It perhaps doesn't speak well of your AS knowledge for me to find out you "never knew" some Aspies are poor at Math, until you came on this forum.
I have learned so very much on this forum.
I personnally was told that I couldn't aspie (from PhD level "Professionals" with years of experience in the field) b/c I have poor math skills and that is a distinguishing aspect of AS & ASD. And spatial skills too good for NLD
I was therefore given the label, ADD, despite my life-long difficulty with understanding anything socially - but at least I had my focused interests to get me through the rough times!!
But I am done with labels anyhoo.
Just last night I was reading that they are going to start subdividing ASD into sub groups, because researchers cannot draw any conclusions as it is now.
Where'd you read that, Chimera?
Autism Spectrum Quarerly (Spring 2008)
"Autism Subtypes: A key to understanding a purplexing spectrum (Lars Perner, PhD)"
the technology is upon us when we could categorize people by
genetic make up (10 - `15 genes appear to be associated with autism)
enzyme, etc activity or levels
brain scans
behavioral subtypes (which the author feels may hold the greatest promise)
The author would favor subtyping in hopes of being able to efficiently figure out which treatments would likely be most effective.
Dr. Perner was labeled AS at the age of 31
I have learned so very much on this forum.
I personnally was told that I couldn't aspie (from PhD level "Professionals" with years of experience in the field) b/c I have poor math skills and that is a distinguishing aspect of AS & ASD. And spatial skills too good for NLD
I would be ashamed to be associated with professionals who believe stereotypes like that are actually part of the AS/ASD criteria.
For the record, both my Math skills and spatial skills are very poor. What does this suggest to you..?
You have to remember that until recently, the Aspergers and Autism diagnosis was much narrower and typically only included the savants and a few others. Therefore, many of these people were educated with this definition and therefore still use it.
our honest John, did not fit with the heretofore known "definition" of aspergers (though I was avoiding all labels). The previous parameters specifically excluded kids who were funny- like witty, comical, superbly developed with language skills John. John, as a couple of you mentioned, also has horrid abilities in math and math reasoning. His composite IQ is ("only" -who cares) 105, but that is becasue his math and working memory is 85. However, his spatial ability is quite superior. He is also very, very imaginative and talkative - and compassionate - also excluded in soime lists. He also seems similar to you, tenaciouscj, as his art abilities are very good but unorthodox, he is unteachable in art. (He has no interest in others' techniques - I am not an artist so maybe that is par for the course). Way back when he was barley 3 years old, he could already draw in 3 dimensions, with perfect scale and perspective - he even gave shadows to his pictures ... sorry, boasting a bit, he's quite good. I gahave seen him draw with his eyes closed, it seems he knows what he is going to draw when he first puts his pencil down - he sometimes doesn't lift the pencil till the picture is done. No erasures. I guess that is just called natural ability. It is a shame that when he is struggling through the tedium of school work, he loses his inspiration. Summer is his prolific time.
I was thinking about my son john - it sounds like a difficult distinction to make. I think that one difference may be that AS kids, john for one, tend to look at the mouths of people they are talking to, not always the eyes. I think that John's brain has a hard time learning who is who and recognizing people that he "should" recognize. He uses alot of eye contact, but I think he looks at things that move the most and misses the details of the face- that is a trait of AS/. I don't know anything about the other thing, (SAd) never heard of it (sheepish).
Oh yes and rocking...
I am sorry. I was acting like a mother on a tangent. I was relating some similarities with (others here) that I was enthusiastic about. I happen to love when others find unorthodox ways of doing things as I am not in the least bit creative. My point was spatial skills and their possible realtionship to John being terible with nu,bers and at math. Conversely, that John's profile might not fit in the category of avoidant PD - becasue his art abilities when young (he was not aspie-like then to be sure) were more austic savant. Also, feel better, the more he tries to keep up with the NT world, the less inspired he is art wise. That is sad for me. It is almost like he will need to make a choice, to develop himself more one way or the other. (though he has no choice right now)
Batman - John can draw and sketch and duplicate things, he can't paint or sculpt etc., He has no friends and not because he is avoidant, but because he misunderstands good intentions along with the actual bad intentions he has experienced.