Do all autistics have special abilities?

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I think when a very young child takes up a special interest and throws themselves into it, it can make them appear very smart.

When you compare the contrast of "normal" young children who can't focus on anything for more than a few minutes at a time.

It depends on what the special interest is, too.... I saw a very young child who knew everything about Star Wars. It probably made him look more like a budding nerd than a genius, oh well....

But it would be very easy to give that kid a series of "Star Wars"-themed math word problems, starting with very easy ones and gradually getting more challenging.

IMO autistic kids need this kind of highly individualized academic instruction, outside of a classroom environment.

IMO autistic kids need this one heck of a lot more than they need to spend eight hours a day being pressured to make eye contact, which is what the the autism "early intervention" establishment seems to prefer.

Last edited by Mona Pereth on 02 Apr 2022, 10:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

I believe strongly that many (though perhaps not all) of us have/had at least potential special abilities, but never had the opportunity to develop them.

I base this on my own experience of being unusually lucky in this regard. My parents weren't rich, but they were well-educated and had teaching experience.

Also my parents had a piano, which they could not have afforded on their own, but it was given to them by a friend as a hand-me-down. (It was a used piano with a few broken keys.) Both my father and my older sister played this piano fairly often.

At age 4, I was a classic "idiot-savant." I was delayed in both learning to walk and learning to talk. But, at the same time I finally got around to learning to walk and learning to talk, at about age 4, I also figured out, on my own, how to play the piano by ear, first just melodies, then melodies with chords.

Obviously, I couldn't have figured this out if my parents didn't have a piano, or if I didn't have the example of my father and sister playing it.

Once I finally started talking, my parents lost no time in teaching me how to count, teaching me the alphabet, teaching me to read a few words, and teaching me basic arithmetic.

Another way I was lucky is that my parents (unlike many parents back then) weren't super-gung-ho about conformity to gender roles. I was given a wide variety of toys, including some toys that were generally regarded as boys' toys, as well as toys that were generally regarded as girls' toys, plus gender-neutral toys.

And my mother took the time to show me how to play with some of these toys, e.g. an early version of Legos -- the kinds of toys that help develop foundational math and mechanical skills.

I didn't do well in kindergarten. My kindergarten teacher told my parents that I had to either (1) repeat kindergarten or (2) attend a small private school. My parents opted to send me to a small Lutheran parochial school. Luckily my parents were eligible for a discount on tuition for me.

After the first few months or so of first grade, I began to do very well academically. I remember the other kids in the class being shocked at how well I ended up doing, given how generally "ret*d" I apparently came across as being.

I think there really are good reasons to believe that many, perhaps even most, autistic kids really do have at least a strong potential (though too often under-developed) talent for math, science, and engineering. One reason I believe this is the kinds of play that little autistic kids are commonly said to engage in, e.g. "lining up toys." To me this strongly suggests an innate desire to learn foundational math skills -- and to do so in a quiet, non-classroom setting.

To me, it is a great tragedy that this obvious early desire is too often not met, and that the autism "early intervention" establishment prefers, instead, to spend eight hours a day pressuring autistic kids to make eye contact.

Having special abilities is not as great as it would appear to be. Many times it can lead to disillusionment, as you are so much different than everyone else. Others can perceive these abilities with a tenge of jealousy. It can become a curse in certain situations growing up.

STEM abilities are certainly helpful if we are to have any hope at all of getting a decent-paying job, however.

Most of the few relatively decent-paying jobs that don't require STEM abilities do require well-above-average social abilities, after all. And the latter are, by the very definition of "autism," unlikely to be an autistic person's strong point.

Even with STEM abilities, a decent-paying job is far from guaranteed for us, of course. But STEM abilities certainly help. (And, in a world with a much better-organized autistic community than we have now, they would help us even more.)

As autistic people, we are "so much different than everyone else" regardless of whether we have special abilities or not. So it's better to be different in some beneficial ways, rather than to be different just due to being socially disabled.

There is no good reason NOT to try to develop that potential in autistic kids, and to do so in a highly individualized way that's fun for the individual child, in a calm, non-classroom setting.

