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I'm Monique Evans with today's health news. Sometimes you learn about a disorder by studying
something else. That may be the case with autism. A new book presents research on child
prodigies as a way to understand autism. The Prodigy’s Cousin: The Family Link between
Autism and Extraordinary Talent indicates a genetic connection between the two conditions.
Prodigies and people with autism share some characteristics including a tendency to exhibit
obsessive behavior and extreme attention to detail. Lead study author stated in a press
release, "We believe that, for prodigies, there is a resilience gene or genes that are
holding back the deficits associated with autism and allowing the talent to shine through.
Our evidence suggests that prodigies are people who should have autism, but don’t. They
share many of the same characteristics of people with autism, but not the deficits."
The researchers found that more than half of her study subjects have a close relative
with autism. They discovered a genetic mutation on chromosome 1. Child prodigies and their
relatives with autism both have this mutation. Other relatives of child prodigies do not
have the mutation. For dailyRx, I'm Monique Evans.