Do people with autism have a special ability?
Special abilities are more common in autism than in other groups, with one study1 finding that a third of autistic adults showed superior skills in one or more areas by parental report and on psychometric tests. Some well‐documented skills are as astounding as any in fiction, such as the renowned artist S.
- attention to detail.
- visual perception.
- creative and artistic talents.
- mathematical and technical abilities.
- interests or expertise in 'niche' areas.
- character strengths such as honesty and loyalty.
- Delayed language skills.
- Delayed movement skills.
- Delayed cognitive or learning skills.
- Hyperactive, impulsive, and/or inattentive behavior.
- Epilepsy or seizure disorder.
- Unusual eating and sleeping habits.
- Gastrointestinal issues (for example, constipation)
- Unusual mood or emotional reactions.
- FEARLESSNESS. The curious lives of the people who feel no fear. ...
- AMNESIA. Memory: Lost in the here and now. ...
- SUPER-MEMORY. They never forget: The strange gift of perfect memory. ...
- FACE RECOGNITION. 'Super-recognisers' have amazing memory for faces. ...
- FACE BLINDNESS. Living in a world without faces. ...
- VISUAL AGNOSIAS. ...
- EMPATHY. ...
- DÉJÀ VU.
High-functioning autism means that a person is able to read, write, speak, and handle daily tasks, such as eating and getting dressed independently. Despite having symptoms of autism, their behavior doesn't interfere too much with their work, school, or, relationships.
About 70% of autistic people have an intellectual disability, which means they have an IQ lower than 70. The remaining 30% have intelligence that ranges from average to gifted. Autism and intelligence are two separate characteristics. A person can be autistic with any level of intelligence.
In a recent study of musical abilities, Dr. Stanutz found that children with autism performed better than typically developing children in musical games that tested their pitch discrimination and music memory.
Autism isn't always a superpower. Celebrating differences is great, but it's important to remember that many on the spectrum do not see their autism as a gift. Many autistics will never live independently nor learn to communicate, verbally or not.
People on the autism spectrum are just as likely as their typically developing peers to enjoy engaging with others in activities that interest them. Difficulties with social communication are however a diagnostic criterion for autism and they present in a spectrum of ways.
Autistic children are often strong in areas like visual, rule-based and interest-based thinking. A developmental assessment or an IQ test can identify autistic children's thinking and learning strengths. You can develop autistic children's skills by working with their strengths.
Is autism caused by birth trauma?
The Link Between Birth Injury and Autism
Although the cause of ASD is not known, studies have shown links between ASD and certain medical conditions. Multiple studies have found that children with certain birth injuries are more likely to be diagnosed with ASD than those who did not suffer birth injuries.
Main signs of autism
getting very anxious about social situations. finding it hard to make friends or preferring to be on your own. seeming blunt, rude or not interested in others without meaning to. finding it hard to say how you feel.

The global increase in autism prevalence reflects major improvements in public awareness and public health response to autism. Children are now more likely to be diagnosed earlier, and even underrepresented regions like Africa and the Middle East have been advancing their ability to measure autism prevalence.
All individuals with ASD exhibit social communication impairments. In the first few years of life, salient signs of autism include lack of appropriate eye contact and inability to initiate or respond to joint attention (i.e., sharing social experiences with a communication partner).
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- USA. ...
- Germany. ...
- China. ...
- Japan. ...
- Russia. ...
- India. ...
- Saudi Arabia.
- Build muscle just by thinking about it. ...
- Learn an instrument by imagining to play it. ...
- Become a chess genius without touching a chess board. ...
- Use your long-term memory to become a human calculator. ...
- Boost endurance by doing mental puzzles while exercising.
There are 6 superpower characteristics! (Economic, Political, Military, Cultural, Demographic, Natural Resources), used to define which type of power a country is.
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) The symptoms of OCD, such as compulsive hand washing, cleaning or touching items like doorknobs, can resemble the repetitive motions of autism. ...
- Antisocial personality disorder. ...
- Schizophrenia. ...
- Learning disorders. ...
- Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD)
Emotional Immaturity
Meltdowns are relatively common even among people with very high-functioning autism. They can be the result of sensory overload, anxiety (which is common among people with autism), or frustration.
