The Upside Of Autism
I have a little friend -- Sergeant Heather's son -- who's a brilliant, sweet little cherub of a boy who happens to have autism, but he's one of those who'd be considered on the savant side. About six months ago, Sargeant Heather told me he loved maps. I told Gregg and he brought over a huge laminated one and we gave it to The Cherub. We laid it out on the table and I asked, "Where's Belarus?" It took him maybe four seconds to put his chubby little finger on it.
A couple of weeks ago, Sergeant Heather told me he was tested at reading at the 11th-12th grade level. At age 7.
There are a lot of challenges for him that other kids don't have, but he's an amazing little boy with an amazing brain, and I think, with some help with the stuff that's hard for him, he can do some amazing things in his lifetime.
I was inspired to mention him after reading a Jonah Lehrer piece in the WSJ on "The Upside of Autism":
Most people regard autism as a disease, a straightforward example of an impaired mind. But there's compelling evidence that autism is not merely a list of deficits. Rather, it represents an alternate way of making sense of the world, a cognitive difference that, in many instances, comes with unexpected benefits.That's the lesson, at least, of a new study from the lab of Nilli Lavie at University College London. A few dozen adults, both with and without autism, were given a difficult perceptual task, in which they had to keep track of letters quickly flashed on a computer screen. At the same time, they also had to watch out for a small gray shape that occasionally appeared on the edge of the monitor.
When only a few letters appeared on the screen, both autistic and normal subjects could handle the task. However, when the number of letters was increased, subjects without autism--so-called neurotypicals--could no longer keep up. They were overwhelmed by the surplus of information.
Those adults with autism didn't have this problem. Even when the task became maddeningly difficult, their performance never flagged.
What explains this result? According to the scientists, autism confers a perceptual edge, allowing people with the disorder to process more information in a short amount of time. While scientists have long assumed that autistics are more vulnerable to distraction--an errant sound or conversation can steal their attention--that's not the case. As Prof. Lavie notes, "Our research suggests autism does not involve a distractibility deficit but rather an information-processing advantage."
These perceptual perks have real-world benefits. The scientists argue, for instance, that the ability to process vast amounts of data helps to explain the prevalence of savant-like talents among autistic subjects. Some savants perform difficult mathematical calculations in their head, others draw exquisitely detailed pictures at a young age. These skills have long remained a mystery, but they appear to be rooted in a distinct cognitive style shared by all autistics. Because they can process details that elude the rest of us, they can perform tasks that seem impossible, at least for the normal mind.
The Cherub gave his mother a book about the dinosaurs he'd made for her for Mother's Day. It was made of folded paper, colored with crayons, but from there the similarities between his kid drawings and other kids' stopped. It was comprehensive and correct on the dinosaurs, and it was like he'd sucked up everything about a book and put it in this book. It had an acknowledgment letter, an ISBN number, a copyright page, a price on the back; even blurbs on the back cover!...everything a real book would have.
Amazing.
By the way, I do know that some autistic kids are not functioning in the basic tasks of life, nor do they show the savantism The Cherub does. Via @SBKaufman, Pensive Pediatrician blogs:
What we call autism is likely many different disorders: Asperger's, Autism with a known genetic syndrome, Autism in a syndromic looking child whose genetic testing is normal, autism with normal IQ, autism with high IQ, autism with low IQ, autism with many medical problems, autism with no medical problems, autism with other psychiatric co-morbidities, autism with aggression. Any reasonable outsider can see that this is not the same disorder, so why do we keep talking about it like it is?
Tyler Cowen wrote a fantastic book about the information economy and how suited autism spectrum people are for it (with ADD, I'm one of them). I highly recommend it, even if you don't know anyone deemed autistic: The Age of the Infovore: Succeeding in the Information Economy
Whether he would be considered autistic today I don't know, but playwright George S. Kaufman was certainly a precocious boy. I read that when he was only four years old, his mother told him that an aunt was coming to visit, and suggested that "it wouldn't hurt to be nice to her, would it?"
Little George replied, "that depends on your threshold of pain."
Old RPM Daddy at April 10, 2012 4:56 AM
Great post, Amy. We may be witnessing natural selection in operation by way of the evolutionary advantages of certain forms of autism at this juncture in the development of the human race. Not a disease but an adaptation.
RationalReader at April 10, 2012 6:19 AM
I think so much of this would have just been "He's just that way" a few generations ago. A new study has linked obesity during pregnancy to autism. Linked, not proven causal. Interesting possible explanation for the increase in autism, though.
momof4 at April 10, 2012 6:40 AM
There is probably no increase in Autism. As the Pensive pediatrician put it it's most likely multiple disorders getting bundled together. Also it's become the catch all of the day. When I was young it was ADD/ADHD that everyone had not successful or compliant had. Now it's autism. The diagnostic criteria changed so there was an uptick in diagnosis. Then the obvious money resultant shift. As more organization both public and private began to funnel money into it more diagnosis shifted to autism to cover services.
The obesity is probably the same correlation factor as being a successful professional. Engineers, Dr. and lawyers had a slightly higher degree of autism in their offspring. It was shown that when you controlled for wealth that correlation vanished. A higher socioeconomic status tends to increase diagnosis due to the access to good health care. The US has some of the highest standard of living in the world (regardless of the lefty horse shit) and thus has higher obesity and higher autism diagnosis.
