Hazel87
Active Member
Why is it that most people on the spectrum seem to struggle with verbal IQ and communication, delays in speaking, etc etc but then there is the 'subsection' for lack of a better term, of people on the spectrum (aspergers) who tend to have high verbal IQs, use sophisticated language early, etc and that apparently it's common for there to be uneven scores in IQ testing. For example, I score well into the gifted range in verbal IQ, I had no delay in speech that I'm aware of, reading, writing has always been second nature to me, it's my primary mode of expression (I suck at spoken word haha) but my scores in numerical reasoning, mathematics score basically into the "retarded" range. I'm not one of those aspies like Bill Gates who can understand technical stuff. I look at math and it's like trying to decode a language I don't speak and I've never been able to get past very basic math and really only with even numbers. Yet I've been able to understand, apply, analyse etc complex concepts, theories, philosophies since I was very young. My understanding is that this isn't uncommon in aspergers but is for the rest of the spectrum? True?
Why? Does anyone have any answers or theories? I feel that neurodiversity is way too complex to box it up into even a wide spectrum the way ASD has been and I think that sometimes hinders our ability to fully understand it. My niece is 25 (my sister and my mom were pregnant around the same time, so were all close in age haha) and she and I are VERY similar. Severe behavioral problems since early childhood, lots of labels, intellectually ahead of our peers in a lot of ways, etc but just struggled to be in this neurotypical society so hard. We both still do, although I think I'm a little better at 'passing' in appearance than her. She doesn't have the issues with math that I do, I suspect she would score well into the gifted range on an IQ test. She's more visual and language like I am, but no math issues. BUT, she doesn't have the issues with socializing like I do. I remember when we were young and we would party and I was down to do so with just her, maybe one other person max, I love to 'party' but only with certain people that I know very, very well... but she was always wanting to hang out with groups and had a lot of diverse friends. Me, I really only connect with certain people, usually we need to share some common primary interest otherwise I can't get past a surface level relationship. So, I don't think she would be classified as aspergers or on the spectrum, at least not by a professional. I do think she has traits though and that there are people with a lot of the traits who are clearly not neurotypical but don't quite fit into the box of the autism spectrum.
This is a whole other topic though, haha but I guess my main questions are, why? Is there any known reason for why aspergers on the spectrum differ slightly from the rest on the spectrum? Also, do you think that there are possibly more people on the spectrum who go under the radar, are misdiagnosed, etc because they don't present some of the key indicators of autism but present a plethora of others?
Why? Does anyone have any answers or theories? I feel that neurodiversity is way too complex to box it up into even a wide spectrum the way ASD has been and I think that sometimes hinders our ability to fully understand it. My niece is 25 (my sister and my mom were pregnant around the same time, so were all close in age haha) and she and I are VERY similar. Severe behavioral problems since early childhood, lots of labels, intellectually ahead of our peers in a lot of ways, etc but just struggled to be in this neurotypical society so hard. We both still do, although I think I'm a little better at 'passing' in appearance than her. She doesn't have the issues with math that I do, I suspect she would score well into the gifted range on an IQ test. She's more visual and language like I am, but no math issues. BUT, she doesn't have the issues with socializing like I do. I remember when we were young and we would party and I was down to do so with just her, maybe one other person max, I love to 'party' but only with certain people that I know very, very well... but she was always wanting to hang out with groups and had a lot of diverse friends. Me, I really only connect with certain people, usually we need to share some common primary interest otherwise I can't get past a surface level relationship. So, I don't think she would be classified as aspergers or on the spectrum, at least not by a professional. I do think she has traits though and that there are people with a lot of the traits who are clearly not neurotypical but don't quite fit into the box of the autism spectrum.
This is a whole other topic though, haha but I guess my main questions are, why? Is there any known reason for why aspergers on the spectrum differ slightly from the rest on the spectrum? Also, do you think that there are possibly more people on the spectrum who go under the radar, are misdiagnosed, etc because they don't present some of the key indicators of autism but present a plethora of others?
