“Ping Lian presents with moderate”: Speech-language assessment, Nov. 2, 1997, document transcribed and provided by Sarah Lee.
“I tell myself”: Sarah Lee, journal entry, Feb. 2004, transcribed and provided by Sarah Lee.
“totally focused and full of energy”: Sarah Lee, excerpt from draft manuscript of book on raising Ping Lian, “I Want to Be an Artist”: An Autistic Savant’s Voice and a Mother’s Dream Transformed onto Canvas.
“anywhere and everywhere”: Ibid.
“He seemed almost obsessed”: Ibid.
“deep in the eye”: Fontaine, “Ping Lian Yeak.”
One of his pieces: Dollar amount converted from Malaysian ringgit.
“imposing in their intricacy”: White, “Island of Genius.”
“vivid splashes of color”: Ibid.
“bold strokes and cheerful colours”: Wong, “Through the Eyes of Love.”
“Great artist”: “SBS News—Savant Artist in Spotlight,” YouTube video, 4:14, posted by “WorldNews Australia,” Sept. 28, 2011.
“become so meaningful”: Sarah Lee, e-mail.
Training the talent: There are several places focused on developing autistic strengths, such as the Tailor Institute in Missouri, Hidden Wings in California, and Strokes of Genius in New York.
It’s an intriguing approach: A researcher in Australia, Trevor Clark, has been working on developing a train-the-talent curriculum; the results of his work are as yet unpublished. For a description, see Trevor Clark, “The Application of Savant and Splinter Skills in the Autistic Population Through an Educational Curriculum,” Wisconsin Medical Society, https://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/.
newer models of behavioral therapy: For an overview of more play-based, child-driven approaches, see Laura Schreibman et al., “Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions: Empirically Validated Treatment for Autism Spectrum Disorder,” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 45, no. 8 (2015): 2411–28.
Though a tendency toward obsession is a widely recognized: See, for example, Klin et al., “Circumscribed Interests in Higher Functioning Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders.”
Kanner, for example, questioned: Kanner, “Autistic Disturbances of Affective Contact,” 243.
More recently, scientists considering: Richard C. Barnes and Stephen M. Earnshaw, “Problems with the Savant Syndrome: A Brief Case Study,” British Journal of Learning Disabilities 23, no. 3 (1995): 124–26.
There’s evidence that, in contrast: Klin et al., “Circumscribed Interests in Higher Functioning Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders”; Mercier, Mottron, and Belleville, “Psychosocial Study on Restricted Interests in High-Functioning Persons with Pervasive Developmental Disorders”; Turner-Brown et al., “Phenomenology and Measurement of Circumscribed Interests in Autism Spectrum Disorders.”
Several small studies: Mary J. Baker, Robert L. Koegel, and Lynn Kern Koegel, “Increasing the Social Behavior of Young Children with Autism Using Their Obsessive Behaviors,” Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities 23, no. 4 (1998): 300–308; Mary J. Baker, “Incorporating the Thematic Ritualistic Behaviors of Children with Autism into Games: Increasing Social Play Interactions with Siblings,” Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions 2, no. 2 (2000): 66–84.
others have found: Marjorie H. Charlop-Christy and Linda K. Haymes, “Using Objects of Obsession as Token Reinforcers for Children with Autism,” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 28, no. 3 (1998): 189–98; Marjorie H. Charlop, Patricia F. Kurtz, and Fran Greenberg Casey, “Using Aberrant Behaviors as Reinforcers for Autistic Children,” Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 23, no. 2 (1990): 163–81; Marjorie H. Charlop-Christy and Linda K. Haymes, “Using Obsessions as Reinforcers With and Without Mild Reductive Procedures to Decrease Inappropriate Behaviors of Children With Autism,” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 26, no. 5 (1996): 527–46; Laurie A. Vismara and Gregory L. Lyons, “Using Perseverative Interests to Elicit Joint Attention Behaviors in Young Children With Autism,” Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions 9, no. 4 (2007): 214–28; Brian A. Boyd et al., “Effects of Circumscribed Interests on the Social Behaviors of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders,” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 37, no. 8 (2007): 1550–61.
In 1944, in his first published paper on autism: Asperger, “‘Autistic Psychopathy’ in Childhood.”
“the two real success stories”: Kanner, “Follow-Up Study of Eleven Autistic Children Originally Reported in 1943,” 143.
The savant expert: Treffert, Islands of Genius.
Temple Grandin: Temple Grandin and Kate Duffy, Developing Talents: Careers for Individuals with Asperger Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism (Shawnee Mission, Kans.: Autism Asperger Publishing, 2008).
