Effect of intelligence on autism...

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Yeah that makes sense. One of my issues with social interactions is I do know various rules and things but it seems like I have too much going on already to put those to use. For instance if I was to try and make what appears to be normal eye contact then I will miss important bits of the conversation....and not want to interrupt to have them repeat things...so things like reading body language and facial expressions while trying to talk is confusing to me. Also with eye contact its severely uncomfortable so I can learn that its appropriate to make eye contact and in fact weird not to all I want but that does not get rid of the unbearable discomfort it can cause. So yeah I think I see what you mean, mental intelligence cannot compensate for everything else.

Here's how I've been explaining this, using a bit of a computer metaphor.

Neurotypical people as computers have a dedicated processor for social interaction. This leaves the main CPU to focus on everything else, conversations, ideas, etc. The ASD person does not have that dedicated processor. They make up the difference by allocating a portion of their main CPU to the task of processing social cues, body language, theory of mind (if they're that good. I really struggle here.), etc. As social complexity piles up, more of the main CPU gets allocated to navigating social interaction. Eventually, the ASD person reaches a point where they cannot keep up, their processor bogs down, and they make faux pas, freak out, or melt down. System Crash.

That's where being more intelligent is helpful. Smarter people have the faster processors, and can handle more before the crash.

Let's try some numbers.

Average IQ of 100, and let's say an engaging social event, a dinner party or something, takes up about 90 IQ points of that person's capacity.

Now take an aspie with an IQ of 150. The normal content of the dinner party still takes up 90 points. But the social interaction also takes another 40, because of no social circuit. 130, they have room to spare, but they're thinking almost full out the whole time. Make a work related meal out, adding work stress adds say, another 30 points. Now they are 10 points short. They're either going to start slipping on either the social interactions, or the content of the discussion. Coworkers notice, and people wonder why "Bob" isn't his usual self.

Same situation, but take an aspie with an IQ of 110. A little brighter than average, and shows it in a one on one setting. But subtract out 60 points for intense social interaction, and this person only has 50 left. Severe impairment. Either this person will sound like an idiot if they try to engage in the conversation, or they can engage fully in the conversation, but thoroughly upset people by breaking social rules.

That's actually part of what drives me nuts. Intense social interaction leaves me less able to process and focus on what I consider important. It actually makes me feel slow and stupid. I hate it.

And then, different people are more or less impaired by their ASD. Someone worse off may have an effective impairment of 80 IQ points in social situations due to severe autism. If that person is a super-genius with an IQ of 180, they can function socially, but it's painful to do so. If that person is an IQ of 120, they could still be a brilliant programmer or artist, but can't handle interacting with people at all.

TL:DR Without a social instinct, an ASD person essentially loses IQ points as social interaction gets more complex. The more intelligent you are, the more complexity you can handle before people notice this "stupidification".

I haven't read the whole thread (sorry guys) but my diagnosing psychologist told me that my high intelligence helped me "hide" the autism, but in hiding it all I increased my risk of depression.
All the other psychologists I know agree.
I feel that it's harder when you're highly intelligent and autistic because you're more aware of everything, and that means being acutely aware of being different. It also means being acutely aware of other people's ignorant intolerance of difference.
But, I feel it's helpful to be autistic AND intelligent because then you have abilities of focus, attention to detail and pattern, and an objective viewpoint all at a higher level. You also tend to have odd neurological characteristics that make you that much more creative. This is in my experience; I can't speak for everyone.

I use a similar explanation when explaining things to my kids' teachers. All kids come to school with 100% possible effort. NT kids and use 10% paying attention and 10% on socialization. They then have 80% left for school. My son comes in and spends 40% of his effort trying to pay attention and an additional 40% trying to unravel social cues, so he only has 20% left.

I always get p!ssed because teachers note that my son is not "exhibiting enough effort." He is giving every ounce of effort he has left. Since it is all he has, it has to be "enough." He has no more to give. It makes me so mad.

I think "translating" between different types of intelligence takes a toll. They are like different languages, and you can't simply redistribute aptitude in one to another. It's like reforging (forgive the WoW reference).
I also think this mimicry that a lot of aspie girls and women seem to do requires more than just raw intelligence. It is like acting, and it requires an ability to control your own body and voice not all of us have.

