contemplativeI've gotten most of the information on this that I need, but I've gotten stuck on two aspects:
As far as I can tell, my main character has autism.
It's of a level that, unless you were to pay close attention to her or talk to her, you probably wouldn't realise there was anything 'different'. Some of the main symptoms she displays are:
- Poor use of eye contact and facial expressions
- Lack of awareness of feelings of others and the expression of emotions
- Difficulty interacting with other people
- Not liking physical contact
- Inability to initiate or sustain conversations
- Abnormal speech patterns
- Inappropriate attachment to objects
- No apparent fear of dangerous situations
My questions:
1. Is it likely that she would form a very close emotional attachment to someone else? It would only be the one person. The character she forms the attatchment to would be a kind of 'guardian' . They've known her since they were babies, and therefore is used to and understands her behaviour.
2. From what I've read, one of the main symptoms of autism is a preoccupation with routines and aversion to change in these routines. My character doesn't have a day-to-day routine, but there are certain 'rituals' she has to perform each day, if that makes much sense. The day doesn't have to go according to the same plan each time, but there are things she has to do. Does this count?
Thank you for any help you can give : )
