How does autism affect intelligence of children?

My daughter is considered severely autistic and to answer your question.. She cant speak, or read.. use a computer or write a paper but she is very Intelligent. She has learned how to make her wants and needs known without being able to do any of the aforementioned. She has developed her own way of communicating when others said she couldn't. Intelligence is relative to how you look at it. Conventional way of thinking says intelligence is in books and studies but what about before these kinds of ways of going about gaining intelligence. When we discovered how to use fire when their was no manuel was a sign of intelligence. Autism effects intelligence based on the way they have to adapt to there level of functioning.. I was told my daughter would never be potty trained when she was 7 she decided she didn't want to **** on herself anymore and did it in the potty without me prompting her. Seemed to be pretty logical thinking to me.

My son has Asperberger's which a form of Autism. He is very high functioning and has difficulty with social interactions. Your first step would be to locate a developmental pediatrician. Try contacting the local Easter Seals program. Depending on the services your office provides they may have someone who can do a full evaluation. If your child is a little older they maybe seen by several people to go through an OT, PT, and speech evaluation. Write down everything you can think of . Developmental milestones, difficulties, strengths, etc. You will need this information for the evaluation. Once you get the results of the evaluation Easter seals will talk with you about the services available. If he is diagnosed Autistic then see if your area has an autism society. They are a great support and often offer everything from support groups, family activities and even individual activities for the kids. Best of luck.

Yes, it depends on what you consider "intelligence" . Do you mean the ability to get good grades in school, take tests, or get along in our society? Autism encompasses a broad spectrum of "severities" . The more mild or functional people with autism can function fairly well in our society yet they will often feel out of place in it. The more "severe" people with it can seem unintelligent but know much more than the people around them often give them credit for. Both ends of the spectrum take in the world different than non-autistics, so they can notice or focus on facts that other people do not notice or have the time to focus on. Therefore, depending on the people around them and the encouragement and nurturing they get, autistics can either seem highly intelligent or seem really unaware of things that non-autistics focus on, thus are deemed "unintelligent". Either-way people can learn much from both "types".

That's a remarkably complex question, staring with "what is intelligence?" You might want to take a look at some cognitive science papers having to do with autism.

It doesn't affect their intelligence unless we're talking kanners autism but they are generally rather intelligent but may do badly at school because they fail to understand why they should bother.

Go to the website: Autism Speaks