"I think so much of this would have just been "He's just that way" a few generations ago." My parents did that with my sibling and that's not even a full generation ago. The siblings case is not mild no matter how badly my parents want to deny it either.
vlad` at April 10, 2012 7:15 AM
I love reading Temple Grandins (sp) personal experience with autism and her uncanny ability to bond and understand prey animals. (We humans tend to understand predators better).She has
done more fot he humane treatment of livestock than anyone else in history.
An ex friend of mine has a son diagnosed with autism and she has always viewed people with disabilites in a negative light (as if something like that could never happen to her).
Well it did, and once it did denial set in that she could cure her son via Jenny McCartey and the anti-vaccine crowd.I explained to her that autistic traits are needed in the general
population and her son looks like he has aspergers. Her reply? "Aspergers is still autism and my son is going to be cured of it"
My offense is that we need autism traits in the general population, and it's especially needed in the scientific/engineering community.
I have no problem welcoming autism into this world and our goal should be to help relieve the negative aspects of autism in those individuals. Just like we do those with ADHD.
Purplepen at April 10, 2012 11:16 AM
My husband has Aspergers and I would have to say that it helps him in his job tremendously. As a kid, they thought he had ADD, but all the drugs they gave him really messed him up. He was finally diagnosed on the spectrum of autism, but not until he was an adult. Knowing why he is the way he is has helped him a lot (he was put in with "the special kids" when he was in school, so he's spent a lot of time wondering he if he was mentally deficient). While his coworkers crack under the occasional 70 hour work week, it hardly fazes him. Get him to read a newspaper, and he'll get bored in a minute, or try to focus and read the same line over and over again for thirty. Put him in front of a computer and he can focus all day until someone tells him it's time to leave.
Of course, there are all of the downsides, including not picking up on social cues or knowing what is appropriate or inappropriate to say. However, considering how many CEO's are straight up sociopaths, I don't think it will hinder him in the business world.
Stacey at April 10, 2012 5:00 PM
I think most high functioning, very intelligent people tend to be in the ADD/ADHD spectrum. I can see autism in there as well.
For a while I had bags of candy on my bookshelf in my office. My co-workers got to the point that if I didn't turn around and acknowledge them, they knew if they said something they would probably get a surprised look from me. I was concentrating on my computer monitor to the exclusion of anything else going on around me.
Jim P. at April 10, 2012 7:15 PM
Get this kid a collection of original Civil War maps. They were made by genuine artists and are astonishing for their beauty and detail.
jefe at April 10, 2012 8:56 PM
I wonder how many of these kids labeled with austiam dsorderes are just socically retraded becuase their parents kept them on such a tight leash they never learned how to make friends or interact with anyone other than their parents who treat them as the center of all creation.
I'm sure some of them may be autistic, but you know those one in (x) are born with autims comercials, x=50 in the latest comercial I heard on the radio
lujlp at April 10, 2012 9:45 PM
Most people who have autistic children know it from when they are babies, it's not a learned thing brought about by societal influences. These are babies that don’t smile or react to their mom, or don’t learn to speak until very late in development. There is no cure for autism, and medications used to treat it are usually all "off-label" meaning that they've been approved by the FDA for something, but not for treating autism. My point being that there's no reason for someone to pretend like their child is autistic. The increase in numbers could most likely be the increased spectrum of what is considered autism. I know people all along the range, from "needs a caretaker full time", to "can live kind of by herself but needs lots of help", to "pretty much normal but awkward". I think it's the inclusion of Asperger's that has been creating the new numbers. Everyone can agree that the person in the corner not able to communicate has autism, but some people (like you, lujlp) think that more normal acting autistic people aren't really autistic at all. Most people I know who are functionally autistic feel that they are gifted, differently brained but fully capable humans that don't want to be any different than they are. I mentioned the awkwardness, merely because that’s the easiest to relate, but it’s by no means the only sign of autism or Asperger’s. Multiple tests and visits to a psychiatrist and a psychologist are what diagnosed my husband, so even if a parent think their precious princess has a problem, they’d have to prove that they weren’t just ill raised but actually mentally different in their thought processes. And yes, the most recent study says that 1 in 88 kids is autistic.
Also, to tack on to the end here, pretty much everyone I know in the autistic community hates the whole “vaccines caused it” crap sold by Jenny McCarthy and Donald Trump. Way to make the world more dangerous for everyone by misreading medical research, you dumbasses.
Stacey at April 10, 2012 11:05 PM
One thing The Cherub might be interested, if his gaze wanders from maps and dinosaurs or if he might want to something new, is computer programming. One reason the tech industry has higher rates of autism-spectrum folks is that many of them love programming because of the rich diversity of puzzles and the relative lack of ambiguity. Computers, after all, only every do exactly what you tell them, but provide an endless stream of logic problems.
There are a lot of good resources for teaching kids to program. Probably the best is Hackety Hack.
AMB at April 12, 2012 1:18 PM
Stacey, I'm not saying normal seeming people labeled autistic arent.
I'm just wondering if like the ADD/ADHD fad of the 90s the numbers arent inflated by jackass parents who want to believe the reason their kids are different is becuase they are secretly special, and now they get to be martyers for 'the cause' whatever cause that may be
lujlp at April 13, 2012 9:08 AM
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