If you're autistic and feel like logical thinking is one of your strengths, there's research to support this. Autistic people tend to have enhanced logic and deliberation skills, which may help to offset a reduced drive toward intuition and spontaneous decision-making.
Some people with autism may have difficulty with complex thinking that requires the ability to make swift connections between different trains of thought. Others may have difficulty maintaining their attention on required tasks, or organising their thoughts and actions.
“Daydreaming, by itself, is an example of what is called "autistic thinking ", which means thinking that is sufficient unto itself, and not subjected to any criticism.
Compared with their non-autistic peers, autistic children have significantly faster expansion of the surface area of their cortex from 6 to 12 months of age. In the second year of life, brain volume increases much faster in autistic children than in their non-autistic peers.
find it hard to communicate and interact with other people. find it hard to understand how other people think or feel. find things like bright lights or loud noises overwhelming, stressful or uncomfortable. get anxious or upset about unfamiliar situations and social events.
For people on the autism spectrum, the world is a bewildering place. With oversensitive sensory systems, they battle to process the maelstrom of information flowing into their brains. Often the result is sensory overload, leading to signature behaviours such as tantrums, anxiety and social withdrawal.
Analytical Thinking: People with an autism spectrum disorder think in a logically consistent way that leads to quick decision making. These thinkers can make decisions without experiencing the framing effect that inhibits most neurotypicals from making decisions without bias.
In the autistic brain, the brain reduced connectivity, known as hypoconnectivity, allows weakly connected regions to drift apart, with sulci forming between them.” Research has shown the deeper theses sulcal pits are, the more language production is affected.
She has suggested that autistic people's thinking styles fall into one of three categories: visual thinkers; verbal/logic thinkers; and musical/mathematical thinkers. Although each person falls predominantly into one category, one can have a mixture of two or three.
It's a common misconception that autistic people are unaware of their condition. The truth is, many autistic people are very much aware of their autism and how it affects them. In fact, some say that it's through understanding and acceptance of their autism that they've been able to lead fulfilling lives.
The overall findings of the study suggest that, compared with neurotypical individuals, individuals with ASD experience greater difficulty with decision-making.
Since there is no physical test to diagnose this complex neurodevelopmental condition, doctors use behavior, history, and parent-reported interviews to diagnose ASD. Research is suggesting that, in future, brain scans may be used to diagnose autism, possibly even before behavioral symptoms become apparent.
Autism and Emotional Intelligence
Many autistics struggle with emotional intelligence.
Keise Izuma, first author of the study, called the effect "extremely clear." This suggested to the research team that individuals with autism do not think about, or care, what others think of them. It is perhaps simply not a part of their social reasoning and thought process.
Signs of High-Functioning Autism in Children
May appear more mature for their age and have above-average intelligence. A tendency to avoid eye contact. Trouble deviating from a routine or adapting to changes. Trouble making friends and maintaining social relationships or not “fitting in” with peers.
A few different factors converge to explain why autistic people have an “overly full head” and disorganized thoughts, as well as why we may be scatterbrained, quick to lose oversight, and more prone to overstimulation and dysregulation. All these factors are likely caused by overconnectivity in the brain.
Create A Structured Environment
Children with autism feel much more comfortable and connected when they have a set routine with clear structures, and minimal alterations from their predicted schedule.
Some autistic people are sensory avoidant, meaning they self-soothe by getting away from sounds, smells and other stimuli. Other people with autism regulate their emotions by seeking out more sensory input from the environment. For example, they may make loud noises, fidget, pace or rock back and forth.
People with autism tend to have insomnia: It takes them an average of 11 minutes longer than typical people to fall asleep, and many wake up frequently during the night. Some people with the condition have sleep apnea, a condition that causes them to stop breathing several times during the night.
While cognitive empathy can be lower in people with autism, affective empathy—which is based on instincts and involuntary responses to the emotions of others—can be strong and overwhelming. In fact, newer research suggests that some people with autism may actually feel other people's emotions more intensely.
Common characteristics include: difficulties interpreting social rules and body language, which can lead to confusion or misunderstandings. difficulty in forming and maintaining friendships. a tendency to take things literally, which can lead to communication difficulties.
Autistic people may display a range of strengths and abilities that can be directly related to their diagnosis, including: Learning to read at a very early age (known as hyperlexia). Memorising and learning information quickly. Thinking and learning in a visual way.
In previous studies, children with autism have been found to have unusually wide faces and wide-set eyes. The cheeks and the nose are also shorter on their faces (Aldridge et al., 2011).
Although autistic people may struggle to interact with others, many autistic people have said they find interacting with other autistic people more comfortable.
In comparison to neurotypical children, children with ASD showed less proneness to guilt, although all children showed relatively high levels of proneness to guilt. Greater ToM ability was related to more proneness to guilt and authentic pride in children with ASD.