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Uneven Skills

ancusmitis

ancusmitis

Well-Known Member
This is off of something that progster said in one of the (numerous) IQ threads.

Progster said:
I don't believe that autism itself affects IQ, as IQ levels among the autisic population are so varied, but is often the case that many autistic people have an uneven spread of abilities - for example, being very mathetically minded, but not good at learning languages - or, in my case, the opposite.
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This is something I have heard before and early researchers mention it, but I don't seem to hear or see a lot about it that is very recent. I know there is a trend of interpreting autism as exclusively social, but the original populations Asperger and Kanner studied had a lot more things in common than just social/communication issues. This is one of them.

Autism, of course, has been redefined multiple times since then. So I'm curious. Does anyone else feel this applies to them? Are there things you struggle with even though they are "easy" while you excel at things people consider "hard?" Did you meet some milestones early and others late?
 
I met all my milestones either on time or early. But yeah, hard and easy do seem pretty reversed. Most people were good at English, I was not. I would say it was the hardest subject for me at GCSE (14-16). One particular module people found easy, I got an E on that one. Yeah, not good, and that was me trying my best. I found math/science easier than... well, anything. It should be the other way round, I think.
 
This is definitely something I have experienced. Like unsurewhattoname, I met a lot of milestones on time or early--I read at a middle school level by age 6, for example, and I currently test extremely high verbally. But my verbal skills are reading / writing / vocabulary; I get easily confused by spoken language. Also, my visual and spatial abilities are very strong, I love to work with my hands, and love geometry. But other mathematics confuses me, I get numbers mixed up easily. Science concepts are fine if I can visualize them, if I have to calculate I am lost. It's hard to keep a rhythm in music, though I have always enjoyed making and listening to it, and even compose occasionally. My biggest example of uneven skills for which I was tested is processing speed, which is well below average. I know that is one that Temple Grandin has discussed from her own experience.
 
Definitely, while I did meet my milestones early or on time I excel in written language, music, color and pattern coordination (interior decorating, wardrobe planning, etc...) and written communication. (verbal not so much without a lot of preparation and memorizing.) I couldn't add two triple digit numbers without a calculator if it meant my entire pay for a month and, I'm horrible at actually using the proper names for common objects in spoken communication, I tend to describe them, like a salt shaker filled with salt becomes "that glass bottle with the white stuff in it." Just one of the oddities of how my brain works.

I am lousy at estimating how long a task will take to complete and, I can't judge distances beyond my own height worth a darn, I'm also lousy at judging speed, having cruise control has spared me many speeding ticket, and lawyers have bailed me out of more that I care to admit, a few I've had to actually pay.

My processing speed is also a good deal below average unless it's one of my special interests (music or cooking) then my brain processes and fires back information at lightning speed, well above average. I wonder if that is true of other Aspies as well? Do we process slower on most things and faster on our obsessions? Is that a part of why we prefer to talk about those things rather than chit chat in general?
 
For processing, I've found it depends on what it is. Note that I haven't been tested, just observation. Verbal instructions I absolutely cannot process, it's way too slow, so I need instructions written down so I can take it one step at a time. My parents ask me to do a lot of errands which I'm fine doing if it's clear and written, but if it's verbal it actually hurts my brain for some reason. As in physically hurts. But visual is fast. I can quickly walk down aisles and scan the entire thing for what I'm looking for. It's like visual is easily just going directly inside my brain, whereas verbal is taking the entire outside route slowly to the centre. Weird how I can scan an entire aisle yet not take in more than one instruction at a time.
 
Verbal doesn't work for me either I have to write things down maybe then do them 10+ times then it's ingrained forever
 
I can do verbal instructions if I or the one giving them can put them into a single sentence that I can remember. for example if I'm supposed to go to town to see my doctor, get milk and beer at the store, have the oil changed in the car and, bring home sub sandwiches, I can say. "Milk the doctor for beer and oiled subs." I know it makes no senses as is but, every word in that sentence reminds me of something I need to do and, when I run out of words, it's all done.

If I can't get it all into a single sentence, I need a written list.
 
