twisted

[Athaylin]

As the Ex of an high functioning Autistic I am totally groving on Madiline and look forward to her being a reoccuring character.  Austitic, Sociopath, or Psycopath *shrug*  There is so much to play with in this character that I hope the writers have tons of fun.

*sighs* yep I'm twisted...oh well!

[Tarliman]

I dunno, there's something about her that says "Asperger's in a major way". But then Asperger's is on the autism spectrum. I kind of identify with her, as I have no talent for social skills. On the other hand, I've learned them, where Frost doesn't seem to have bothered to. I do note that she's very literal, and has to be told that the situation is a hypothetical. That sort of fixation on reality and concrete thinking is a symptom of autism. My middle son has that same kind of problem.

Then there's the major trauma in her life. That would certainly contribute to her isolating herself emotionally.

I'm interested in seeing what's done with this character. The emotionally-detached pathologist is a bit of a stereotype, but one who's actually incapable of making emotional attachments is another thing entirely.

[mouse]

I can't wait to see what is done with this character, actually. She's got an utterly different viewpoint into things that could be used to good effect for critical realizations or moments. Mwahaha.

[CJ]

After "Knock on Coffins" foray into her perspective, I'd peg Frost as somewhere on the autism spectrum.  I've worked with autistics, and know a few folks with Ausberger's.  There are a lot of different coping strategies.  Frost has found one that works for her.  I wouldn't want to deal with her on a regular basis, personally.  Which seems to suit her just fine as far as any interaction goes.  It's interesting that she's aware that Gates dislikes her and considers that a positive thing. 

[BruceCohenPDX]

I'm not so sure she's autistic.  We know there's some trauma in her background; we still don't know exactly how intense it was, or even if she was the cause of it.  So the writers have left some room for her behavior to be a defense against severe loss, or PTSD, or even pyschopathy.  And these particular writers are sneaky, devious, and very, very smart; expect a lot of what we first see in these characters to be red herrings.

[Cal]

What I'm finding interesting about Frost is her level of self-awareness: the line in 'Knock on Coffins' about how she's not good for living people, and suspects that living people aren't good for her.  she has a really quite precise knowledge of how she affects the rest of the world, and how it affects her--that she's completely aware that Hafidha dislikes her, but doesn't seem to register concepts such as like/dislike on her own account, at least in terms of relationships with other people, but works on a scale of comfort/discomfort...  It's fascinating.  I don't know how far it correlates with Asperger's, but I will say that she doesn't remind me overly of the Asperger's students I've taught.

[elyse]

I find it interesting that she automatically refers to Chaz as Dr. Villette (probably the only person who know him who does so).  And Special Agent Gates.

Her choice not to use 'anomalous', which would have been ambiguous in context, fits that pattern of careful precision.

[CJ]

I know some very self-aware Ausberger's folks.  While their coping strategies are completely different from Frost's (and they're pretty social and not creepy), there's a sense of something "other" there - it's hard to describe.  It's a different perspective on social interaction, that they have to learn, that most people have to some extent without consciously learning, and that Frost has opted out of.