Once you dive deeper, you can see there are some important differences. For example, a gifted child may present an extensive and advanced vocabulary with a rich verbal style. A child on the autism spectrum may have an advanced use of vocabulary, but they may not have full comprehension of the language they use.
Giftedness can lead to misdiagnosis
Children who are gifted may have behaviors that look like ADHD or autism. “One of the things we know about gifted children almost universally is that they are intense,” says psychologist James T. Webb, who specializes in them.
The difference is that the gifted child may be more selective and able to filter out and discard certain sources of information whereas the child with Asperger's will not (Cash). The child with Asperger's will simply memorize everything there is to know about a cer- tain and sometimes bizarre topic.
Research shows that more than half of all autistic individuals have an above-average IQ, while roughly 16% have an IQ higher than 130. But having high intelligence doesn't mean that autistic individuals don't experience some challenges associated with the diagnosis.
Are People With Autism Smart? People with autism can be smart, but autism itself doesn't make people smarter. Autism also doesn't guarantee intelligence, though many people with ASD do well in academics, in the workforce, and in IQ tests.
About 70% of autistic people have an intellectual disability, which means they have an IQ lower than 70. The remaining 30% have intelligence that ranges from average to gifted. Autism and intelligence are two separate characteristics. A person can be autistic with any level of intelligence.
Autism Prevalence
31% of children with ASD have an intellectual disability (intelligence quotient [IQ] <70), 25% are in the borderline range (IQ 71–85), and 44% have IQ scores in the average to above average range (i.e., IQ >85). Autism affects all ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
Not All Autistics Are Mathematic Savants, But Many Have Above-Average Math Abilities. It turns out that, despite impressions, most ASD patients may not be any better at math than their counterparts at a particular age or developmental stage.
The starting engine for that talent is an extraordinary eye for detail. For autistic people, there seems to be a different balance between the details and the bigger picture. Autistic people struggle to recognise what other people are thinking intuitively, but this gives them an advantage in avoiding herd mentality.
Gifted students have abilities that exceed those of their typical peers. They learn faster, are inquisitive, curious, and are able to quickly understand complex concepts. However, some gifted students have behavioral problems that correspond with ADHD, so much so that they are diagnosed with the disorder.
All gifted children may be viewed as smart, but not all smart children are gifted. To put it briefly, a smart child can answer a question correctly. However, a gifted child grasps the question deeply and goes beyond the answer, one step beyond the question because of their perfectionism.
While gifted children may not be any more susceptible to mental health issues as other adolescents, there are certain aspects of giftedness that may influence or amplify a gifted child's experience of mental health issues.
Social development and skills: gifted and talented children
Gifted children can think faster and/or more deeply than other children their age. So they're often good at imagining what it's like to be in somebody else's situation. Sometimes these qualities mean your gifted and talented child gets along well with others.
But being gifted means a lot more. It means a child's brain works differently – it's wired to absorb, master, and synthesize information more efficiently and effectively than an average person's.
Sensory Issues
Many people with autism experience sensory processing disorder. This is more commonly known as sensory overload. Noise, crowds, bright lights, strong tastes, smells, and being touched can feel unbearable to someone with HFA. This makes going to restaurants, movies, and shopping malls difficult.
Memorising and learning information quickly. Thinking and learning in a visual way. Logical thinking ability. May excel (if able) in academic areas such as science, engineering and mathematics as they are technical and logical subjects that do not heavily rely on social interaction.
Finally, we recently observed in a larger sample of patients, who presented in specialized outpatient clinics for ASD, a bimodal IQ distribution within ASD individuals [38.2% below average intelligence (i.e., IQ < 85), 40% with above average intelligence (IQ > 115) and 21.8% with an average intelligence (IQ between 85 ...
Nikolas Tesla - Tesla was another genius who displayed characteristics of autism, having several extreme phobias, severe sensitivity to light and sound, and an obsession with the number 3. His work also created the modern world as we know it, hugely creative and inventive.
Autism is very distinct from ADHD, but the core symptoms of ADHD-Combined type, i.e., attention deficit, impulsivity, and hyperactivity, would appear to also be features of autism. ASD and ADHD are neurobiological disorders characterized by similar underlying neuropsychological “deficits”.
Someone who is considered a savant may be especially skilled in art, math, music, memory recall, or another subject. Savant syndrome is commonly associated with autism but can occur alongside other conditions.
Autism prevalence has increased 178% since 2000. The country with the highest rate of diagnosed autism in the world is Qatar, and the country with the lowest rate is France. Around 4 times as many boys have autism as girls. The rate of autism in the U.S. went from 1 in 150 in 2000 to 1 in 100 in 2022.
However, the fitness tests showed that aerobic fitness, flexibility and body mass index of children with autism spectrum disorders was similar to the children without autism. The strength test was the only one that children with autism spectrum disorders did not perform as well in, the study said.
Autistic people are thought to have difficulties with identifying and understanding their own emotions. This is referred to as emotional self-awareness.