I am always on the look-out for research about autism and technology. It’s not that easy to find. Most autism research is focused on genetics and medical symptoms to figure out the causes of autism. That’s great – we need that. But for those of us who already have children with the diagnosis, more research is needed on how we can help them. Which is why I was so excited to see some research aimed at helping individuals with autism build on their strengths.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University led this small study, which tested a group of men – half with autism and half without – on their ability to scan for objects. Past research has indicated that people with autism may have better visual scanning capabilities than typical adults, so this study put this idea to the test.That is to say, apparently people with autism are better at “Where’s Waldo?” books than the rest of us. (For the record, Quentin has never been exposed to “Where’s Waldo?”… but this study is making me think I should get some of those books for my own at-home experiment between my twins.)
To test for this, the researchers created a baggage screening task – something that simulates what the TSA does at the airport. Half of the 26 participants (all men) had an autism diagnosis, half did not. Both groups were about equal in their abilities to identify the illegal targets, at first. But as time went on and more bags were presented, men with autism remained strong at this screening task (getting even faster at excluding the target-free bags), while their neurotypical male counterparts started to falter, experiencing a kind of “attention fatigue” which is common in baggage screeners. In the end, the researchers were able to demonstrate statistically that the adults with autism stayed more true to the task than those without autism.
In other words, there is hope for kids like Quentin – they can all go work for the TSA when they grow up! While I may come off as being facetious, I’m not. A recent study funded by Autism Speaks found that over half of adults diagnosed with ASD were unemployed. This is a serious problem, and I worry for my own child. Unless someone creates a job that lets a person constantly search for YouTube videos about corporate logos, I’m not seeing very many work-related skills in Quentin so far.
We know that those with autism can have some superior capabilities in things like memory, visualization, music, mathematics, and other areas. Some are considered “idiot savants” – a term I find demoralizing. At the same time, these can be real skills – superior in certain workplaces. All of this is anecdotal – told in bits that make great stories for “60 Minutes” or the evening news – and little research has focused on these strengths of individuals with autism. I know my own boy has some amazing visual skills (as I have tried to document in this blog) and I know he’s not the only child with ASD who has them. I’m glad to see that there is finally some research out there that investigates the strengths of those with autism and not just their deficits.