Autism and Intelligence

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Hey everybody,

I'm pretty new here, and this is my first post, let alone thread starter. I was wondering what your thoughts were concerning the link between high-functioning Autism, or Aspergers, or being a savant. I personally have Aspergers, and I know that I'm intelligent, I know many people with Autism that isn't Aspergers, and they are more intelligent that I. Do you think that too many people base intelligence off of social skills and how a person expresses said intelligence? I know that in the movie "Rain Man", there is a savant, I currently can't recall the name, but he is considered by many to be lacking in intelligence. Do you think this is fair as he had amazing mathematical skills? Just wondering, thanks...

Cory Kendall
[email protected] (If you want to email me directly, but I suggest posting in the thread)

I haven't observed things that would lead me to believe that people disproportionately base estimates of others' intelligence on social skills; on the contrary, social skills are generally considered to be "obvious" or intuitive (hence social non-conformists are assumed to be attention-seekers, as*holes, etc., rather than lacking in intelligence) One's social behavior would have to be quite immature (or interpreted as such), or composed of very blatant social gaffes, before anyone began to suspect an intellectual problem.

However, I do think that estimates of intelligence are somewhat based on behavior in general; namely, if one moves or "looks ret*d," people will assume a cognitive disability. Having a blank expression, appearing to mill about aimlessly, staring at things, lack of body language, apparent unself-consciousness, etc.

Starkid,

I would definitely agree with your assessment. Sometimes I find myself in situations where I do act stupid, but I do it because I am lost. I don't know what's going on so I get nervous and act really stupidly. I know that some of my friends have some of the signs that you talked about (milling about, etc. ) I am actually an extroverted Aspie. I know this isn't common, but I was born in Ukraine and was abandoned as a kid. I spent some time in an orphanage and I had to adapt to survive. I think that my extroversion combined with my social clumsiness makes me look "book-smart", but not "street-smart", if you get what I mean. What are your thoughts on this?

Cory Kendall
[email protected]

I put "other" because I believe there are MANY things which intelligence is based on.

Reasoning, social intelligence, common sense, mechanical ability, artistic ability......and many, many more.

I choose "Societal behaviors" because society in general values that more and chooses that to be the gold standard for intelligence. It doesn't really matter what other forms of intelligence are out there. If you can't fit the social norms, then you are ret*d.