This morning I went over my daily blogroll and stumbled upon this article by Phil Plait on “Bad Astronomy.” He is reporting on a story that circulating about a certain Jacob Barnett; a 12-year-old math genius. And he is and Aspie. The kid has his own YouTube channel where he talks about various mathematical topics.
Granted, the boy is a math genius (but note Plait’s reservations about any 12-year-olds claiming to go and prove Einstein wrong) but what it makes me wonder is how different Asperger’s can be from case to case. Read a little more on Barnett here.
Personally, I’m a disaster with advanced math. There is a ceiling that I hit in school that has “probability theory” written all over it. I never managed to get over that hurdle and beyond. Another thing I don’t have in common with Barnett is taping myself talking about one of my peefs and putting it on the internet. I would never do that.
Maybe his parents or teachers are pushing him a little bit there. One thing is for sure: I love how he is being encouraged to grow his Aspie talent, something I never got and sorely miss now.
