Gifted or Aspie?

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I am a fifteen year old girl and I believe that I have AS(D). My mother, however, disagrees. She thinks that the fact that I test in the EXTREMELY high IQ range is what causes all my problems. I have some pretty bad sensory issues, I don't read faces or body language intuitively or proficiently, and most of the other characteristics of AS apply to me (including stimming, clumsiness, and special interests). This post is not me looking for people who agree with me, but more opinions on where the distinction may lie between giftedness and autism, assuming the neurology of both groups differs from the norm.

So, do you think autism and giftedness can be co-morbid? Also, how can one tell the difference between one who is profoundly gifted and one who has Asperger's syndrome?

Yes they can be co-morbid.

Gifted children/people usually can have good social skills and adaptive behaviour.

I don't think they have as serious communication deficits as people with Asperger's syndrome. There may be some traits but where there's a significant impairment there's co-morbid Asperger's.

My niece is gifted and she does well socially, has a few things that reminds me of Asperger's or even ADHD but not to a degree it affects her functioning. A friend she has from her gifted school however has what she would describe as 'no social skills whatsoever.'

Yes, they can be "comorbid", the general term for being gifted and having a learning disability is "twice exceptional". Anyway, the difference between being just gifted and twice exceptional is that if its twice exception there are some disabling aspects that can't just be explained by being harder to relate to people due to a higher IQ or having a certain personality.

I think you know the anwser to this, yes it can giftedness and aspergers can and often does co-exist. I don't know my exact IQ however a month into senior kindergarden they wanted and tryed to move me up to grade 1, they thought I was board in SK and ready to move up. Theres a difference between having a high inteligence and having high inteligence and also having a disabillity, I think it has been refered as twice exceptional.

In my case:
Autistic + Gifted = Science Nerd/Geek/Dork + Social Dunce

Yes, I test well into the profoundly gifted range and undeniably have Asperger's/ASD. There are quite a few of us on this board who fit into both categories. Can you ask your school for assistance in getting you tested? If your mother has reservations the school might be able to help either arrange something or persuade her that there are issues that warrant further investigation.

There is plenty of information online listing characteristics of each and while there is some overlap, a competent psychologist/psychiatrist can easily distinguish between them.

Are there some specific areas that are causing you distress/problems? Perhaps you could tell your mother you'd like to see a professional to find some strategies for dealing with those issues in particular without mentioning ASD as a potential cause. You would then be free to bring the idea of ASD up yourself with the psych who you see.

In your own urgent protection, when you are school age, always question every inch of any school's motive for wanting to label you profoundly gifted.

What will they then want you to do? What if you can't do it, but every adult insists on believing you can? Which is what happened to me aged 13-14 after labelling at 8, resulting in catatonic unresponsive states and psychiatrists and narrow avoidance of hounding to death by it.

Here's an instrument psychs use to distinguish between autism and giftedness in children: http://mcgt.net/wp-content/uploads/2011 ... cklist.pdf

But don't take from this the idea that a person must fall into one or the other. As many posters have said, many people here are both.

The problem with only acknowledging the gifted part is that it is doubly confounding to your teachers when you can't do something. Your sensory issues and ef problems will be discounted and they will constantly tell you that you could and should do much better and that your failure is the result of moral turpitude, weakness of character or lack of will. That way lies rage and depression and it's a huge waste of time.

The really sad part is that with a few mnor accommodation for your autism, a huge part of the problem can be relieved and you can then make use of your giftedness.

Mom doesn't want to acknowledge what you perceive because she likes the idea that you are special but hates the idea that you might be defective. "There's nothing wrong with my child," is a common and understandable parental reaction. But she owes it to you and herself to have you assessed so you can make the most of your neurology I the light of whatever understanding emerges from that testing and evaluation.

I had the same dilema myself due to my academic grading...it is basically even across the board (pretty much straight A grades without having to try, not needing to revise for exams etc) and I have no learning disabilities when it comes to learning things (have done courses in all sorts from drama to science to touch typing to the social sciences to painting and decorating and excelled at them all except for my gloss work...that needed some practice). However I also have really bad social problems and have been bullied and ostracised for most of my life so it seems it may be more ASD than anything else.

I was also knocked around at home so that might have complicated things as well. Generally I find most humans to be overly aggressive.

I don't know what my official IQ is (was never told although I tested it myself to be in the 140's when I was a teenager...although that may not be accurate) but i do know I was tested officially as having advanced levels of development in certain areas as a child (moral development etc) and started school early because of my brightness (I was so bright they wanted to start me learning as quickly as possible...I was curious about everything and asked so many questions...) but I also had areas where I was not so well developed and was labelled as emotionally immature, over sensitive and too idealistic as well.

I still find many humans to be too aggressive, too ego maniacal and too obsessed with the self to be able to socialise with them. They are also not very friendly in the most part and tend to be insensitive with limited moral development (everything is black and white or absolute when to my mind things are more relative and exist in shades of grey). Then again I am talking about people who bullied me and they just tend to be idiots (not very smart except at the art of manipulation and being a spiteful prat).

I don't know if I have an ASD (I have sensitivities, intensive interests, a love of sameness in certain ways and need some routine to function at my best) but something is not right with my ability to socialise. I am, at 40, completely socially isolated in that I have no friends, no family and no partner. Something is not right somewhere whether I am gifted or not.

PS I can make friends occassionally but am rarely able to cope with those friendships. They are often prone to drinking, drug taking, aggressive behaviour and do not understand my need for alone time to recharge my energies after social interaction.

I am not too bad around logical/rational people but I rarely get to meet any of those. That is why I come here, the people here are generally wonderful to talk to and in the most part of extremely intelligent in a number of ways. Ergo ASD/Gifted or otherwise (I could just be insane) I have adopted Wrong planet as my favourite forum to be on.

You sound ASD, what better description can it take to know it? Is it your preference for greyness that is stopping you being sure? An issue with certainties as big steps?

You can be both gifted and have Aspergers.


me, i'm not gifted. (at least in how the school would put it) but i'm gifted in my own way. I can complete rainbow road without falling off in mario kart wii, that takes skillz.

Yeah, like just looking at the checklist I'd think I'd mainly fall more into the gifted category than the Aspergers one, but I have some traits in both (heck I think in several lines I'd check both or neither) and have been diagnosed with Aspergers and identified as gifted. The problem with that chart is by gifted they mean "gifted without any problems" and by Aspergers they mean "aspergers and not gifted". Few people actually fit perfectly in either bin.

wuts with all the my little pony avatars?

What's up with all the...cat thingy...avatars? I just commented on the thread twice. Anyway, people like like the show so they set their avatars to characters from the show.

Oh, no! I would much prefer being sure! The uncertainty ("greyness" as you put it) has driven me to the point of meltdown several times!
Now that I think about it... how ironic is that?