One of my god brothers, Sammy, is severely autistic. He is unable to express his emotions and often throws tantrums. Being a teen also doesn’t help, because, on top of the autism, he has frequent mood swings but expresses these emotions in inappropriate ways, like screaming at the top of his lungs. When he’s trying to communicate his thoughts, you can tell he’s frustrated. No one can quite fully understand what he’s trying to say and he doesn’t seem to understand that his form of communication isn’t how the rest of us communicate. His life and his family’s life seem incredibly difficult but the thing that people often overlook is just how bright Sammy is. Within a year, he taught himself Korean online and can speak it quite well. His parents’ favorite “party trick” is that you can tell him any day of any year and he will tell you what day of the week that day was. For example, one time I asked him what day of the week April 6, 1996 (my birthday) was and within five seconds he was able to tell me that it was a Saturday. The things that go on in Sammy’s head are just fascinating, and, although many people would classify him as “retarded”, he really isn’t. He’s not stupid in any way whatsoever, and a couple years ago an article was written about kids like Sammy and how they tend to be especially smart in certain areas.

This study included eight young prodigies, all of whom excelled in certain areas, the majority of being music. Most of these kids began reading at ages as young as 1, and speaking at ages as young as 3 months. They didn’t all have incredibly impressive IQs but something that researchers noticed was that they showed a spectrum of autistic traits. In fact, three of the eight kids who were studied were formally diagnosed with autism and many of the other kids had family histories that included individuals with autism. Another interesting connection that was made was that these kids tended to be male. In addition, their mother’s often suffered difficult pregnancies with their autistic kids, which is a factor that Sammy’s mother experienced during her pregnancy with him. Although all of these kids were able to function relatively normal in society, unlike Sammy, who will probably need an aide for the rest of his life, they did show some symptoms of autism, which Sammy certainly does. To many people, having an autistic child may seem like the end of the world but what these people fail to realize is that a lot of these children are incredibly gifted and can perform tasks that a “normal” person isn’t able to carry out. Sammy is certainly one-of-a-kind and so many other kids like him are proving themselves to be the same. Of course it’s not easy having a severely autistic child in the family but there’s so much to be treasured within them. They can be quite a blessing and a miracle at times.