Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects, then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
Today's article notes in detail that autistic adults without intellectual disabilities don't get a free pass to lives without difficulties. Four non-IQ categories are called out as causing difficulties: theory of mind, knowledge and recognition of emotions, processing speed, and verbal learning and memory. Autistic adults may have difficulties with any or all of these categories while testing perfectly normal on an IQ test.
This is where I'm really tempted to soapbox (again) how unimportant IQ is in terms of being an adult. But since I did that already, and recently, I'll instead point out that some of the language in this article is rather ableist: "having intact IQ" is not an appropriate way to refer to a normal or better IQ. It suggests that people with IQs below a threshold are "damaged people," and denies the basic validity and humanity of people with intellectual disabilities.
I was going to hope the institution in question was from another country, and therefore a translating failure might have been involved in this word choice, but The Mount Sinai Hospital and School of Medicine is located in New York City... so it's probably just ableism. Ugh.
For those anyone not immediately familiar: a meta-analysis, such as the one here, is when the researchers look up all relevant research to a particular question, like, "does IQ predict success in autistic adults?" They then take all this research and run through it with a fine-toothed comb, checking what kinds of experiments and research were done, what their results were, and what statistical analysis was done. The end result is something like a more scientific version of asking a dozen wise people for a solution to a particular problem. Any patterns in results are noted, in hopes of getting a more thorough answer to the question.
Meta-analyses are important because, after the 30th-ish study has been published on a question, it becomes really hard for anyone to remember the results of all of them. This is particularly true if multiple authors and institutions are involved, which is nearly always the case.
Dehumanizing word choice and type of study aside, the article at least makes the useful point I mentioned above: that there are many kinds of difficulties, and having a high IQ does not save you from them. The researchers isolated four places autistic adults can have difficulties:
Theory of Mind is the skill of recognizing and attributing different beliefs, wants, skills, knowledge, and intents to yourself and as well as others. It's recognizing and overcoming Human Error #1 ("everyone is just like me"). It's recognizing that your friend knows more about a particular subject, or that your spouse can be upset even though you aren't. It's important to note that just because a person has theory of mind, doesn't mean they're immune to Human Error #1. It's #1 for a reason.
Emotional Knowledge and Recognition is more or less what it says on the tin. Some people, including some autistic people, have trouble putting words to the emotions they're feeling. I like the charts found on this page. Such people may also have trouble identifying emotions in others. The difficulty recognizing emotions can be so great that even simple emotions, like anger or fear, might be missed or misnamed, with the person assuming they or the other person is calm. This can result in very upset people, because basic emotion-reading and expression is an assumed skill in the current time.
Processing Speed is how fast you understand and can use new information. This trait is classically associated with low IQ, but I can personally attest that it affects people with higher IQs as well. Like a computer processor, the faster you can handle incoming information, the easier you can handle situations both old and new. Having slower processing speeds can make it hard to hold conversations or respond effectively to new information at your job.
Verbal Learning and Memory is how quickly and how well you process verbal directions or instructions. Many autistic people like to have such instructions written out to circumvent this issue, but in some workplaces and in more freeform interactions, this isn't always possible. Your supervisor or friends may simply expect you to remember the set of directions in order, and then do them. If you have trouble keeping more than two verbal directions in your head at once, having someone give you 3 or more is going to be a waste. Asking for directions from a local is the obvious example of this. ("Oh, the mall? Turn right at the T, drive 'til you see the burger joint, go left at the billboard, then left at the bank, and then you're there!")
Any and all of these factors can make it difficult to hold a job and interact with other adults successfully. And all aren't part of the "typical" understanding of autism.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter, which has links and brief comments on studies that were interesting, but didn't get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
This is where I'm really tempted to soapbox (again) how unimportant IQ is in terms of being an adult. But since I did that already, and recently, I'll instead point out that some of the language in this article is rather ableist: "having intact IQ" is not an appropriate way to refer to a normal or better IQ. It suggests that people with IQs below a threshold are "damaged people," and denies the basic validity and humanity of people with intellectual disabilities.
I was going to hope the institution in question was from another country, and therefore a translating failure might have been involved in this word choice, but The Mount Sinai Hospital and School of Medicine is located in New York City... so it's probably just ableism. Ugh.
For those anyone not immediately familiar: a meta-analysis, such as the one here, is when the researchers look up all relevant research to a particular question, like, "does IQ predict success in autistic adults?" They then take all this research and run through it with a fine-toothed comb, checking what kinds of experiments and research were done, what their results were, and what statistical analysis was done. The end result is something like a more scientific version of asking a dozen wise people for a solution to a particular problem. Any patterns in results are noted, in hopes of getting a more thorough answer to the question.
Meta-analyses are important because, after the 30th-ish study has been published on a question, it becomes really hard for anyone to remember the results of all of them. This is particularly true if multiple authors and institutions are involved, which is nearly always the case.
Dehumanizing word choice and type of study aside, the article at least makes the useful point I mentioned above: that there are many kinds of difficulties, and having a high IQ does not save you from them. The researchers isolated four places autistic adults can have difficulties:
Theory of Mind is the skill of recognizing and attributing different beliefs, wants, skills, knowledge, and intents to yourself and as well as others. It's recognizing and overcoming Human Error #1 ("everyone is just like me"). It's recognizing that your friend knows more about a particular subject, or that your spouse can be upset even though you aren't. It's important to note that just because a person has theory of mind, doesn't mean they're immune to Human Error #1. It's #1 for a reason.
Emotional Knowledge and Recognition is more or less what it says on the tin. Some people, including some autistic people, have trouble putting words to the emotions they're feeling. I like the charts found on this page. Such people may also have trouble identifying emotions in others. The difficulty recognizing emotions can be so great that even simple emotions, like anger or fear, might be missed or misnamed, with the person assuming they or the other person is calm. This can result in very upset people, because basic emotion-reading and expression is an assumed skill in the current time.
Processing Speed is how fast you understand and can use new information. This trait is classically associated with low IQ, but I can personally attest that it affects people with higher IQs as well. Like a computer processor, the faster you can handle incoming information, the easier you can handle situations both old and new. Having slower processing speeds can make it hard to hold conversations or respond effectively to new information at your job.
Verbal Learning and Memory is how quickly and how well you process verbal directions or instructions. Many autistic people like to have such instructions written out to circumvent this issue, but in some workplaces and in more freeform interactions, this isn't always possible. Your supervisor or friends may simply expect you to remember the set of directions in order, and then do them. If you have trouble keeping more than two verbal directions in your head at once, having someone give you 3 or more is going to be a waste. Asking for directions from a local is the obvious example of this. ("Oh, the mall? Turn right at the T, drive 'til you see the burger joint, go left at the billboard, then left at the bank, and then you're there!")
Any and all of these factors can make it difficult to hold a job and interact with other adults successfully. And all aren't part of the "typical" understanding of autism.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter, which has links and brief comments on studies that were interesting, but didn't get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
Such an important topic. I think most people have a hard time understanding this, so multiple explanations are necessary.
ReplyDelete“Intact IQ”? Seriously??