Until scientists parse out: Stephen Bent and Robert L. Hendren, “Improving the Prediction of Response to Therapy in Autism,” Neurotherapeutics 7, no. 3 (2010): 232–40; Happé, Ronald, and Plomin, “Time to Give Up on a Single Explanation for Autism.”
“The best way to better services”: Thomas Insel, “Director’s Blog: Autism Awareness: April 2014,” National Institute of Mental Health, March 27, 2014, http://www.nimh.nih.gov/.
Chapter 11: The Next Quest
“divine inspiration”: Feldman and Morelock, “Prodigies and Savants,” 214.
Take Erich Fuchs and Stephen Crohn: For more information on Erich and Stephen, see Jesse Green, “The Man Who Was Immune to AIDS,” New York, June 13, 2014; Gina Kolata, “Sharing of Profits Is Debated as the Value of Tissue Rises,” New York Times, May 15, 2000; Elaine Woo, “Stephen Crohn Dies at 66; Immune to HIV, but Not Its Tragedy,” Los Angeles Times, Sept. 21, 2013; John Schwartz, “Stephen Crohn, Who Furthered AIDS Study, Dies at 66,” New York Times, Sept. 14, 2013; and “Surviving AIDS,” Nova, transcript of episode that aired Feb. 2, 1999.
“It was clear the minute”: Bill Paxton, telephone interview, April 23, 2015.
Paxton and his colleagues: Information regarding this study comes from William A. Paxton et al., “Relative Resistance to HIV-1 Infection of CD4 Lymphocytes from Persons Who Remain Uninfected Despite Multiple High-Risk Sexual Exposures,” Nature Medicine 2, no. 4 (1996): 412–17; and a telephone interview with Paxton conducted on April 23, 2015.
The scientists used ever-increasing doses: In a later study, it was reported that it took roughly a thousand times more virus to infect Erich’s and Stephen’s cells than it did to infect the control cells; even with that amount of exposure, the virus took hold in only a small fraction of cells, and it failed to replicate. See Rong Liu et al., “Homozygous Defect in HIV-1 Coreceptor Accounts for Resistance of Some Multiply-Exposed Individuals to HIV-1 Infection,” Cell 86, no. 3 (1996): 367–77.
“We repeated and repeated”: Bill Paxton, telephone interview, April 23, 2015.
Across three studies: Yaoxing Huang et al., “The Role of a Mutant CCR5 Allele in HIV-1 Transmission and Disease Progression,” Nature Medicine 2, no. 11 (1996): 1240–43; Michael Dean et al., “Genetic Restriction of HIV-1 Infection and Progression to AIDS by a Deletion Allele of the CKR5 Structural Gene,” Science 273, no. 5283 (1996): 1856–61; Michael Samson et al., “Resistance to HIV-1 Infection in Caucasian Individuals Bearing Mutant Alleles of the CCR-5 Chemokine Receptor Gene,” Nature 382, no. 6593 (1996): 722–25.
Timothy was a twenty-nine-year-old: The events in this chapter described by Timothy Ray Brown come from telephone interviews conducted on April 3 and 22, 2015 (with occasional input from Dave Purdy). Events in this chapter described by Dr. Gero Hütter come from a telephone interview conducted on April 28, 2015. Timothy’s story was also drawn from two articles he wrote: “I Am the Berlin Patient: A Personal Reflection,” AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses 31, no. 1 (2015): 2–3, and “Cure: The Beginning of the End of HIV and AIDS,” in How AIDS Ends: An Anthology from San Francisco AIDS F
oundation, ed. Reilly O’Neal (New York: Vintage Books, 2004), excerpt printed in POZ, Nov. 26, 2012; news reports, including Tina Rosenberg, “The Man Who Had HIV and Now Does Not,” New York, May 29, 2011; Regan Hofmann, “Patient No More,” POZ, June 2011; Apoorva Mandavilli, “The AIDS Cure,” Popular Science, March 7, 2014; and Mark Schoofs, “A Doctor, a Mutation, and a Potential Cure for AIDS,” Wall Street Journal, Nov. 7, 2008.
“functionally cured”: Schoofs, “A Doctor, a Mutation, and a Potential Cure for AIDS.”
The New England Journal of Medicine: Gero Hütter et al., “Long-Term Control of HIV by CCR5 Delta32/Delta32 Stem-Cell Transplantation,” New England Journal of Medicine 360, no. 7 (2009): 692–98.
