Prodigies, Essay Example

Autistic individuals allow researchers to study a particular kind of intelligence through the behavior that they portray to other individuals. The theory of mind is mostly used as a basis of learning the intelligence and human behavior and serves as a core principle researcher’s use to rate individuals relative to autistic (Sacks, Oliver, 1995, 98). Theory of mind is defined as the ability of an individual to attribute mental states of beliefs, knowledge, desires and intentions to himself/herself and others and develop an understanding that others have different desires, believes, and intentions from his/her. Autistic individuals have an impairment of theory of mind this is the reason why they have it hard in taking perspectives. Autistic people only see things from their perspective and not any other unlike other individuals with theory of mind. Autistic individuals evidently show poor or limited social relationships, communication skills which are under developed, and perform repetitive activities, interests and behaviors.

Specialists studying a given intelligence may test a particular generic and neurological problem within individuals so that they will be able to figure out if the individual is autistic or not. Autistic individuals show quite different neurological responses as compared with those others; they may bee too sensitive to touch or feeling to an extent that they behave strangely when touched. These unique behaviors they have made allow the researchers to study certain intelligence in humankind.

By Sacks, Oliver, (1995, 184) Autism intelligent individuals are “low functioning” they have high level of intelligence but low IQ. They have unusual behavior e.g. flapping their hands, rocking, spinning etc. Such intelligences make some of the sense(s) to be over used and overwhelmed and can not notice. They are good at non-verbal behaviors eye-eye- guess, body postures and gesturers so as to regulate social interaction. On the other hand average intelligent individuals perform at average level; they have high IQ and have good verbal ability. Autistic intelligence is simple, low-level, and perceptual expertise that only enables the autistics to and allows autistics to solve problems using rote memory. Average intelligence rarely deploys cognitive processes in performing many tasks which is a typical feature in autistic intelligence. Individuals with average intelligence score well in verbal tests and IQ tests whereas autistic individuals may score below IQ cut off but perform better and out do average intelligent individual in nonverbal tests and tests which test ones ability to infer rules an to think logically about geometric patens.

Autistics are actually gifted individuals in the society; they act as scientists, visionaries, diplomats, inventor’s artists, and musicians. These gifts may be seen as defects because artistic individuals seem to be obsessed with one skill or doing one thing repetitively alone but the end result proves that they are not freaks when they come up with a new song, invention and technology. Autistic individuals may come up with unusual inventions or ideas especially at the young ages or even before they could be expected that they can come up with such things. One may call them freaks since they behave abnormally fro m average individual but one thing remains; they are gifted in that area and that is their point of strength. Since they lack eye contact, are introverts, and lack social integration they are gifted in that area so that they also have some thing they identify themselves with (Sacks, Oliver, 1995, 167). On the other hand autistics may be referred to as freaks if they don’t use the gifts they have or practice those gifts to perfect them. For instance a very good musician who does not practice may become a servant autistic or a freak.

Works cited
Sacks, Oliver. An Anthropologist on Mars. New York: Vintage Books, 1995.