I actually have had the opposite experience with hyperfocus — if I get sidetracked into a subject I personally find very interesting but know others don’t, I have a harder time letting go of it. I know what the right thing to do is; my brain just won’t let go of the thing it’s focused on and I get emotionally agitated when I force myself to switch.

For me at least, the core component of my ASD is the complicated link between sensory input and my emotional state. The focus and attention problems are more that I have to really concentrate to understand the meaning of everything going on around me, and that gets exhausting. I get fatigued of being “on”, so my attention lapses.