Quote (impulse155 @ Oct 24 2011 02:42am)
1 in every 10 autistic kids have savant skills (excelled in a particular area)
Was randomly a though of mine, why do you think that Autistic kids have an increased chance of having these skills?
I just find it weird that a person who is noted as mentally retarded also can be brilliant at the same time. #mindfucked
Discuss?
I know several people who have autism (my brother included) and I have asperger's syndrome, which is on the autism spectrum. I have spent some time thinking about this (understatement much?) and I have an idea that's a possibility as to why autistic people possess savant skills more often than people without it.
The vast majority of autistic children I have dealt with (my mother and her friend ran a local autistic organization for quite some time) quite simply are different. Not in the way that is common sense (such as them having just social problems, or in more severe cases learning simple day to day actions) but in the way they are. My brother for example, loved trains from the time he was three untill he was around nine or so. Now when I say he loved trains, I mean he freaking loved everything about them. Normal kids love train's, he LIVED trains. He would learn all sorts of facts about various trains that he REALLLLY liked. I'm not talking "oh how many wheels it had" or "what year's it ran", I mean he memorized fuel capacity, top speed under various loads, max loads at certain inclines, production costs, man hours taken to produce one, gross weight of the engine, how long it took before things often needed replacing, miles of wiring, ect.... At 4-9 years old. He would always be talking about trains, day in, day out, from breakfast till bed.
Now I am not saying it is something that no-one could do if they wanted to, but to know that much about one particular thing, is remarkable. I belive that aside from the sheer interest in trains, not being as socially active as other kids (or rather being socially shunned) gave him even MORE time to think about trains.
This does not apply to all cases of being a savant ofc, but I would say it has a fair bit to do with it in cases of autism.
Another example is a guy who walks around a town near here. Let's call him buzz. Well Buzz has a mental disorder, we are not sure if it is autism or not, but he is in his 50's/60's now. Well Buzz can remember things. Not just anything's, only specific things. He cant remember the name of his favorite restaurant half the time , cant remember to tie his shoes, can't remember much at all. He's been like this since he was born, or could talk anyway. Buzz remembers phone number's and addresses, and if im remembering right he remember's birthdays aswell. Me and my mother saw buzz a few month's ago, and asked him if he remember's my great grandmother's number and address. The last time she gave him those was years and years ago (im talking like 25+ year's). He named off the street, address, phone number, and my great grandmother's nickname.
Not sure how he did it, but he did. I personally do not possess anything that would cause me to label myself as a savant, I'm just weird
