Cognition and Intelligence in Autism

Oct 4

In this session, Dr. Marlo Payne Thurman, President of the US Autism Association, Jeffrey Freed, author of the popular book Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World and autistic himself, and Dr. Richard Williams, autism expert, researcher, and parent of an adult daughter with autism discuss the complex topic of cognition and intellectual ability in autism. In this informative panel discussion speakers will share their insights about sensory processing difference, learning styles, and the possibility of latent intellectual abilities that don’t always show up on an IQ test for those with an ASD diagnosis.

Articles and Further Information

Interests and Strengths in Autism, Useful but Misunderstood: A Pragmatic Case-Study, Courchesne, V., et al., 2020, Front Psychol;11:569339.

Is autism a different kind of intelligence? New insights from cognitive neurosciences, Mottron, L., 2016, Bull. Acad. Natle. Med., 200:423. In French. Easily translated with Google Translate.

How does visual thinking work in the mind of a person with autism? A personal account, 2009, Grandin, T., Philos. Trans R. Soc., Lond. B. Biol. Sci., 364: 1437.

Autism as a Disorder of High Intelligence, 2016, Crespi, B., Frontiers in Neurosci 10:300.

Featured

Jeffrey Freed, M.A.T.

Jeffrey N. Freed, M.A.T has his Bachelor of Science degree from Temple University and a Master’s degree in Education from Northern Arizona University. He has specialized in working with both gifted children and people with autism for over 35 years.

Marlo Payne Thurman, Ph.D.

Holding doctoral level degrees in both School Psychology and Special Education, Dr. Marlo Payne Thurman currently sits on numerous advisory boards and is the President and Chairwoman of the US Autism Association.

Richard O. Williams, Ph.D.

Richard O. Williams spent 25 years in the medical sciences in academia, doing research and teaching around the word. He is the author of 85 peer-reviewed research articles on the molecular genetics and microbiology of infectious diseases. His interest in the world of autism started with his daughter, who was adopted in 1979 from Thailand at the age of two.

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