Background: The raised incidence of special abilities or ‘savant skills’ among individuals with ... more Background: The raised incidence of special abilities or ‘savant skills’ among individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) relative to other developmental disorders suggests an association between the traits characteristic of ASD and special abilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between special abilities and ASD-like traits.Methods: This study compared the scores of 6,426 8-year-olds with and without parent-reported special abilities on a screening questionnaire for ASD-like traits in three areas: social interaction, communication, and restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests. Measures of IQ, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES) were also compared.Results: From parent report, children with special abilities showed significantly more ASD-like traits than those without such abilities. General intelligence did not mediate this relationship: IQ was found to be positively associated with ability, but negatively associated with ASD-like traits. Special abilities were more strongly associated with restricted/repetitive characteristics than with social or communication traits.Conclusions: Results support the association between special abilities and ASD-like traits, and expand it to traits in the general population. The type of nonsocial traits most strongly associated with parental reports of special abilities suggests a link to a featural information processing style, or ‘weak central coherence’.
Fifty‐six secondary school students with and without social emotional and behavioural difficultie... more Fifty‐six secondary school students with and without social emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBDs) completed self‐report measures of their strengths and difficulties, self‐concept and social identity, cognitive attributional style and participated in computer‐based tests of risk‐taking and impulsivity. Contrary to common understanding, the students with SEBDs made realistic estimations of their difficulties and were as able to make attributions as their peers without SEBDs; though they tended to attribute negative events internally significantly more often than did students without SEBDs. No differences were found between the two groups in terms of risk‐taking as measured on a computer‐based test. Implications of these findings for identification of and working with students with SEBDs are considered.
Background: The raised incidence of special abilities or ‘savant skills’ among individuals with ... more Background: The raised incidence of special abilities or ‘savant skills’ among individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) relative to other developmental disorders suggests an association between the traits characteristic of ASD and special abilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between special abilities and ASD-like traits.Methods: This study compared the scores of 6,426 8-year-olds with and without parent-reported special abilities on a screening questionnaire for ASD-like traits in three areas: social interaction, communication, and restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests. Measures of IQ, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES) were also compared.Results: From parent report, children with special abilities showed significantly more ASD-like traits than those without such abilities. General intelligence did not mediate this relationship: IQ was found to be positively associated with ability, but negatively associated with ASD-like traits. Special abilities were more strongly associated with restricted/repetitive characteristics than with social or communication traits.Conclusions: Results support the association between special abilities and ASD-like traits, and expand it to traits in the general population. The type of nonsocial traits most strongly associated with parental reports of special abilities suggests a link to a featural information processing style, or ‘weak central coherence’.
Fifty‐six secondary school students with and without social emotional and behavioural difficultie... more Fifty‐six secondary school students with and without social emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBDs) completed self‐report measures of their strengths and difficulties, self‐concept and social identity, cognitive attributional style and participated in computer‐based tests of risk‐taking and impulsivity. Contrary to common understanding, the students with SEBDs made realistic estimations of their difficulties and were as able to make attributions as their peers without SEBDs; though they tended to attribute negative events internally significantly more often than did students without SEBDs. No differences were found between the two groups in terms of risk‐taking as measured on a computer‐based test. Implications of these findings for identification of and working with students with SEBDs are considered.
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Papers by Pedro Vital