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SteelMaiden
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03 Jan 2013, 7:19 am

Is it normal in Asperger's to be a genius in your area of special interest, but to struggle with everything else?


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whirlingmind
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03 Jan 2013, 7:36 am

I have read this is quite possible.

I am so bad at maths I can't tell you, but I have always been extremely good at English (although it's not my special interest as such, although reading always has been).

http://specialed.about.com/od/autismand ... ectrum.htm

Quote:
Academic Deficits
Students with Asperger's syndromes often have areas of great strength and areas of academic weakness. Some students have strong academic deficits across the board, from language to math, and are often diagnosed late because their obvious intelligence and academic performance, challenged by deficits in social skills and executive function, struggle to perform in academic settings.

Math
Children with strong language or reading skills may have poor math skills, or vice versa. Some children are "savants" when it comes to math, memorizing math facts quickly and seeing relationships between numbers and solving problems. Other children may have poor short and long term memory and may struggle with learning math facts.


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Sea Gull
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03 Jan 2013, 7:37 am

Perfectly normal, I believe.

I remember that during the first 4 or 5 years of school I was excellent in everything. But then, at some point, a differentiation started to occur - I was still very good (and getting even better) at certain subjects, but I started to experience difficulties with others.

I suppose this could be described as a form of specialization - as long as knowledge was more basic, all subjects were easy. But when we got to the more advanced stuff, I could clearly see in which areas I am strong or weak.

Sometimes this specialization could be observed within the same subject - e.g. in math I am relatively good with alegbra, but a complete failure in geometry. I just don't get it.


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SteelMaiden
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03 Jan 2013, 8:54 am

I have an extreme gift with numbers. But I also can plough through psychopharmacology textbooks and memorise most of the content easily. Also large parts of medicine and neurology come easily to me, as well as forensics and sometimes law. However I find things like English Literature, history, languages (except Latin and Greek, which I was good at, but then I am half Greek) and the arts very difficult. I have a photographic memory for train maps though.


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whirlingmind
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03 Jan 2013, 9:13 am

SteelMaiden wrote:
I have an extreme gift with numbers. But I also can plough through psychopharmacology textbooks and memorise most of the content easily. Also large parts of medicine and neurology come easily to me, as well as forensics and sometimes law. However I find things like English Literature, history, languages (except Latin and Greek, which I was good at, but then I am half Greek) and the arts very difficult. I have a photographic memory for train maps though.


Hi SteelMaiden,

as you are half Greek, are you able to help with this:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt219949.html

Euxapisto Poli!


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arielhawksquill
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03 Jan 2013, 9:15 am

Yes, it's what they mean in the autism literature by "splinter skills"--amazing abilities in a narrow area while being deficient in others.



seaturtleisland
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03 Jan 2013, 10:27 am

Unseen wrote:
Perfectly normal, I believe.

I remember that during the first 4 or 5 years of school I was excellent in everything. But then, at some point, a differentiation started to occur - I was still very good (and getting even better) at certain subjects, but I started to experience difficulties with others.

I suppose this could be described as a form of specialization - as long as knowledge was more basic, all subjects were easy. But when we got to the more advanced stuff, I could clearly see in which areas I am strong or weak.

Sometimes this specialization could be observed within the same subject - e.g. in math I am relatively good with alegbra, but a complete failure in geometry. I just don't get it.


I'm the opposite. I was specialized in elementary school because I was only interested in math but in highschool I learned how good I was at English and Drama. I still have deficits in physical education and the non-dramatic arts but that is mostly because of my motor deficits and my poor proprioception.


I find that my great long term memory gives me the appearance of having knowledge in a wide variety of subjects. I remember all sorts of things from so many different areas even if I don't know all of them that well that I appear to be more well rounded than I am. I'll always have something to say about a given subject but I may only have limited knowledge in many of them.