That's probably the kind of thing that had me so convinced I was never trying hard enough and it was my fault because if only I would just put more effort into things I would be better. So it caused me to develop the habit of pushing myself too far, which leads to burn out. But I think its a good thing at least you can see where your son is coming from....having a parent that understands is a helpful thing... unfortunately a lot of parents don't quite have that amount of understanding of autism.

**sigh**

There are studies that indicate that, no, having a high IQ doesn't mitigate the effects of autism.

I don't believe being "intelligent" can trump a disorder.

I would actually need to see the studies myself to buy their conclusion. I don't think anyone is saying that intelligence can trump a disorder (assuming you believe autism is a disorder). I think people are suggesting that intelligence allows you to compensate more.

I have a friend who has TS. It was not recognized when she was a child and she spent her whole childhood and a number of her adult years believing that she was defective and that it was because she didn't "try hard enough" to "control herself." It destroyed her sense of self-esteem. It wasn't until she was an adult and got a diagnosis that she realized it had nothing to do with "trying" and everything to do with neurology. When I first realized my daughter was autistic, she shared her story with me so that I could better understand. I have never forgotten it. I do not want the same thing to happen to my kids.



I also think that my ambiguous neurological status helps me a great deal because it isn't such a "far stretch" for me to imagine what it's like as it is for NT parents. Also, having ADD I know that while some things can be overcome with extra effort and motivation, some things cannot.

I wish all kids had parents who understoond. Unfortunately, I have come across parents who don't seem to want to understand. I know that sounds awful, but it is true. They are so stuck on trying to make their kids normal that they can't even think about anything else.

Over here:

http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/news/ ... -in-autism

And we have a topic on it over here:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt201239.html



I do.



...which I don't believe as I feel it makes false assumptions about both autistic people and the nature of "intelligence."

I agree, even though I don't like the word "disorder". Intelligence can't negate AS. People who manage to appear normal aren't necessarily smarter, they just have milder AS.

If you have any links to studies, that would be great.

EDIT: Cross posted, and thanks for the studies.

Look at intelligence as cognitive ability aka IQ.

If someone has better memory across the board, along with say, high verbal intelligence, and we could go on and on with these " compartments" but......... I'd have a hard time believing that this high abitilty would exactly equate to a low cognitive ability in functioning on a daily level. Really ??????? Bad memory vs good - for starters????

Yes.

The fact that I can live on my own and work doesn't mean I'm "smarter" than someone who can't.

It just means I'm lucky.

I think that intelligence did help me develop. I had severe autistic traits as a child, and with that severity of autism, I don't think that I could have become fluently verbal and high-functioning without a combination of high intelligence and eggsecutive function.

This is not to say that autism is not impairing for me, however. It definitely is, verry merry berry much. No amount of intelligence is going to get rid of my horrible sensory issues that overload me and shut down my brain frequently, that I have to manage all the time. I think that I got eggposed to way too much light this summer, even though I didn't go out much, and I have become eggstraordinarily hypersensitive to light. I am really looking forward to the days getting shorter and shorter, so I can recover from this horrible hypersensitization. Nor is intelligence going to significantly help my social functioning. In the social area, the autism trumps the intelligence eberrytime, and I suck at faking NT.

Ah well. I have a high IQ, did well in school, and can't even keep a minimum wage job, though I pour all my effort into it. I don't know why it is that I can't apply one set of skills to another situation, but I definitely can't.

I don't call it a disorder because doing so depresses me - it is simply how I am (I would call it a disability). I can imagine there is some job I might be able to keep: one that doesn't require abilities I don't have and uses my strengths. At least, I hope so.

I do think high intelligence helps "compensate" to some degree. I have an IQ of 135 and I don't really relate to the "trouble with abstract thought" descriptions often given to autistic people, thought "abstract thought" in that context may be a euphemism for religious belief, New Age BS, and some Humanities stuff involving finding "deep meaning".

I'm a classic Jungian Extraverted Thinking type and I have a great knowledge for facts and concepts, but when it comes to stuff like art criticism or literary criticism or post-modernist writings I comprehend very little.

To compare, for example, my reading of various leftist writers; I ate up the factual information and concepts in Marx's works, but Slavoj Zizek's and Herbert Marcuse's writings go *WOOSH* right over my head.