Can anyone explain how my son learns so fast?

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I'm a NT mom and my son has ASD. One of the things that I don't understand is how his brain works or how he is able to remember this so well or maybe I'm just really slow?
For example, at school they have sight word boxes with 40+ sight words in them. My son can read but by no means is he a fluent reader (at least I don't think so). He can master the words within only 30 minutes. How in the world is that possible as a 5 year old?

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Last edited by Willard on 01 Oct 2011, 9:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I read somewhere once that ASD can be characterized by over-development of parts of the brain at the wrong time. From the time we are born until early adulthood our brains undergo many changes. In ASD, the changes are accelerated or muted at different stages than NT's. Your son's abilities sound like good old high IQ coupled with the focus of a person with ASD plus the fresh and sponge-like nature of any child.

I could not do what you describe when I was young, but I read entire adult novels in single sittings at a very young age and I developed the typical 'little professor' appearance when I tried to impress the adults with my vocabulary.

Sadly, the gifts I had have mostly been left behind, because that is normal for ASD too - but it doesn't mean there is no benefit to filling your mind while you can. Encourage him and support him as much as you are able, he will be ok.

There is technical info on this on the Web, you just have to look. I forget some of the details of what I read about this, and there are more studies being done every day with very advanced technology like MRI and new case studies of ASD individuals.
I truly believe simple awareness and concrete facts/information will save many in the future from the wasted existence I have had as an ASD person.

I always learned easily. When I was little, I wouldn't know things like what box to put completed assignments in because I didn't care, and such details only lasted for a year at the most. Around the same time, roughly second grade, I was also fluent in many astronomical concepts, such as black holes. I was probably the entire student in the school that understood that stars could collapse, and it set me apart from everyone else.

I was always able to take in large amounts of information from documentaries, lectures and museum visits - enough to get me through grade school without having to study. I know that my mother was also familiar with all of the things I learned, but I haven't the slightest idea how long it took her. I think we have both been mistaken for museum employees on some occasions.

As for language ability, some people on the spectrum have deficits while others are faster; sometimes a combination of both. I have read an account of an AS student in (I think) the second grade being found in a library reading Shakespeare fluently, when nobody else believed he could read. Personally, I have always had a more advanced understanding of language than my peers, partly because my mother was a professional teacher. Also, my IQ is ~140.

a lot of autistics have incredible memories. both my SO and 5 yo autie are also able to hear everything, even when deeply absorbed in something else. i can ask my SO a question when hes tuned out playing on the computer, call his name 5 times to finally get his attention, and he can recite back to me verbatim the question that i asked. he hears everything, it just doesnt all register until he thinks about it and plays it back in his head.

my 5 yr old is a verbal sponge. he hears and remembers absolutely everything said around him. last week he shocked me with a comment out of the blue about a coworker of mine who just quit, my son said "xxx isnt very nice, hes been trying to get mommy fired for a long time." hope he doesnt start quoting what i say about my boss!

This is confusing for me as well. When they did the testing on my daughter she scored 99.9th% in short term verbal memory. The neuro psych was BLOWN AWAY by her level of functioning in that one area. That means she would have the best short term verbal memory of 1000 people-and maybe more as the test did not go beyond a tenth of a %.

However, on that same test she scored 38th% on "Working Memory" which is so confusing to me and she scored 18th% after a short delay. So while her immediate recall is exceptionally superior, she forgets or doesn't apply what she has learned more than 82% of the population.

These kinds of inconsistencies are typical with AS and is why you have to identify their weaknesses and play to their strengths. The standard cookie cutter approach to learning and understanding things doesn't apply.

Before I started middle school, I memorized the first 150 or so pokemon, and lots of information about them... if only I had tried to do something useful instead :/

Ok ...intro
My dad, my nephew and myself Aspie

watching my nephew grow up, hes 18now, and with talking with him and my sister heres my best explaination.

its as if were " locked into the task" doesnt matter if its a video game or looking at a rock. Though we seem unresponsive or focused on something completely different it doesnt mean we aren't listening and ignoring you, We are just locked up.


@ Momofboys1980 just wait...I did 2yrs of science in 3months..same w/ math. My verbal skill are a bit akward as I try to talk as fast as the words go thru my head , 700+wpm. I read that fast but it must be of interest to me!! !. As for memory we have a few different ways. photographic, ...seems to be alot of. A friend of mine has that type. just like a book with pages that he opens up to and can see. My book isnt pages but rather a bit translucent. my friend can go right to the page I have to look to see where it is,...at what level. I can also draw in my head.
Others I talked to have a complete soundtrack and can pick out just one sound and tune into it like a radio station,
some of them find alot of noise overwhelming also.

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I am constantly blown away by how my son can take in information and use it, and all the connections he can make with the stuff that's in his head. I think I have it as well, but to a far lesser extent: things just "stick."

I am doing some research at the moment to see if there is a link between Low Latent Inhibition and ASD. It seems to be a prominent personality trait.