That's I great idea I'm going to give that a try.
I forgot to hang the washing out this morning so we are now getting a notice board where my chores will be posted so I don't forget.
Long term stuff my memory is insane I can remember word for word conversations from when I was like 17 but my immediate memories suck
 
Beverly said:
I'm horrible at actually using the proper names for common objects in spoken communication, I tend to describe them, like a salt shaker filled with salt becomes "that glass bottle with the white stuff in it." Just one of the oddities of how my brain works.
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I have this difficulty too. It takes me a long time to find the right words to use; I have to scan through all the similar words / associated words in my head and yes, sometimes it is easier to describe the associations. Or point and grunt :)

Beverly said:
My processing speed is also a good deal below average unless it's one of my special interests (music or cooking) then my brain processes and fires back information at lightning speed, well above average. I wonder if that is true of other Aspies as well? Do we process slower on most things and faster on our obsessions? Is that a part of why we prefer to talk about those things rather than chit chat in general?
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Yes, my mind goes at such a rapid pace with my interests it overwhelms people. And that confuses them. They don't understand how I can be so d*** quick with things I care about, and so slow with normal, everyday stuff. But it's because I've built an extensive network of neural connections around my interests, at the expense of many other things, I guess. It's like being in the city, with so many streets that are all interconnected. But take me outside my interests, it's like being on a very rural road, with no intersections for miles. To get anywhere I would have to travel a longer and less direct route.
 
It's a common trait amongst us, so much so that I don't know why it's not in the diagnostic criteria yet. I can drive a vehicle without much difficulty, yet simple conversation goes over my head most of the time. Can't fix a vehicle either (heh), yet I know my way around a computer, right?

And it's not just practical skills either; I have an IQ assessment from my diagnosis papers and a bizarre developmental history that can testify on my behalf. Both Kanner's and Asperger's patients were very similar in this regard - early splinter skills and the like that were well out of line with their initial presentation.
 
I have very uneven skills. When I was in high school, I got mostly A's and F's, A's in math and science classes and F's in English and history. In other words, A's in the classes that I liked and F's in the classes that I did not like. I still do better than most at some subjects and worse than most at others. One of the biggest quandary's in my life is the fact that I can understand concepts that people around me can not, but yet can not understand why people do all of the illogical things that they do.
 
im good at most things which is lucky, i find being artistic creative and musical hardest but most more academic things i find fairly easy (which is good), but i do sometimes wish i could be more artistic and creative i have a feeling it would help me express my emotions and feelings better. at GCSE i got 3 A* 7 A AND 1 B which is pretty good but i wasn't doing anything artistic or creative as i know i would have done badly, my good grades have continued through A level and university but again im only doing what im good at.
 
unsurewhattoname said:
Give yourself credit, that's more than "pretty good". 10 A*/As is amazing.
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it was pretty average in the posh school i went to most of my friend got around the same or slightly better, i got A*BB for a level which is so much harder, im super happy about my first for my first year in university (nearly the highest in the whole intake year), but i still wish i could be artistic and creative its embarrassing how bad i am at art and music and thinking about languages too (but that's normal if you are British being generally bad at learning languages).
 
When I was at school, I was good at languages and at sciences, but I couldn't do algebra or interpret poetry. I was also very slow to finish tasks, and never managed to finish before the teacher stopped the class. Having enough time to finish exams was an issue, but strangely I did better in the exams than I expected, perhaps because they were conducted in silence, I could concentrate better and had fewer distractions.
 
I always have a hard time finishing too. I will often leave an exam on the tail end of the essay question, because I try to give my writing as fair a degree of polish as I can.
Progster said:
When I was at school, I was good at languages and at sciences, but I couldn't do algebra or interpret poetry. I was also very slow to finish tasks, and never managed to finish before the teacher stopped the class. Having enough time to finish exams was an issue, but strangely I did better in the exams than I expected, perhaps because they were conducted in silence, I could concentrate better and had fewer distractions.
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ancusmitis said:
I always have a hard time finishing too. I will often leave an exam on the tail end of the essay question, because I try to give my writing as fair a degree of polish as I can.
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Essays were always a frantic panic to finish them in time. I'm a very slow writer and they were always a mess and difficult to read. It took a long time before I learned to write essays well, and then to pace myself in exams. I scored very low at English literature for this reason, but when I went to university I got some help and improved.
 
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