Mona, I don't know if you saw my earlier post, but I concur. Especially as a (part-time) educator myself. In addition to ASD children, I see ADHD children and Down Syndrome children who are severely underestimated. If they are repeatedly infantilized and without opportunity (so many of these classroom "secure" everything), they themselves have no idea when they can do. There was a non-verbal 5-year-old ASD boy who I was told could only count bears and I got the distinct impression that he could do fractions and more. I wish I had more time to work with him. He liked to jump off the tables --- I totally could have made a fraction game out of that --- half-way down, jump! a quarter of the way over, jump! We would have had so much fun... then take those stupid bears and have them jump in groups and sections off the table. There was another non-verbal 4-year-old who was a problem b/c she was "destructive". Of course her overworked teachers would simply yell "no" or correct her, not constructively direct her. So when I saw her "destroying" things, I would take the 10 seconds to explain to her what we were doing and/or ask for her help (provided instruction) and all Good. Her ordering of letters and numbers far exceeded that of her peers, but again I didn't see any teacher attempt to acknowledge it or advance it. I engaged in her play and expanded it. I spoke briefly to her parents at recess and they were in tears someone (a mere substitute) saw something in their daughter that was remarkable and promising. Too bad so many schools are factories.

That is a sticking point, even if you are good with some skills, the social requirements of a job that can give you the edge to get where you may want to go are going to be harder for autistics. The trouble is it helps a LOT to get ahead in a job or career if you have the social skills down very well and can even make it easier to get ahead of someone who is more intelligent but lacks the social skills. I've seen people get places in jobs and I think "how did they get that, they are dumb as a post!" but it is because they know exactly how to play the social game just right. Real frustrating.

We need more autistic-friendly workplaces.

And, in order for more autistic-friendly workplaces to come into existence, it would help a lot to have professional associations of autistic people (or of neurodivergent people more generally) in various specific categories of professions / occupations / jobs. For example, in the U.K. there's an Association of Neurodivergent Therapists, founded in 2021. We need similar career-oriented groups for autistic people, or for neurodivergent people more generally, in other career categories.

Of course, even in an autistic-friendly workplace, some social skills would still be needed just to enable us to get along with each other. These skills I refer to as autistic-friendly social skills, as distinct from the kinds of "social skills" that are all about blending in with NT's.

Could you please provide a link to your earlier post?


This is one of the reasons why we NEED someone to create an association of neurodivergent special educators!

Thanks for telling us about your experience.

Mona, clarification: my response to this post (page 1). I merely meant it was a similar sentiment.

I'll plant the Association idea whenever and wherever I can. I have a FB friend who has influence as an educator and advocate.

Thank you! Thank you!

Please let me know (and feel free to PM me) if you encounter anyone willing to create a professional association -- or a precursor to same, such as a specialized support group for neurodivergent special educators. I'd love to mention such a group on my website (at least as long as Facebook isn't its sole public point of contact; I'm boycotting Facebook).

I don't have any special abilities.

Have you any talents or interests that few other people seem to have?

I have.

Mona Pereth certainly struck a chord with me. Although my life was deficient in many respects, I was successful in the things I loved, and the majority of those things were bequeathed to me by my father. He was a spiritual, gentle, and kind man blessed with many interests and talents. But his many hours of working at an oil refinery made him a mostly an absentee father. He died when I was 11, but his influence on my life still continues.

If you have children on the spectrum, please listen to my testimony.

When he died, what was left was the things he treasured, stacked up in our closets and storage building. Previously forbidden to our potentially destructive hands, there were a variety of music instruments, stacks of every magazine dealing with electronics, mechanics, photography, aeronautics, and manuals on those subjects and more.

He had a voracious curiosity and could play any music instrument by ear, but upon his death his many interests became mine by virtue of their availability. I could digest them at my own speed and switch between subjects on a whim; guaranteeing my continued interest. Before his death, my only interest was science, but those books and magazines opened up the whole world.

I am sure my incredibly patient mother was glad for the reprieve. I was out of sight and out of mind while she concerned herself with providing for us.

Before I was 8, I was considered the "idiot". When they discovered I excelled at science, I became the "idiot-savant". And after a couple of years with the magazines, I was simply the "savant" in the family. My short comings were overlooked.

Stacks of a variety of magazines allow the reader to digest the world at their pace, and sample all the flavors.

For what it's worth (not citing this as being a slam-dunk revelation, just food for thought), that Temple Grandin biopic (link) made the point that her brain was somehow optimized to "think in pictures", and this gave her a particular ability to analyze and resolve a certain class of problems. Scans of her brain (link) do show an unusual brain structure. You can call this a "super power" or not, call it anything you like. I figure all people have their strengths and weaknesses, and people "on the spectrum" are the same in general, but their particular strengths and weaknesses aren't the usual strengths and weaknesses. If we're lucky, we find a niche where our strengths serve us well and our weaknesses are irrelevant. It's a little harder to find that niche if you're unusual, and especially if you're not particularly social.