Misdiagnosis?

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Yeah, I didn't mean you can't be both. Of course you can. It's just that autism can be mistaken for giftedness when giftedness (as defined by "significantly higher than average ability in most or all areas of development") is not actually present. This is a problem because autism means there are real impairments present and they can go unnoticed and unaccommodated when people think that you are "just a gifted child".

If you're autistic, you are probably simultaneously really good at some things and really bad at other things--even if those average out to the normal range. But if they see the "really good" skills and mistake you for gifted, that can be a problem, because they're not going to have a clue that the "really bad" skills even exist. Of course the opposite can happen--they just see the "really bad" areas and think you've got a global delay. Not good either way.

I tend to call that sort of giftedness "being good at school"--it's more focused than the NT-gifted you see usually, but it sure is useful. Not that gifted NTs are all that neurotypical themselves; they do have unusual qualities, or they wouldn't be called gifted!

Gifted typical kids tend to be socially gifted too, but it's not impossible, I guess, to have delayed social skills plus giftedness... honestly, though, that kind of a jagged skill profile generally makes me think "autism".

I've always had many of the characteristics of giftedness, but even when I'm around other intelligent people of my age, I just don't connect with them.

However, finding alternate methods to solve problems such as those in math is an aspie trait.

As for whether math skills are an AS trait - I've found that aspies tend to be at the extremes much more often than NTs for math - both at the top and at the bottom. This only makes me want to teach aspies math more.