In a 2011 paper: Kristina Allers et al., “Evidence for the Cure of HIV Infection by CCR5∆32/∆32 Stem Cell Transplantation,” Blood 117, no. 10 (2011): 2791–99.
Two months later: “Is ‘Cure’ Still a Four-Letter Word? Executive Summary,” San Francisco AIDS Foundation, http://www.sfaf.org.
At a conference in Spain: Richard Knox, “Traces of Virus in Man Cured of HIV Trigger Scientific Debate,” NPR, June 13, 2012; Jon Cohen, “Evidence That Man Cured of HIV Harbors Viral Remnants Triggers Confusion,” Science, June 11, 2012.
So far, no second cure: Lambros Kordelas et al., “Shift of HIV Tropism in Stem-Cell Transplantation with CCR5 Delta32 Mutation,” New England Journal of Medicine 371, no. 9 (2014): 880–82; Gero Hütter, “More on Shift of HIV Tropism in Stem-Cell Transplantation with CCR5 Delta32/Delta32 Mutation,” New England Journal of Medicine 371, no. 25 (2014): 2437–38.
In 2014, a group: Pablo Tebas et al., “Gene Editing of CCR5 in Autologous CD4 T Cells of Persons Infected with HIV,” New England Journal of Medicine 370, no. 10 (2014): 901–10. Additional information on this study comes from a telephone interview with Pablo Tebas conducted on March 6, 2015.
In one recent study: Jason Flannick et al., “Loss-of-Function Mutations in SLC30A8 Protect Against Type 2 Diabetes,” Nature Genetics 46, no. 4 (2014): 357–63. Additional information on this study comes from a telephone interview with Jason Flannick conducted on March 11, 2015.
Scientists studying heart disease: Jonathan Cohen et al., “Low LDL Cholesterol in Individuals of African Descent Resulting from Frequent Nonsense Mutations in PCSK9,” Nature Genetics 37, no. 2 (2005): 161–65; Jonathan C. Cohen et al., “Sequence Variations in PCSK9, Low LDL, and Protection Against Coronary Heart Disease,” New England Journal of Medicine 354, no. 12 (2006): 1264–72.
The identification of beneficial: Gina Kolata, “Rare Mutation Ignites Race for Cholesterol Drug,” New York Times, July 9, 2013.
Some advocates argue: For an excellent history of this idea, which is often referred to as neurodiversity, see Silberman, Neurotribes. See also “Position Statements,” Autistic Self Advocacy Network; Amy Harmon, “How About Not ‘Curing’ Us, Some Autistics Are Pleading,” New York Times, Dec. 20, 2004; Amy Harmon, “Nominee to Disability Council Is Lightning Rod for Dispute on Views of Autism,” New York Times, March 27, 2010; and Michelle Dawson, “The Misbehaviour of Behaviourists: Ethical Challenges to the Autism-ABA Industry,” Jan. 18, 2004.
“Autism isn’t something a person has”: Jim Sinclair, “Don’t Mourn for Us,” Our Voice 1, no. 3 (1993).
“The biggest barrier”: Julia Bascom, e-mail.
It’s a disorder: Kit Weintraub, “A Mother’s Perspective,” Association for Science in Autism Treatment; Harmon, “How About Not ‘Curing’ Us.”
certain SLC30A8 mutations: Flannick et al., “Loss-of-Function Mutations in SLC30A8 Protect Against Type 2 Diabetes.” See also Gina Kolata, “Rare Mutation Kills Off Gene Responsible for Diabetes,” New York Times, March 2, 2014.
“It was so at odds”: Jason Flannick, telephone interview, March 11, 2015.
“We’re not really trying to cure”: Geraldine Dawson, telephone interview, Oct. 14, 2015.
It described groups of symptoms: Insel, “Director’s Blog: Transforming Diagnosis.”
“As long as the research community”: Pam Belluck and Benedict Carey, “Psychiatry’s Guide Is out of Touch with Science, Experts Say,” New York Times, May 6, 2013.
“It was all like a magical mystery tour”: Bruce Cuthbert, interview, March 9, 2015.
It was even more problematic: Linda S. Brady and Thomas R. Insel, “Translating Discoveries into Medicine: Psychiatric Drug Development in 2011,” Neuropsychopharmacology 37, no. 1 (2012): 281–83; Bruce N. Cuthbert and Thomas R. Insel, “Toward the Future of Psychiatric Diagnosis: The Seven Pillars of RDoC,” BMC Medicine 11 (2013); Sten Stovall, “R&D Cuts Curb Brain-Drug Pipeline,” Wall Street Journal, March 27, 2011.
