Can giftedness become autism?

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Giftedness can mask autism, but cannot become autism. Autism is a developmental disability and something we're born with. Our brains are actually wired different than NTs brains are.

i would think not.
i was assessed as being "talented", but not "gifted".

gifted people have extraordinarily adaptive minds. what ever they turn their attention to, they can master.

"talented" people have abilities in selective areas only, and they have (i was told) more ability in those selective areas than gifted people would.

but gifted people are able to exercise their wits in ANY situation, and "talented" people are able to investigate strongly (like a drill) only into what are their interests are.

ne'er the twain do meet

I have been identified as gifted and I have many aspie traits. I'm not sure if I actually have AS or not.

My conclusion is that I'm in the BAP range, with certain traits, such as introversion and special interests exacerbated by giftedness.

This is after literally hundreds of hours of research, and I'm still not 100% sure.

Autistic people can be savants and I suppose that some autistic people can be gifted, however this does not mean that all gifted people are autistic. Giftedness and autism are not the same thing.

Giftedness cannot become autism, regardless of how much the gifted person isolates himself. A gifted NT adult will not lose his natural ability to execute the automatic motor and speech functions necessary to greet a person who has greeted him, while a gifted autistic adult may try his hardest and still fail to execute these functions, if he has not mentally prepared himself to execute these functions. Greetings - the most basic of social functions - can delineate the difference between a gifted NT and a gifted autistic, such that the giftedness itself is no longer a conflating factor. Just sneak up on an autistic person to greet him, and watch as he becomes totally discombobulated and fails to respond in any semblance of a socially conventional manner.

You're going to have to make a distinction between Autism and Asperger's then (which I understand that the DSMV will not make), because I'm diagnosed Asperger's, and that's totally untrue of me. I may be startled and "jump" if someone sneaks up on me when I think I'm alone, but will immediately have both motor functions and speech, and say more or less the "right" things.

I also have more creativity and adaptability than B9 would allow me.

There is no need to make a distinction between Autism and Asperger's in my example. I did not say that all gifted autistic adults would fail to greet people appropriately. I said "a gifted autistic adult may try his hardest and still fail to execute these functions". Greetings "can delineate the difference between a gifted NT and a gifted autistic", but I am sure that this does not hold true in every single case of an autistic person responding to greetings.

Also, autistic people can have neurotypical traits, just as neurotypical people can have autistic traits. Being able to immediately respond to unexpected greetings with an appropriate greeting of your own is one of your neurotypical traits. Some autistic people have this trait, other autistic people do not have this trait, and it is not outside the realm of possibility that I, currently lacking this trait, may develop it at some point in the future.

NO!

Next question?

::Fearfully lowers his hand::

Sociopaths, as are CEOs...who else can so easily manipulate people's emotions with so little regard for their welfare?



FYI, the voight-kanpff test is from bladerunner/"do androids dream of electric sheep"

Educational psychologists call this being "twice exceptional." Giftedness can apparently mask other issues such as dyslexia. Programs for twice exceptional students are hard to come by particularly because there are so many combinations of twice exceptionality.

Lydia

I have Asperger's and I'm gifted, and I can say that we are a lot different from the NT gifted. I was a lot smarter in almost every field than even most of the other gifted kids, but I still had serious problems with social skills and such, a lot more than any of the NT kids, even though my social skills were quite a bit better than the other autistic kids and I actually managed to get out the Special Ed classes. No, being gifted cannot turn you autistic, even if you have autistic traits, being autistic is something you are born with.

Well, yes, but my point was that a 2e kid might be viewed as only gifted despite being autistic as well, not that 2e kids exist. That kid who was viewed as only gifted, when put into different situations, would have the fact that they're actually 2e come out, but it was developed from giftedness, it was only masked by it.

This is different than being twice exceptional and it being known that you're twice exceptional, because the gifted aspect is completely obscuring the disability. Someone who is known to be both dyslexic and gifted, has the traits of both, but the giftedness doesn't make people not realize that the person is dyslexic.


The complete masking is what happened to me personally. While I was young people never associated me an autism because of me being gifted. My autistic traits were there, but only thought to be gifted traits. When I went to a specialized high school, then the connection began to be made that I wasn't just gifted, I was twice exceptional. Eventually, after finishing a Bachelor's Degree, I was diagnosed, but looking back, you can clearly see the autistic traits in my for my entire life, despite the fact that I was viewed as "only" a gifted child when I was younger.

Before Asperger's Syndrome was a diagnosis, I was gifted.

I'd say yes, autism can masquerade as run-of-the-mill giftedness. We do have odd development--jumps and starts, uneven skills, even savant abilities. Usually those things make us seem behind, but I wouldn't be surprised to see that on some kids, especially very young kids, those skills happened to pan out in a way that made them particularly good at taking IQ tests. If that were the case, then sure, your "gifted" kid could actually be autistic. (Or autistic and gifted, both.) In my case, autism was mistaken for giftedness for years despite the very real disabilities associated with my autistic traits--these were put down to "rebellion" and a "dramatic personality".

The idea that autistic people can't be smart has probably been quite harmful to gifted autistics, struggling without the help they need to get by in a world that wasn't made for either gifted people or autistic people.

There is considerable overlap in the challenges associated with intellectual giftedness and (High functioning) Autism