since then, it developed through three phases. The first phase lasted approximately nine years and included memorization of bus and train routes and schedules; collecting items related to public transits such as tickets, transfers, schedules, and maps; taking long and frequent trips to obtain these items from specific places; using telephone and Internet to gather information about public transit systems from around the world; playing with the collected items; creating transit-related artifacts and playing with them; playing by pretending to be a bus or a train, or their driver; and writing stories involving public transits. During this phase, the subject actively avoided interactions with other children. The second phase, which started at age thirteen, lasted only about a year, and was characterized by the development of two other interests, photography and web design, both of which, in his use of them, still related to public transit—and both of moderate intensity. During this phase, the subject started to show some interest in his peers. In the third phase, the subject lost all interest in public transit and replaced it with interests in travel and tourism—both again of moderate intensity. During this phase he acquired several friends and used his new interests to develop relationships; he found employment, as well as an education path, in the areas of these interests: he currently works as a travel agent and is in his third year of a university degree in hospitality and tourism management.

Conclusions:  

This study documents the development of an intense and restricted interest in an unusual area that did not facilitate social interaction and its gradual transformation into socially recognized interests that helped develop relationships and led to employment and education paths. This development is consistent with Tantam’s (1991) suggestion of interference of intense interests with socialization and with Mercier and colleagues’ (2000) report about diversification of interests with maturation and intervention of parents and professionals.