Expert: Paul Johnson - 8/30/2011

Question
I've got a 16 year old son. He was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome when he was a child. He's not quite high-functioning, but not at the lowest end of the scale; somewhere midway we'd say.

Over the past 3 weeks or so he's become obsessed with gas and utility provider websites, notably British Gas and United Utilities.

My husband [his father] caught him masturbating whilst looking at the British Gas website; he said although that's normal for teenagers, looking at British Gas whilst doing it isn't.
We also found a fair few utility provider brochures hidden under his bed [other lads his age would usually have X-rated mags etc.]

Admittedly, our 16 year old son doesn't know much on using computers other than turning them on or off; he's only really a beginner.

His entire web history consisted of nothing more than looking at utility providers websites and Sky News websites. He doesn't know how to use social networking sites, let alone find "naughty" websites.

We're concerned about this; it's new to him, and it's worrying us.

Is this interest one that we should be concerned about, and if so, how can we help him?

Answer
Hey Maria,

Thank you for your challenging question.

This is a bizarre question even by Autism standards.
The most significant sexual organ lies between our ears. As such we can imagine anything to find sexually stimulating and arousing. Usually this range is restricted to other bodies or body parts. However if there would ever be a person that is capable of finding an utility material arousing it would be an individual living with Autism. It is not harmful from a biological standpoint. It is disturbing from a social standpoint as his behaviors are too extreme to ever find acceptance among peers and thus he runs a high risk of being teased and alienated.

As you know they say there isn't any cures for ASD's however the objective for us is to discover ways to cope in our environment. I am not sure how much I believe there isn t a cure but for your son to become higher functioning he will certainly have to learn how to interrelate in ways where he is excited by the human interaction. His fantasizes is an indication that he is excited by inanimate objects that can not relate to him-and sadly few other will also.

Right now I speculate that he would resist therapy if it was thrust upon him, however maybe he could be urged to join a science club for teens that might specialize with utilities.