Difficulty Communicating and Awkward Communication
– Difficulty reading social cues and participating in conversations. – Difficulty empathizing with other people's thoughts and feelings. – Struggling to read people's body language or facial expressions.
What percentage of autistics are gifted?
Estimated rates of intellectual giftedness in autistic children are 0.7–2%, compared to up to 1% in the general public.
Today, the term twice exceptional (2e) has become popular in parenting and educational circles to describe gifted children who also have autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning differences, or other similar conditions.
- Ability to comprehend material several grade levels above their age peers.
- Surprising emotional depth and sensitivity at a young age.
- Strong sense of curiosity.
- Enthusiastic about unique interests and topics.
- Quirky or mature sense of humor.
“Our research on vocal imitation suggests something similar: Autistic participants performed better on imitating the structure of a tune (relative pitch) than they did on the exact form (absolute pitch).” And this has significance when thinking about music in a broad cultural sense.
The results of 53 parent-reported questionnaires show that classical music (see also Bhatara & Quintin, 2013) and pop-rock are preferred genres in ASD compared to other genres (e.g., jazz or folk).
How rare is perfect pitch, and is it genetic? A commonly cited number is that approximately one in 10,000, or . 01% of people, are thought to have perfect pitch.
People with autism have a great memory and an amazing ability to recall facts. 7. Autistic people also tend to be visual thinkers. As a result, they can visualize solutions to problems, as well as other things, better than most people can.
- Avoidant personality disorder.
- Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Reactive attachment disorder.
- Social (pragmatic) communication disorder.
- Schizophrenia, which rarely happens in children.
Many people with ASD find social interactions difficult. The mutual give-and-take nature of typical communication and interaction is often particularly challenging. Children with ASD may fail to respond to their names, avoid eye contact with other people, and only interact with others to achieve specific goals.
- ADHD. ...
- Avoidant personality disorder, social anxiety disorder, shyness. ...
- OCD. ...
- Schizophrenia spectrum disorders. ...
- Eating disorders. ...
- Personality disorders. ...
- Mood disorders. ...
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
What are the 9 social cues?
- Facial expressions.
- Body language.
- Voice pitch and tone.
- Personal space.
Masking is a word used to describe something seen in many children with ASD – when they learn, practice, and perform certain behaviours and suppress others in order to be more like the people around them.
On March 21, 2017, CNN published an article on a new study from the American Journal of Public Health that found the average life span of an autistic person is 36 years.
Students with autism indicated a preference for a more structured environment. Student preferences for varied sociological learning opportunities were also examined. Students with autism report that they learned best in a variety of social settings.
Positive reinforcement can go a long way with children with ASD, so make an effort to “catch them doing something good.” Praise them when they act appropriately or learn a new skill, being very specific about what behavior they're being praised for.
Four social brain regions, the amygdala, OFC, TPC, and insula, are disrupted in ASD and supporting evidence is summarized; these constitute the proposed common pathogenic mechanism of ASD. Symptomatology is then addressed: widespread ASD symptoms can be explained as direct effects of disrupted social brain regions.
Parents who have a child with ASD have a 2 to 18 percent chance of having a second child who is also affected. Studies have shown that among identical twins, if one child has autism, the other will be affected about 36 to 95 percent of the time.
High levels of stress during pregnancy may also be connected to autism in children. This connection appears to have the most impact when the parent experiences stress between weeks 25 and 28 of pregnancy.
Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Adults
Difficulty interpreting what others are thinking or feeling. Trouble interpreting facial expressions, body language, or social cues. Difficulty regulating emotion. Trouble keeping up a conversation.
Avoiding eye contact and being difficult to engage in conversation. Missing verbal or physical cues, such as not looking at where someone is pointing. Having difficulty understanding others' feelings or talking about feelings in general. Reluctance to socialize or a preference for isolation.
Can you show autistic traits and not be autistic?
Population-based studies have found that, in addition to the individuals with ASD, many others exhibit subthreshold autistic or autisticlike traits (ALTs), that is, problems or peculiarities in sociocommunicative behavior, perception of others and self, and adaptation to the environment that do not meet formal criteria ...
