THE BRAZEN CAREERIST- Happy new year: Stuck? Fix your social skills (The Hook)
by PENELOPE TRUNK, published December 20, 2007
My son's I.Q. is in the top .05 percent of all preschoolers, but he attended preschool in a special education classroom. He has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism typified by a distinctly high I.Q. and a notable lack of emotional intelligence. Asperger's is thought to be genetic, and it's surging among kids in places like Silicon Valley that attract math and tech geniuses who often have sub-par social skills.
We know one boy with Asperger's who taught himself to read books when he was two years old. Scientists surmise that learning to read books so fast consumes the part of his brain that should be learning to read social cues.
My son's special education classroom was full of kids like that one-- who used to pass through the education system labeled eccentric geniuses, only to graduate having never learned social skills and consequently to falter in adulthood.
more...
_________________
"The cordial quality of pear or plum
Rises as gladly in the single tree
As in the whole orchards resonant with bees."
- Emerson
21 Dec 2007, 10:38 am
