IQ and aspies

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That's just entirely untrue. IQ is not a measure of learned knowledge but a measure of a person's capacity to learn and to think. Like it or not, there are people with greater or lesser capacity to understand. To put it bluntly, there are such things as stupid people, separate from the unlearned or ignorant. Most IQ tests, the good ones at least, attempt to measure intelligence potential independent of education. This is why a person can take an intelligence test at five years old and then again at thirty years old and get a similar result on each.
To be fair, intelligence is not the source of pride many people take it to be because it is not a measure, indicator, or predictor of success either academically or financially, as we have already seen in this thread. Intelligence is also largely a matter of luck. Because there is no skill to 'becoming' intelligent, because the intelligent person has done nothing to achieve their intelligence, it is not a measure of the caliber of the person in any way. Arguably, being intelligent is about as meaningful as being a redhead or a brunette.

I use intelligence here to mean the capacity or ability to learn. Intelligence, in this definition, is different from education, which is learned knowledge.

I believe reading Gardner's "Multiple Intelligences" would prove useful.

There are many different types of "intelligence."

My visual intelligence is poor.

My verbal intelligence is much better.

My mechanical intelligence is poor--maybe fair on a particularly creative day.

My "psychological" intelligence is fair to middling--sometimes good on a day where I'm more perceptive than usual.

One could have the capacity to "learn" under many different methodologies. If I were forced to learn visually, I'd have been thought of as "ret*d.

I, too, have an IQ that would qualify me for Mensa (marginally), but I don't think IQ amounts to a hill of beans!! I feel that when one has a lower IQ, they adapt to that IQ (and I've seen PLENTY that appeared much smarter, than I)----just as with a HIGH IQ. I think an IQ test is, INDEED, a measure of education----sure, someone could argue that if one didn't have a high IQ, it would prevent them from receiving education, to-begin-with----but, I don't think so. I'm thinking "education" is something with which someone is presented. For example, I can remember when I took the IQ test they asked who someone was (I wish I could remember, right now, who they asked me about), and I knew who it was ONLY because I had JUST read about them the day, before. What if----just, IF----I hadn't read about them? That ONE point could be the difference between someone being labeled "slow", or "average". My knowing the value of 3 X Pi, or who Louis Armstrong is, has been of NO help to me, AT ALL, in things like filling-out a form, without having a meltdown, cuz I don't understand the questions!!

IQ tests have changed over the years. The new test emphasizes different traits. Because aspies are so uneven, you might find that your IQ is very different now than it was in the 80's, if you where around then. There's a whole test on auditory functioning now, which means that on one test, I come out looking intellectually disabled and on another, I look gifted.

Back in 2011 I got an IQ score of 104 but when my parents recalled, they said that I had an high IQ over 130 or so but not sure how that works.

When I got the score when I was 19, I fell into a depression as most autist are highly intelligent and I felt I was missing something and wasn't complete as them, many of them even rubbed in my face and it seems that people are trying to make me mind absent and not even allowing me to have any intellectual stimulation to somehow make up for this.

I even tried to study or have any hope of a form of an intellectual stimulant, even getting desperate of breaking off from peoples mind games to sew if I'm really that bright.

If not, I don't think I can cope; other than a kitten showing me sympathy of me typing this.

IQ is a number from a test, that is all. It may tell you how well your brain perceives specific problems or your education level but I found it doesnt translate well into daily life. When I was a teen many many years ago I scored in the high 120's to low 130's depending on the test and how much I applied myself to that test. I recently scored a 136 and I was getting bored with the test by the end. By society standards I am quite smart. Ask my wife how well that translates day to day!

Point is it is a baseline number and I dont believe a true marker of actual brain functionality. It's like what they call book smarts vs. street smarts. I know many book smart people who struggle day to day with simple tasks. I know many street smart people who excel daily but would fail a written test. So which one is more successful? Depends on what you want out of life...

I have no idea what my IQ is, if I were to guess, I would put it somewhere about average. Do I ever wish that it was higher; yes I do believe that would make it easier for me. As it is now I feel that I only got the negative traits from my Aspergers. It is also very annoying that there is this stereotype that you have to be some sort of genius; I wonder how many really fit the bill. It is like there are only two ways to be accepted by the normal world, either you have to be good enough at masking your difficulties or you have to be a genius and then it doesn’t matter what else you are lacking of. So hide and don’t complain or join the modern freak show. But yes I’de rather be more intelligent, I would like to have it easier when it comes to understanding things.

I think there is a very large collection of mostly self-organized algorithms ( I call the hive-mind software ) that resides primarily in the subconscious area of the brain, and is basically what allows NTs to to interact socially in such a smooth and intuitive manner, - like riding a bicycle.

I believe that the brains of ASD individuals present an impediment to collecting and hosting a great amount of this hive-mind software. I believe that this situation frees up a significant amount of brain power and resources that can then be put to other uses such as memory storage, and/or conscious reasoning ability, which can result in higher IQ scores.

I had a high iq when I was little but it's quite at the low end of average now.

I function greatly from memorized information. So, really I could be classified as low IQ even though I may seem like high IQ because of so much memorized information.

My ASD doctor once asked me, "Your brain is like a computer, and we don't think computers are smart, do we?".

Last edited by LoveNotHate on 23 Apr 2015, 12:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think being able to use intelligence to solve problems depends on how much I use intelligence to solve problems.
Applying my abilities a lot makes me better at applying my abilities, including to things that I am not particularly good at, like writing.

I don't know what my IQ is, and I don't trust online tests. I was told when I was around 13 that my IQ was about the same as an 18-year-old. In spite of that my grades had gotten really bad. It was like I just didn't care any more, I just wanted to get through the school day as painlessly as possible, which was nearly impossible.

But what is the capacity to learn?
People like Albert Einstein and Steven Hawking ponder the nature of the universe. Another person may have street smarts and know how to navigate the social world.
Is it a difference in motivation and personality?

IQ is like penis size, it is often exaggerated.

Yah I took an online test and I like totally scored a 180, ima super genius.

For for real, i'm just your average billybob when it comes to overall intelligence. People don't know me and think "man that guy is really smart, he's the next Einstein." I'm smart in my own special way that cannot be measured by a simple IQ test.


Ima ninja...

I find that differences between highly intelligent people and average intelligent people are smart people figure things out on their own, pick up ideas faster, make more connections between ideas, more flexible, more creative, operate at a faster tempo in most things they do.

How sweet of him