The country with the highest rate of diagnosed autism in the world is Qatar, and the country with the lowest rate is France. About 4 times as many boys are diagnosed with autism as girls. The rate of autism in the U.S. went from 1 in 150 in 2000 to 1 in 100 in 2022.
The concept of autism was coined in 1911 by the German psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler to describe a symptom of the most severe cases of schizophrenia, a concept he had also created.
Here's a look at the history of autism spectrum disorder. You might think of autism as a new problem because it has become so much more prevalent in recent years. But it's actually been on the books for more than 70 years--and our thinking about the condition has changed dramatically during that time.
Special-interest topics may be commonplace — things such as trains, gardening or animals — but people on the spectrum sometimes gravitate toward more quirky fascinations such as toilet brushes, tsunamis or office supplies.
About 1 in 44 children are diagnosed with autism by the time they are 8 years old. Researchers say MRI scans can identify differences in the brains of fetuses that could be early indicators that a child will be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
The conditions that overlap with autism generally fall into one of four groups: classic medical problems, such as epilepsy, gastrointestinal issues or sleep disorders; developmental diagnoses, such as intellectual disability or language delay; mental-health conditions, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ...
Like others on the autism spectrum, savants display a narrow repertoire of skills, which tend to be highly structured, rule-based, and nonverbal. Common savant domains include music, art, calendar calculating, lightning calculating, and mechanical/visual spatial skills.
It is useful to put these special skills into the following three categories: Splinter Skills where the individual possesses specific skills that stand in contrast to their overall level of functioning, Talented Savants where the individual displays a high level of ability that is in contrast to their disability, and ...
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) The symptoms of OCD, such as compulsive hand washing, cleaning or touching items like doorknobs, can resemble the repetitive motions of autism. ...
- Antisocial personality disorder. ...
- Schizophrenia. ...
- Learning disorders. ...
- Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD)
What percentage of autistic kids are gifted?
Estimated rates of intellectual giftedness in autistic children are 0.7–2%, compared to up to 1% in the general public.
Miller (1999), in a review of studies providing more detailed IQ information, reported that the mean overall IQ/IQ estimate for the savants with autism was 71 (range 40–99), mean verbal IQ 77 (range 52–114) and mean non-verbal IQ 75 (range 47–92).
The most common savant abilities are called splinter skills. These include behaviors such as obsessive preoccupation with, and memorization of, music and sports trivia, license plate numbers, maps, historical facts, or obscure items such as vacuum cleaner motor sounds, for example.
Savant syndrome is a rare, but extraordinary, condition in which persons with serious mental disabilities, including autistic disorder, have some 'island of genius' which stands in marked, incongruous contrast to overall handicap.
The most obvious difference is, of course, that savants, by definition, have their special skill or skills in spite of some basic mental disability, generally with low IQ scores overall, while prodigies are persons also with special skills or abilities but without such mental disabilities who generally function at a ...
Heightened sensory sensitivity, obsessional behaviours, technical/spatial abilities, and systemising were all key aspects in defining the savant profile distinct from autism alone, along with a different approach to task learning.
An autistic savant is not the same as a talented autistic person. Many autistics have ordinary talents, but savant syndrome is rare and extreme. In other words, a person with autism who can calculate well, play an instrument, or otherwise present himself as highly capable is not a savant.
Conditions That Can Be Mistaken for Autism. These include: Speech delays, hearing problems, or other developmental delays: Developmental delays are when your child doesn't do things doctors expect kids their age to be able to do. These can include language, speech, or hearing problems.
Anxiety disorders with extreme shyness and social withdrawal can be mistaken for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Social anxiety disorder can cause children to be "shut down" with regard to social interactions.
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What is autism commonly misdiagnosed as (and vice versa)?
- anxiety.
- attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- mood disorders.
- personality disorders.
- intellectual disability.
- psychosis.
- personality disorder.
- depression.
What IQ is twice exceptional?
A child doesn't have to be “globally gifted” or have a high IQ — 130 or above, say — to be twice exceptional (2e). In fact, most 2e children have significant discrepancies within IQ, so an IQ score is not an accurate measure of what they can achieve.