I watched Child Genius on Channel 4 last night and last week’s first episode too. I always find Genius documentaries interesting because all geniuses are autistic savants. But the word ‘Autism’ was not mentioned once throughout the documentary, because to most people, Autism is something WRONG with the brain; not something RIGHT with it. So […]
Category: Autism
Disregard for Authority – ASD Symptom
Appearing to having a disregard for people in authority is a major clue that someone is on the autistic spectrum. If you think that must include all individuals who regularly misbehave, then yes, those are the numbers we are talking about, that potentially have ASD. This symptom also inlcudes resenting being told what to do. […]
Autistic Kids Don’t Copy Pointless Actions
A new study of children with autism, finds that they miss out actions they deem to be pointless, when copying adults. Rachael Rettner, writes of the study at MyHealthNewsDaily. While children without an autism diagnosis copied every step of a task that an adult showed them, the autistic children only did the steps they thought […]
Abused Women Have Autistic Kids
I blogged the other day about a scientific experiment where the findings resulted in researchers making some assumptions. Today I’ve found another example of such assumptions. This time it’s the scientists and doctors of the Harvard School of Public Health that are jumping to conclusions. They say that abused women have autistic kids. More specifically […]
Doctors Link 5 Psychiatric Disorders
A recent study written about in The New York Times has found that five different disorders share several “genetic glitches” that eventually cause mental illness. The study that was published in The Lancet this week, includes the following five disorders: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, major depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. They first discovered a […]
The Growing Pains of a Teenage Genius
This week I was lucky to catch a TV documentary from last year on BBC iPlayer while it was still available; The Growing Pains of a Teenage Genius, about a 13-year-old autistic savant, Cameron Thompson, who was doing an Open University degree course in mathematics. He has a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome and he doesn’t […]
Big Brother
I have a love/hate relationship with Big Brother, the TV show. Sometimes I hate the pettiness of some of the small-minded people, and an awful lot of the people attracted to applying for a show like this are very insecure, egotistical, selfish, argumentative, intolerant… …hang on a minute…? 😉 – which brings me to why […]
Argumentative: ASD Symptom
This is another big sign that someone is on the autistic spectrum, even if only mildly. I think there are several reasons that people with ASD will regularly argue with others. Their lack of perception will prevent them from recognising when and where is not the right time and place to get into an argument. […]
Poor Relationships – ASD Symptom
Because obsession is part of a lot of ASD lives, some people on the autistic spectrum seem to go crazy when they fall for someone; they become an emotional wreck, and make themselves really ill. Unrequited love is a common thing for people with High Functioning Autism. In extreme cases, some will develop stalker-like behavior, […]
Devout Animal Lovers – ASD Symptom
The bonds between autistic children and pets can be very strong. This is believed to be because sensory issues are common among autistic kids, and stroking an animal’s fur provides sensory stimulation and has a calming effect. Animals also easily hold their attention. This is why dogs and horses are often used in specially designed […]
Does Karl Pilkington Have Aspergers?
Many believe Karl Pilkington has Asperger Syndrome, and I definitely think so too. In fact he appears to have so many symptoms of Aspergers, that I believe he is a “text book case” for high functioning Aspergers. For those who don’t know, Karl was a radio producer on a show Ricky Gervais worked on. Ricky […]
Unable to Handle Stress: ASD Symptom
This is probably one of the biggest symptoms, and it took me years to actually figure out the connection. It’s very difficult to summarize in just a few words what almost all high functioning people on the autistic spectrum have in common. But Unable (or less able) to handle stress well” – aka Anxiety is […]