Autism Linked to Superior Information Processing Skills
 

(Psych Central News) New research from the UK suggests people with autism have a greater than normal capacity for processing information. This aptitude is evident even when the presentation is presented rapidly. Autistic individuals are also better at detecting information defined as ‘critical.’ Investigators believe the findings may help to explain the apparently higher than average prevalence of [...]

Read the full article...

From Psych Central News.

My son is 7 and on the spectrum. He amazes me with his ability to watch a movie, and then repeat the characters exact words and within context while doing other things. He does this constantly, even when doing other tasks- like his homework. He recites the whole movie perfectly with the same emotional addition to the lines in the movie that each character has- all while writing his cursive sentences or whatever assignment he has for the day. When he is through going through the movie, he starts over again and does this constantly when he is not doing something he is really into- like his video games. While he plays his video games, he reads the subscripts with emotion as well. He has learned social behavior and come out of having the typical monitoned voice for autistic children by watching movies and how people act on movies. He is my little 'actor.' This is good in that he has developed more social skills by this experience, but also bad sometimes when he picks up something that he shouldn't say (because nothing get past him). Like on the movie 'Home Alone'- the 'dad' character says a curse word- so then Boston repeats it in context and doesn't even know what it means. Good and Bad. This article is encouraging though, in that there are certain things he could use his abilities for as an adult, maybe a certain 'niche' he could find in a job as an adult.

I have autism as well and can create great catchy portions of songs in my mind (I have actually made an entire song in my head). I wonder if this comes from my autism.

Sadly "Superior" is a word seldom used with people that are autistic. The word is "disabled".

By the age of 14 I knew 23 languages, and mastered about 60 advanced fields.

Since I never learned how to play baseball I was "learning disabled"...

We need to push for more cognitive diversity. Not all humans need to THINK the same as everyone else. Is having one night stands, getting drunk, smoking, watching porn, and lotto tickets really the epitome of the Übermensch?

I wish I had a superior skill in something lol. I must be to autistic or not autistic enough to have not been graced with any savant skills.

I often fake stupid because being smart upsets people.

I'm good at learning languages and have a great memory. Not savant in anything though just good at a few certain things. Socially awkward and often been bullied, ignored, etc.

Despite this have done pretty well and it has been difficult as my family really pushed me to be something I'm not.