Autism and Science

Post Reply New Topic

I have classic autism, but high functioning. I know so many people with HFA and AS are really great with the sciences, many even become highly respected scientists. A lot of my interests are science-based (animals/ecology, astronomy, meterology), yet once I scratch the basics on the surface, I get lose with the more indepth details. It is frustrating, because part of me wants to study science when I get to grad school. Is this normal for someone with autism to have so much trouble with scientific concepts? I feel like I am so out of place because I just can't get it for some reason.

I am fascinated with science, but it was while studying Biology in college that I discovered the reason for difficulty in grasping scientific concepts. I was tested for dyscalculia. I found that I had it. This explained everything.

I know exactly what you mean. I have a huge problem keeping the focus narrow enough. It's really easy to get into this stream of consciousness, free association mode that makes me ask more and more questions. I end up linking disparate disciplines in really unique ways, but it rapidly escalates in complexity so that I only end up with questions and no answers.

If you can prune the tree, so to speak, you might find it easier to get deeper into specific topics. It's hard because you basically have to shut your mind to cognitive distractions. It's almost like sensory overload, except instead of being overrun with external stimuli, you are being flooded with abstractions.

Hmm....I wonder if I might have this. I am getting a psychoed done soon, so perhaps they will pick up on it if I do. I generally found math quite easy until I get to junior high. Once I began to get into the harder things I had a lot of trouble. My brother--who is a math genius and did college math in grade 6--would try to help me, and I would cry because I just couldn't get it. Then I failed grade 10 math (I was always really good at school), didn't take grade 11 math, then passed grade 12 math with a 96%......

Still, I attribute that to the amazing instructor I had. I am about to go google dyscalculia like crazy now. Just out of curiousity, once you were diagnosed, did you do anything to help it...or is there nothing that can be done for it?

I've heard a lot of people say that they like science because it is not abstract. My brother (the math genius again) says this. He hates the arts subjects because they are abstract. I do, however, see the indepth science concepts as abstract, and perhaps that is why I have so much difficulty.

I just looked up dyscalculia on wikipedia to see some of the symptoms:

Frequent difficulties with arithmetic, confusing the signs: +, −, ÷ and ×.
Difficulty with everyday tasks like checking change and reading analog clocks.
Inability to comprehend financial planning or budgeting, sometimes even at a basic level; for example, estimating the cost of the items in a shopping basket or balancing a checkbook.
Difficulty with multiplication-tables, and subtraction-tables, addition tables, division tables, mental arithmetic, etc.
May do fairly well in subjects such as science and geometry, which require logic rather than formulae, until a higher level requiring calculations is obtained.
Many of those who suffer from dyscalculia may have parents who perform well to excellent in Mathematics-related fields (such as architects, engineers, or math teachers), though this connection has yet to be genetically linked.
Difficulty with conceptualizing time and judging the passing of time. May be chronically late or early.
Particularly problems with differentiating between left and right.
Might do exceptionally well in a writing related field- many authors and journalists have this disorder
Difficulty navigating or mentally "turning" the map to face the current direction rather than the common North=Top usage.
Having particular difficulty mentally estimating the measurement of an object or distance (e.g., whether something is 10 or 20 feet (3 or 6 metres) away).
Often unable to grasp and remember mathematical concepts, rules, formulae, and sequences.
An inability to read a sequence of numbers, or transposing them when repeated, such as turning 56 into 65.
Difficulty keeping score during games.
Difficulty with games such as poker with more flexible rules for scoring.
Difficulty in activities requiring sequential processing, from the physical (such as dance steps or sports) to the abstract (signaling things in the right order). May have trouble even with a calculator due to difficulties in the process of feeding in variables.
The condition may lead in extreme cases to a phobia or durable anxiety of mathematics and mathematic-numeric devices/coherences.
Inability to concentrate on mentally intensive tasks.
Low latent inhibition, i.e., over-sensitivity to noise, smell, light and the inability to tune out, filtering unwanted information or impressions. Might have a well-developed sense of imagination due to this (possibly as cognitive compensation to mathematical-numeric deficits).
Mistaken recollection of names. Poor name/face retrieval. May substitute names beginning with same letter.


