Do some autistic people have special abilities that other people dont have?

Question

I have met several people with autism that have extrordinary capabilities. I met a girl who was autistic but played the piano by ear, I have a relative you has an amazingly out of this world memory, an autisitc girl who had amazing writing/verbal skills. So I want to know if it is common to meet autistic people who have "special powers"?

Answer 1

Some have very special abilities take a look at the links.

Answer 2

people with autism have different gifts that are more gifted than people that might have trained to have a special talent. No I wouldnt say they have special powers but special gift that they seem to have been place in their heads.  The pros to autistic people are they have great special abilities, but meanwhile  they struggle with little things that we so called normal people do atuomatically like holding a conversation, eye contact, behaving correctly, whining and crying, having outburst, tantrums for what looks like no reason just to name a few.

Answer 3

hiya i work with kids with autism, they are special in unique ways but they ain't got special powers or else i would be a millionaire ha, some do have amazing abilities and others don't but they all got summit about them majority of time they have other learning disabilities which limits them in general. but for example one of my students has a excellent memory and can tell you the date and time you were born within seconds, and some create excellent art work, and can play musical instruments quite well, it just depends on the individual.

Answer 4

It is called having savaunt like skills. And it is a huge misnomer amoung the autistic community. Yes there are many cases of people with autism (mainly aspergers) who can do magnificent things. There are even more cases where the student have cognitive deficits that inhibit them from learning as much as their typical peers.

The thing about autism is that it is a disability that effects the persons receptive and expressive abilities so what comes in may not come out and vice versa.

Answer 5

yes, many autistic children have a tendency to block out many parts of "normal" everyday life, but they have the capablities to excel in other areas. There is a book out called "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" and it is very helpful with explaining the life of an autistic child.

Answer 6

Yes, it is very common and I will call it "Special abilities".

I know this child who can read. He is in "Kindergarten ", he can count backwards from 100 and recite the alphabet both ways.

He hates music  and computers.

Answer 7

Autistic people don't possess special powers. They do usually lack any social awareness and the distractions it brings. Therefore they are able to usually concentrate fully on what interests them. For example my daughter is autistic and is unable to do everyday things such as dressing herself or crossing the road. She is however a genius at maths and will spend all day working on very difficult maths problems.

Answer 8

Many autistic people have interests that they keenly focus in on (for instance, they may know everything there is to know about trains), sometimes to the point where they may be so obsessed their favorite subject that it's all they talk about.  However, many people have the misconception that autistics posess savantism, a condition in which an autistic or otherwise handicapped person has extraordinary abilities in a certain area.  David Tammet is an example of savantism, in which he has an extraordinary capacity for language (he learned Finnish in one week).

However, savatism is very rare and occurs about 1 in 1,000 autistic individuals.

Answer 9

One of my kiddies has aspergers-a form of autism and although he cant play piano-hes on the gifted and talented cohort for everyone of his school subjects apart from pe and music. he could hold a conversation with the cleverest adult and understand them perfectly-he can talk about historic events in such detail-that puts me (a high school worker) to shame. he is the most genuine loving child but sadly very few people put up with him for long as hes too quick for them-so no he hasnt got special powers but he he extra ordinary clever

Answer 10

Special  Powers?  I  don't  think  there  is  .  But  autistic  people  has  this  ability  to  be  superior  in  one  field.  That  is  , they  tend  to  be  exceptionally  superior  on  a  particular skill.  That  could  be  explained due  to  the  attention  that  they  give  and  also  the  desire/ passion  that  they give as  they  do  the  thing  that  they  like.

Answer 11

There certainly has been research to show that some autistic children have extraordinary abilities. Some have a knack for music, art, counting, ect. I don't know if I would say its common- and by that I mean many of their extraordinary abilities will sometimes never be seen depending on the severity of their autism, but it is definitely possible. Many autistic children also have some form of OCD with it as well. And sometimes it is that obsessive disorder that can aid in their particular gift.

Isn't that amazing! Where most people in the world would just pass them over they can have amazing gifts and talents and their disorder doesn't hold them back.