Special interests

Many autistic people have very strong interests.
These are called special interests.
For example, some autistic people have a special interest in trains. They think about trains a lot. They know a lot more about trains than other people. They want to spend most of their time thinking about trains.

There are all kinds of special interests.
It might be something big, like science.
Or it might be something smaller, like a favorite band.

Sometimes, special interests only last a little while.
You might only have a special interest for a week.
Other times, you could have one for a few months or years.
Some special interests stay with us our whole lives.

There might be times when you have no special interests.
There might be times when you have a lot of special interests.
All of this is normal.

Special interests are good.
They make us happy!
We can use our special interests to help people.
They can be useful in our jobs.
Special interests are really important to most autistic people.