NIMH scientists eventually set out: Cuthbert and Insel, “Toward the Future of Psychiatric Diagnosis.”
RDoC casts aside: “Development and Definitions of the RDoC Domains and Constructs,” National Institute of Mental Health, http://www.nimh.nih.gov/.
The idea is that by untangling: Insel, “Director’s Blog: Transforming Diagnosis.”
But they are attempting: Cuthbert and Insel, “Toward the Future of Psychiatric Diagnosis.”
After all, scientists have already: Iva Dincheva et al., “FAAH Genetic Variation Enhances Fronto-amygdala Function in Mouse and Human,” Nature Communications 6, no. 6395 (2015). See also Richard A. Friedman, “The Feel-Good Gene,” New York Times, March 6, 2015.
Epilogue: A Wide-Open Future
There are plenty of popular reports: See, for example, Ellen Winner, “Often, Child Prodigies Do Not Grow into Adult Geniuses,” New York Times, May 20, 2015; “Harvard’s Quartet of Mental Prodigies,” New York Times, Jan. 16, 1910; Kathleen Montour, “William James Sidis, the Broken Twig,” American Psychologist 32, no. 4 (1977): 265–79; “Illustrating a System of Education,” New York Times, Jan. 7, 1910.
Just as autism in adulthood: Siri Carpenter, “Adults with Autism Are Left to Navigate a Jarring World,” ScienceNews, Feb. 10, 2015.
wide range of outcomes: For a thoughtful discussion on the transition from child prodigy to adult creator, see Ellen Winner, Gifted Children: Myths and Realities (New York: Basic Books, 1996). See also Michael J. A. Howe, The Psychology of High Abilities (New York: New York University Press, 1999).
A small study of eight: Robert W. Howard, “Linking Extreme Precocity and Adult Eminence: A Study of Eight Prodigies at International Chess,” High Ability Studies 19, no. 2 (2008): 117–30.
David Feldman has lost touch: David Feldman, telephone interview, July 6, 2015.
Pursuits that once came naturally: Jeanne Bamberger, “Growing Up Prodigies: The Midlife Crisis,” New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development 17 (1982): 61–77.
Critics can seem almost gleeful: John Radford, “Prodigies in the Press,” High Ability Studies 9, no. 2 (1998): 153–64; Goode, “Uneasy Fit of the Precocious and the Average.”
Greg Grossman: Greg Grossman, telephone interview, July 12, 2015.
Jonathan Russell: Eve Weiss, e-mail, July 3, 2015; Jonathan Russell, telephone interview, Jan. 20, 2014.
Lauren Voiers: Lauren Voiers, telephone interview, Sept. 8, 2015, and e-mail; Soeder, “Cleveland Artist Lauren Voiers Sculpts John Lennon Tribute for Liverpool Park.”
Richard Wawro: Mike Wawro, telephone interview, Dec. 16, 2014.
Jacob Barnett: Kristine Barnett, telephone interview, Dec. 22, 2014, and Spark; Wells, “Jacob Barnett, Boy Genius.”
Afterward, he and his mentor: Yogesh N. Joglekar and Jacob L. Barnett, “Origin of Maximal Symmetry Breaking in Even PT-Symmetric Lattices,” Physical Review A 84 (2011).
Jourdan Urbach: Jourdan Urbach, interview, July 2, 2014; Todd Spangler, “Ocho, 8-Second Social-Video Startup, Raises $1.65 Million from Mark Cuban and Others,” Variety, Nov. 11, 2014.
the paper he had coauthored with Joanne: Ruthsatz and Urbach, “Child Prodigy.”
Josh and
Zac Tiessen: Julie Tiessen, telephone interviews, June 10 and July 24, 2015, and e-mail; Cory Ruf, “Stoney Creek Painter Josh Tiessen One of Canada’s ‘Top 20 Under 20,’” CBC Hamilton, June 6, 2013; “Chronic Lyme Disease: Tragedy for Family of Four,” YouCaring, postings dated Aug. 2014 to Sept. 2015.
By the time he was nineteen: Sales information provided by Julie Tiessen.
“a blistering three song set”: Hunter Foley, “Review+Photos: Animals as Leaders w / After the Burial + Guests,” Heavy Press, March 7, 2014.
At eighteen: Damian Fanelli, “Double-Hand Thumb Tapping with Eight-String Guitarist Zac Tiessen,” Guitar World, Feb. 13, 2015.
The Prodigy's Cousin Page 29