Misdiagnosis and dual diagnoses of gifted children & adu

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I'm sorry but the whole lack of empathy factor regarding people with autism needs to be re-examined. There are tons of parents that have mentioned their child displaying empathy. Some parents thought their child wasn't autistic because of this factor and not being aloof.

I have empathy. I also have alot of autistic traits. As I grew up and was put in various situations that weren't very fortunate, I've gained empathy. I've found alot of people who aren't autistic that have a lack of empathy. Why is there a focus on autistics and lack of empathy which is not always correct?

Maybe the lack of empathy described with autism isn't the same lack of empathy displayed with others. There are those that have no empathy towards situations but express it with no truth behind it. They aren't autistic.

Some people with autism also have gifts in areas. What I don't understand however is calling it special interests because I sure do see people who are only good with certain areas like sports but aren't great achademically but manage to get by with passing grades because their coaches told the teachers to pass their favorite. Is that a special interest?

What makes an interest special? Is it more narrow than someone who only likes basketball?

Then we hear about the term "idiot savant" which is now phasing into autistic savant. So being autistic and being brilliant with a narrow field means you get a complete different word for genius.

I'm sure there are reasons for that others may come up with to keep it seperated but if you look at history, there were a mixture of aloof geniuses and sociable ones.

I guess really what I'm trying to say is, not all people with autism are cold like the media describes. I'm fed up with all of these stereotypes that have been around forever tossed out to the public which also leads to parents not picking it up on time or parents noticing their child has autistic traits but can't be because the child on the tv was more aloof and spinning plates.

It is true that some people with autism may appear to have very little empathy but appearance can decieve and if you were to ask the majority of parents or autistics if they felt their child or themselves have a lack of empathy, you would probably get alot of no's.

Theory of mind? Seriously, who is a mind reader? I challenge all of these people that claim they can read minds to drop the you're always right about people and test just how right you are because I've heard alot of people crying over false impressions of people in social situations. When people drop that facade, they may actually look deeper than that big chicklet toothed grin to find the truth.

When it comes to me personally, I don't rely on smiles, I don't rely on body language. I do rely more on actions but there are times when it comes to the more dangerous type of person that instant reaction is valid. However, me being misjudged all throughout my life has prompted me to have empathy in that area so I wait for the person to show consistantly what kind of person they are based on actions and words.

If you think you are just gifted and perhaps were wrongly diagnosed, challenge whoever diagnosed you and others who claim you have AS.

If it's true that gifted peopel are being diagnosed but have very little in common with autism traits then you have a valid concern. Psychiatrists and psychologists aren't always right.

"Then we hear about the term "idiot savant" which is now phasing into autistic savant. So being autistic and being brilliant with a narrow field means you get a complete different word for genius."

We really need to get rid of the idea that autistic savants are geniuses. They aren't. A genius is someone who contributes something new and exceptional to a field. Savants may have unusual specialized talents and be extraordinary learners and/or copiers, but I've never heard of one that created anything that was considered important to the advancement of any field of endeavor.

Lorna Wing touched on this [in her paper that defined AS as it is today]:

Yes, I've read it. I bought it in 2005 for two reasons: it seemed interesting and I had recently heard of AS and wondered if I might have it. I now hate the book. It described AS terribly. It said something about how, if you can have friends while being in a club or talking about your interests, you can't have AS. That's totally wrong. So, after reading the book, I decided that I didn't have AS and didn't pursue the idea any further. I got a diagnosis five months later... So, I hold this book in sort of high contempt. I think that, yes, some bright children are diagnosed when they don't really have AS or another disorder, but more likely, many people with high IQ have AS, OCD, etc. At any rate, I don't recommend the book.
-OddDuckNash99-

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I agree that the book is bad. I just wanted to check others' opinions, but my impression was that the authors are trying to promote "gifted" people as some kind of super-breed of people who are ingenius and simply misunderstood and thus labelled with various conditions although they're really above and beyond any such terms.

But maybe I'm just paranoid.

However, I did discuss the book with my father, who's a psychiatrist, and he said they're basically abusing terminology and criteria in a very unscientific way, and that alone should tell me not to listen.

Thank you everyone for your input. Even though I'm not diagnosed myself I was offended on behalf of my son by this description of AS.

That is just your opinion. If you think most of what you wrote as fact then you're just going to argue to try to pass it off as facts.

A person can be a genius in several ways. Some people only admire one form and dismiss all others. Some people are just jealous and hate anyone who can do something well and will dismiss them and bring what they can't do to mask their own insecurities.

I understand metaphorical language and am sufficiently comfortable with abstract ideas to get into philosophical debates and self-study research level abstract mathematics (currently a second year undergraduate, but I like to read ahead). I do not consider myself to have narrow interests; I am also into all areas of science and like computing, music and foreign languages too.

However I have motor clumsiness, social anxiety, difficulty with eye contact and extreme hypersensitivities.

So I'm not sure whether or not I was misdiagnosed but, either way, the "support" that I recieved was a complete waste of money . I had a lot of difficulties in school but standard autism interventions did not help me at all and I suspect that my diagnosis was one of the factors that led to my school refusing a proposal from a teacher to let me grade skip (the only intervention which would have actually helped me).

My brother was labeled gifted and not ASD. The difference between us? He may struggle socially in a regular setting due to his giftedness, but if you put him in a group of other gifted kids, he is very socially capable and understands the dynamics. Whereas wherever you put me; group of regular kids, group of gifted kids, group of other ASD people, I just don't get it.