ASSOCIATED FEATURES: IQ

Psychometrically, people with autism have a lopsided IQ profile in which performance IQ often significantly exceeds verbal IQ.

Performance is intact on tests such as Block Design, Object Assembly, and Digit Span, in which processing of local or superficial features is paramount.

Performance is impaired on Comprehension and other verbal subtests, Picture Arrangement, and Picture Completion, all of which demand attention to more abstract or global features or themes.

Here again we see a theme of lack of cognitive coordination: performance on tasks that demand only processing of local or individual details is intact or even superior, while capacities that rely on cognitive integration are impaired.