PDD-NOS/AS vs. Giftedness?

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Has anyone had a look at this before?

http://www.sengifted.org/articles_couns ... rder.shtml

Some of you may find it very interesting, others no so much. What really shocked me though was the distinction they drew - that interactions become very normal when gifted meet people like themselves and reciprocal behavior happens naturally. I've had people tell me that all my life, mostly in the sense that I was horridly ridiculed in school for being different, then on the outside there were a lot of people who knew me and felt like I was perfectly normal. I even had a big divide back in my early 20's where I had a landslide of friends and acquaintances but worked at a restaurant where the brazen assumption was that I was a geek/loser/mentally stunted, for a long time people truly believed that I was the bottom and belonged at the bottom and strangely enough that didn't change much until there were some people who started working there who were both gifted and happened to be social butterflies.

I was dx'd with PDD-NOS in 1991, I have enough reason to believe that there was a lot of truth to that in certain childhood behaviors, but I really have to wonder at this point in my life and even looking at my teens - how much of my problems were 'AS' issues and how much were 'gifted'? I'm really starting to think it was much more the later. When you look at a lot of the bullying cases as well that have been in the news you notice that you have some people who were perhaps torn down for alternate expression, some perhaps that had obvious disabilities, but then you also had many who had none of the above but had unique personalities - and it seems to go to its absolute worst when those who are unique or different have traits, styles, or strengths that could disturb or disrupt local social hierarchy.

Although I realize I can't regret the past - things are what they are and exactly what they would have been no matter what - I'm starting to realize that I really could have used this kind of insight a long time ago. I look around and do see that some places in the US do already have organized structures, and the best part - life coaches for gifted adults rather than psychologists. I notice that with my best friends as well - they share similar problems, similar loneliness in their ability to share their feelings, ideas, and emotions, and often times I think we all come up short of our own potentials because - while we have something driving us absolutely crazy to succeed and make big things happen in one way or another - we all end up stumped on what that exactly is, how to do it, or how to find resources or people who will work with us. Life coaches are a bit more like guidance counselors but to a more profound level who can supposedly give you better ideas on what your strengths and weaknesses are, suggestions on where you can go, what kinds of careers you'd fit into well, what to do with feeling socially misfit in many if not most situations, etc.. Then again I am just reading this today, it sounds amazing but admittedly this is theory - I have yet to talk to anyone who's gone through professional coaching/mentoring to know if its all that its cracked up to be.

I wanted to share this just because - I don't know how often this is really discussed or offered as a big or influential dynamic with us, and perhaps for many if not most of us our bigger problems do in fact come more from giftedness than being on spectrum? I figure at lot of people will at least find this somewhat useful.

I can tell you that if someone were to observe me, they would know immediately who I am comfortable with. To those I am not, and don't have a structured way to interact with, I likely will not interact much, yet once I become familiar with a person, and comfortable around them, I will seem like a totally different person, even going to the extent of (somewhat) being social.

I have recently been labled ASD/Gifted and I too wonder where the one ends and the other begins. I have NO problem whatsoever interacting with my intellectual peers and never have that I can recall.

I am a gifted person with PDD-NOS as well.

No one knows what causes autism. People are sometimes surprised to find out that autism and giftedness can coexist, but I believe that every once in a while, giftedness can cause autism. Maybe the person is gifted in the "wrong" way, preferring nonsocial input over social/emotional input, and that manifests itself as autism. Maybe the "intense world syndrome" kicks in and produces autistic traits (which I believe is the case for me). Maybe the person develops autistic traits as a result of lack of stimulation in early childhoos (although I imagine this would be limited only to the profoundly gifted).

People with AS/PDD are gifted in areas related to their special interests. Gifted people are gifted in all areas. That's the best answer that I can come up with. People on the high end of the spectrum also have a hard time socializing, where as gifted people usually don't have that problem because many of them can be NT as well as AS.

This is an interesting article: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art62657.asp
"Hollingworth describes the notion of “optimal intelligence”...Her premise is that the most favorable range for development as a “successful and well-rounded personality” is between 125 and 155 IQ... Sadly, she goes on to say, “ ...But those of 170 IQ and beyond are too intelligent to be understood by the general run of persons with whom they make contact. They are too infrequent to find many congenial companions. They have to contend with loneliness and with personal isolation from their contemporaries throughout the period of immaturity.”

This one is also interesting: http://www.sengifted.org/articles_couns ... rder.shtml
"Gifted adults (people with a very high intelligence; 2% of the population) sometimes are not able to function adequately at work. Their high intelligence can cause them to dysfunction when adapting to the work situation, sometimes leading to absenteeism and disability. "

I've struggled forever with ASD/Gifted and don't feel I'm getting closer to answers....I am looking forward to hearing from others.

I think the disproportionate IQs leaning towards the very high range posted here could be a result of them being misdiagnosed as AS instead of gifted.

But then again all of the so-called gifted children I am familiar with usually have a lot of charisma and social ability.

I found "gifted" people even harder to interact with than "regular" people. And "gifted" bullies were a nightmare from hell.

There's going to be a new show on The Science Channel called Ingenious Minds about being gifted It premieres February 17th, probably around nine p m eastern time.
It's produced by the same people who are doing My Strange Addiction
The show will explore the difficulty in socializing some gifted people experience.

The bullies I'm talking about couldn't possibly be just a mistake like that. They planned out (sometimes in front of me) elaborate plans to mess with people's heads for fun, and worked together to really destroy people. Including me.