Academic and cognitive trends in children living with autism

Autism is a rapidly growing diagnosis worldwide. Through my research of autism and my personal experience working with children living with autism I have found that the practice of diagnosing autism within the medical community is deficit oriented and furthermore many people hold the belief that autism is maladaptive. Little attention is given to the strengths or adaptive traits of autism. However autism can be defined as a continuum of traits that are "normal," adaptive, and even gifted or talented. For example savants are highly gifted persons with a neurodevelopment disorder. Savants are ten times more likely to have autism than any other disorder. Baron-Cohen's theories Extreme Male Brain and Hyper-systematizing identify autism as strength in one's ability to systematize. Support for these theories is found with a high correlation between adults living with autism and the occupations of mathematicians and engineers. However, there is a lack of research on children living with autism and their abilities to systematize. A survey was given online to 60 parents of children with autism identifying cognitive and academic trends. The results identify a trend in systematizing in children living with autism and lend support to Baron-Cohen's Extreme Male Brain and Hyper-systematizing theories. Children living with autism have strengths in the same academic and cognitive areas as typically developing children however their strengths are more pronounced.