Myth: People with autism have genius talents.

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TobyZ
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19 Apr 2009, 10:11 am

Asterisp wrote:
And like LPP says, being savant is not a broad intelligence, it is really narrow. I know (from my volunteer work) one autistic kid of nine years old that 'sees' certain physics processes and predict them in a way that not even a 16 year old NT could do. But he does not seem 'intelligent' on other areas. But discussing physics experiments together is still fun.



Even within their own field, the AS seams can show. I've had it happen to me.

Here is a wonderful quote from Benjamin Franklin I had saved:

"Tim was so learned, that he could name a horse in nine Languages. So ignorant, that he bought a cow to ride on."



TobyZ
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19 Apr 2009, 10:15 am

UndercoverAlien wrote:
I already gave up on the hope of being talented in anything, its not even important. But i still wonder how comes that some are talented and most aren't...


That is a secret in life I can share! One that grows from a lifelong of economics reading as a hobby.

The best analogy I can give you: If the USA government tax rebate checks are such a good idea... why didn't they just mail out $1,000,000 to every family and make everyone a millionaire?

It's just not mathematically possible for everyone to be at the top of the class. So often, ability has nothing to do with it. Random chance encounters with a particular teacher, which book you picked up (or was even available the day you went) at the bookstore, who happens to live next door to you, etc, etc. Life is just that way, not everyone is dealt an equal hand. The secret: You play what you are dealt the best you can, and maybe you learn to enjoy holding the cards more than you do reading what is printed on them.

The horror of this is that it goes both ways. Wonder how some people who are extremely successful can be so awful of human beings? Look at what people judge on, looks - how you twitch your hands, how you make eye contact. Good Luck and Social Skills are often keys to many.



melissa17b
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19 Apr 2009, 11:27 am

2ukenkerl wrote:
Actually, it ISN'T a myth! It is a FACT that some DO! If you want to call it a myth, maybe you should add the word ALL!


We mental-multiplying, number-remembering, speed-counting savant types are out there, and can often be found splashing about these friendly waters...


sunshower wrote:
...
I have this same strange ability. I can often spend less than 4 hours revising for a test, have no idea if I know the information, then get 95-100% on said test. In Maths B (algebra maths) in my final years of school I would literally sit down for one day before each exam, learn an entire terms repertoire in that one day, then in the exam have perfect recall. I came out of maths with a A. In fact, I got A's in 6 out of 7 subjects, but I think a lot of it was to do with this ability (except in English). The ability was especially prominent in subjects like biology, where I'd get 100% or extremely close to it in every single exam as I would have photographic recall of every term I looked at - even if I only looked at it once.

But then, by about a week after the exam, all this knowledge is lost and gone. So it's a fairly useless ability really, except for getting good grades and short term recall.


I also survived by doing this, but only if I could extract any patterns or other systemic nature of the content so I “had a place to put the information.” This learning session also had to precede the test by at least a couple of days – night-before cramming was a complete waste of time and guaranteed that I would not remember much of anything on exam day. This quick learning ability made the test-centric academic aspects of school quite easy, as well as subsequent professional qualification. Essays were another matter altogether – for most of my school years I was totally helpless at this unstructured recall and utterly useless at organising what knowledge I did produce; even today, open-format writing is a major struggle on a good day.

However, unlike what you describe, this quickly-acquired knowledge did not rapidly fade away. Thirty-plus years on, I remember the substantial majority of it in detail, even if I have not looked at or even thought about the subject since.



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19 Apr 2009, 11:43 am

sunshower wrote:
I don't know if it's anything to do with autism or not, but I do know (I had some other high achieving friends) that for my friends getting A's without too much study came to them because they grasped the concepts really fast, and once they understood all the general ideas, they could fill in the gaps with specific terms.

For me, I never learned so much in generalities as I would literally learn each specific term one at a time - like memorizing a long long list of scientific names for different plant species and then other words linked in to the concepts and what each word meant, rather than just the concept itself. Then the concept would make sense to me after I'd memorize massive amounts of highly specific tiny details of information, rather than the other way around.

It's a hard thing to explain.


This is not an autism spectrum specific trait. I know that lots of people study for the test, then forget about everything. That is why i never had any tests when i was a teacher and instead made my students do "hand in assignments" where they had to apply what they had learned by doing practical work.


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kittenmeow
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19 Apr 2009, 11:54 am

Some do have "genius" talents and gifts. Some are very reclusive and don't want attention so you will never see their story of talent on tv.



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19 Apr 2009, 12:21 pm

Danielismyname wrote:
I'd call the memory that most people with prototypical AS and many with HFA have as a talent. Most people with the latter tend to have one splinter skill that's above-average in most cases on the severe end of functioning, and the AS end have said aforementioned memory.

I assume you're talking about hyperlexia, calendar calculation, etcetera, and yeah, they're rarer. But the memory, that's quite common, and it's even there in LFA too.

