According to a new study by a team of researchers from The Ohio State University and Nationwide Children's Hospital: "Child prodigies are rare individuals with an exceptional working memory and unique attentional skills that may facilitate the attainment of professional skill levels at an age well before what is observed in the general population. Some characteristics of prodigy have been observed to be quantitatively similar to those observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), suggesting possible shared etiology, though objectively validated prodigies are so rare that evidence has been sparse."
If children with autism share characteristics caused by genetics with prodigies, could the genetics be related?
A link was found as a marker on chromosome 1. This doesn't mean a cure for autism has been discovered, but the research does give some insight as to how autism and prodigy develop in children.
"We haven't identified the mutations, but we found that there's something in this region of chromosome 1 that is the same with both prodigies and their family members with autism," said Joanne Ruthsatz, co-author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State's Mansfield campus, according to a press release.
"We now know what connects prodigy with autism. What we want to know is what distinguishes them. We have a strong suspicion that there's a genetic component to that, as well, and that's the focus of our future work," she added.
Ruthsatz joined forces with the OSU researchers when she discovered that many of the prodigies she was studying had family members with an autism diagnosis. "Prodigies seem to have some protective genes that are saving them from the deficits associated with autism and only allowing the talent you see in savants to shine through," she said, according to the press release. "That's what we're looking to identify."
The study, "Molecular Genetic Evidence for Shared Etiology of Autism and Prodigy," appears in the journal Human Heredity.