I doubt I probably have it...or if I do, it must only be mild. The only symptoms on the list I experience are:
I know right from left, but sometimes I pause a minute and think about it before I say one. Sometimes I see numbers backwards. I will see 59 instead of 95 for example. I do write well too...it mentioned that on the list. I do have trouble grasping the more abstract math concepts. Maybe, as was said by wavefreak, the difficulties for me stem from abstraction? That is an autistic thing, isn't it? I wish I could figure this out!

Sciences aren't really my best area academically, but I am fascinated with earth science, animal science, and, to an extent, cosmology. I've been considering taking an earth science course while I'm in college.

I liked/have always liked science.

I was good at it in school.....until they started introducing numbers and laboratory experiments (keep me away from Bunsen burners ). I'm a frustrated zoologist.

Math I suck at. Not that I don't like it, I'm just terrible at it.

I love science. Especially physics and astronomy. I'm not the best at it, but I'm better than a lot of people.

A lot of peoples got more difficulty in math starting in middle or high school. Elementary school is more about arimethic, some math geeks don't see that as "real" mathematic. So, I would say you're good in arimethic but got difficulty in mathematic, which is nothing unusual.

Also, being a math genius don't mean be good to teaching it. A math genius may see some math things as obvious which escape most peoples, thus not explaining some important things.


I don't think wavefreak espose the same problem as your, really, more like the opposite. But, yes it's propably about difficulty with abstraction. Maybe autism contribute to that, or maybe not, but really in true, but really there is only about one on three peoples who ever develop mature abstract thoughts. As for the stereotype of the asperger who is a genius in science and math, it's only that, a stereotype.

May be dyslexia, though it seem you're doing okay.

My biology professor was the one who pointed out that I might have it, because of how I consistently scored high on parts of the class that emphasized verbal and written skills, but failed miserably at those aspects utilizing parts of the brain that process mathematical things. He called it a learning disability. I was referred to the learning specialist, who tested me. She then showed me how to compensate for things, and I was given permission to take tests alone since I was so easily distracted. I still have trouble reading analog clocks and maps and things, but there are things that one can do to manage.

I love the natural sciences because they are reliable, predictable and familiar.

I think there is a very direct correlation between my desire to understand Nature and the fact that Nature (nearly all the time) obeys certain fundamental laws and can be categorized, organized, and systematized.
Science is stable, unlike the baffling and irrational social universe, which is guided by passions, whims, and delusions.

Science is practically nothing but abstraction. It is a structured description of reality that requires the abstraction of ideas into forms that can be rigorously tested and replicated. What science is that the arts are not is objective and rational.

I love science, in fact my career is scientific in nature, but more in the biological sciences. I wish I were better at math...could've done much better at physics if I were. I don't have trouble with the abstractions per se, just with the math. I did well enough to get through a biology major and do well, but I can't help wishing I were good enough at math to take more higher level chemistry and physics, which I think were closed off to me because my math skills just aren't good enough (though what was odd is that I seemed to "grok" calculus more so than other math when I took it my first year of college).

~Kate

It worked for P.A.M. Dirac. One of the greatest physicists ever and an Aspie extraordinaire.

ruveyn

I think it's a gift we have. I have always had a very easy time comprehending physics, electrical theory and electronics. Cases in point; (1) I can "see" a traffic accident before it happens, and I can tell how the vehicles will crash, and exactly where they will wind up after the collision. I can't explain why, but I just see it. That's a physics issue; the mass, the velocity, and the traction, and the inertia. That has saved me from getting into a few accidents, as I have actually "seen" ahead soon enough to drive right into what other people would think is the path of the crashing cars, but I knew it was a safe zone based on the physics involved. I was riding a motorcycle at 70mph on the freeway, when a big rig blew a tire and sent huge chunks of tire into the air. I was able to figure out where the pieces were going to be, when I was to arrive there in milliseconds, and I avoided all but one tiny piece which nicked my leg. Other drivers were whacked directly by trying to evade the airborne chunks without applying any factors in physics. (2) In an electrical or electronics circuit, where there is a problem, I can look at the schematic diagram and "ride" the current flow, and "see" where the flow is interrupted or misdirected, base only on a couple of quick measurements at key points on the schematic with a multimeter. That ability made it relatively easy for me to get into my first career as a TV & VCR repair technician.

Charles