I'm actually am a 19 year old with autism.I developed it when I was 18 due to a seizure unlike most who develope it in their early years.I was just wondering if it's true that people with Autism have low intelligence.I have read that alot of times.I heard that some of them are even mentally retarded.I certainly beleive that to be false.Cause I actually have an IQ of 146 and I also have a very severe autistic disorder.If it's true that how come I have such a high IQ.I'm sure Bill gates or Einstein was autistic.How come they are geniuses with IQ's of 160.

You wrote that are autistic. What are your autistic symptoms?
You grown autistic at 18 months or years? This is important to reply you.
Infact, if you get autism at 18 yrs your mental development has been normal and complete. Therefore you haven't any problem at this level. Instead, when the onset of autism begin at few years it's evident that strong mental problems create which, in turn, generate an altered psychophysical development.

[This message has been edited by maglioned (edited 07-16-2003).]

On the contrary autistic kids have been known to be very intelligent but most do fall into the mental retardation range to some degree. I do not know if this is because we cannot truly test them on a IQ scale as a normal child or if they do indeed have a mental disability that goes along with the autism. People with Aspergers are indeed very intelligent and are usually labled. Unsocial nerds. (no putdown intended). Idiot savants are something that are talked of but rarely exist in reality. Rainman was a good example of that. I have never heard of anyone developing autism at 18 years of age. Is that even possible? I wonder if you have be dx wrong. But I could very well be wrong myself I am in no way an expert. I just have a nephew with low functioning autism. Perhaps that has something to do with is also. The higher functioning maybe the more intelligence. I am just speculating on that though. Anyone know of any facts pertaining to this?

Don't believe that! Autistic people are known to have VERY high IQs. Some people just love to make you feel stupid just b/c they have ignorance from not understanding what they are talking about.

Every person with autism is so different in intellegence. When I was just out of high school, I got a job in a preschool and that is where I first met an autistic child. He was a genius at 3. He new how to add, subtract, and multiply numbers and could spell anything. Now one taught him, he taught himself. The things that made him different from the other kids was that he was not social, walked on his toes, hand flapped and talked in a robotic voice....other then that, his IQ was definently higher then the rest of the kids. I went on to have a child myself that developed autism just before his second b-day, and he is of normal intellegence....he's a little behind in his school work, but not much. From joining support groups and enrolling my son in therapy for autistic kids, I am around many, and it seems like there are a lot of kids that have some retardation. Everyone is just so different........it all just depends on the individual.