Own splinter skill is being good at sorting the software side out for people when theyve messed up their computers,good with knowing the hardware side to,just not physically.
Am know of some profoundly autistic adults with their splinter skill being in computers as well [they were taught by NAS support staff].


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unreal3x
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20 Apr 2009, 12:26 am

On average Aspies have a more logical thought process, but usually just the general base for it, the outline, but not the intensity.

Its like having the Autobahn in your head, but only an average car to drive down it.
Suppose an Aspie is actually really good with Math or something, then its like they have the Autobahn and a fast car, and well if you are not so good at math, atleast you still have that well-built AS concrete autobahn, not that crappy NT freeway asphalt stuff.

-
Its also possible there could actually be more classic autistics who really are those geniuses, its just hard to teach them to use it. Imagine being classic autistic as a kid. You are interested in something, focusing on it in the center of your view, working on it, but then off to the side in the corner of your eye there is some person saying "look, these are some prime numbers and stuff". Why even bother trying to listen to that person if it does not involve what you are in the middle of doing or focused on, it personally would serve you no interest, so why do it?



Jol
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20 Apr 2009, 12:44 am

I think that the media beats stuff up again, seem there is a few American sitcom characters that have AS and that is the perception NT have.

Anyway - my thoughts are that our hobbies (which some call obsessions) can be seen by NT's as special because it unintential memorisation of facts.

I know for me its wildlife, although i do not try and remember information it just seeps in. I am not actually interested in animals or working with them but for some reaosn that i can not fathom i have a photographic memory for these facts. You ask me to do math and i'll pull out a calculator.

Anyway my point if my hobby was Law, then I would memorise every bit of data I read about Law for instant recall.


Does that make sense?



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20 Apr 2009, 1:05 am

I'm good with finding patterns in things and remembering images, and this far outweighs my verbal ability.

I speculate that my typing and speech is nothing but pattern recognition, using unconventional parts of my brain to achieve the same effect as someone who has a normal verbal ability (my verbal ability is ret*d). It'd explain the concrete and repetitive speech, plus my ability to type well enough, but also my inability to do well on verbal parts of IQ tests.

It took me very long to learn to speak, then to read and write; they weren't sure that I'd actually get the latter two.



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20 Apr 2009, 6:08 am

Ichinin wrote:
sunshower wrote:
I don't know if it's anything to do with autism or not, but I do know (I had some other high achieving friends) that for my friends getting A's without too much study came to them because they grasped the concepts really fast, and once they understood all the general ideas, they could fill in the gaps with specific terms.

For me, I never learned so much in generalities as I would literally learn each specific term one at a time - like memorizing a long long list of scientific names for different plant species and then other words linked in to the concepts and what each word meant, rather than just the concept itself. Then the concept would make sense to me after I'd memorize massive amounts of highly specific tiny details of information, rather than the other way around.

It's a hard thing to explain.


This is not an autism spectrum specific trait. I know that lots of people study for the test, then forget about everything. That is why i never had any tests when i was a teacher and instead made my students do "hand in assignments" where they had to apply what they had learned by doing practical work.


You must certainly be right, of course. I KNOW you are! THAT is the only explanation for all the Americans in MY generation that certainly DID cover the stuff in school, but didn't remember it for any appreciable time. Other countries can't be that much, if ANY, better, as I have met LOTS of people from other countries, and most are middle class or better and went to universities, and they have the SAME problems. Of course, *I* had the same problem. With SOME things, I am better than most because I kept up on it, learned earlier, etc...

Still, it would be nice to know some of the things like chemistry(different bonds, isolating techniques, etc...), some history, etc...

BTW I specify MY generation, because NOW they seem to care even LESS about the students. Apparently, you can graduate highschool without learning to read, and maybe even get into college!



richardbenson
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20 Apr 2009, 6:09 am

exactly. i am ungenius as it gets, and have a low Iq. :lol:



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20 Apr 2009, 6:50 am

^ smart enough to know you know nothing which is smarter then most mate



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20 Apr 2009, 12:33 pm

I have no savant/genius talents. I do have good talents in art and the typically good aspie long term memory but nothing too amazing.


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20 Apr 2009, 1:29 pm

I think Savant Syndrome is endlessly fascinating. It's just another way of thinking and you should keep that in mind and not be too jealous. We all have different ways of figuring things out. It makes me wonder how do people know. Don't you ever wonder about such things?



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20 Apr 2009, 4:35 pm

When I was nine, My IQ was leved at 70. I sucked in math and basicaly anything that was not related to my special intrest. I knew more about animals that even the teachers. I was like forced to answer the questions on the IQ test and I was in a mental hospital at the time so maybe that had someting to do with it.


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21 Apr 2009, 4:12 pm

I have exeptional rote memory and math skills. I don't think that any of this qualify as "genius". That's rare, even for aspies.