http://www.dailygrail.com/Essays/2016/6/Was-Prince-Acquired-Musical-Savant

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Read this article a few days ago and wanted to discuss it. Many of the comparisions they make concerning Prince's talent and Asperger/Savant is interesting.

Same thing has been said about Bill Gates. I've wondered if the seizures as a child contributed. Sounds odd, but my son was diagnosed as having aspergers/autistic traits (although cerebral palsy is his actual diagnosis) He also had seizures as a child and he is so musically oriented and obsessive. Always wondered if the seizures had some electrical impact in his brain. I'm not a doctor or a scientist so I don't know.

I work with Autistic children in a specialized program in an Elementary school and the Asperger students i have (who are mainstreamed) have truly special skills and a true infinity for music and one did have seizures as well starting at a very young age, he also had perfect pitch.

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He is in Middle School now and has true musical skills, very technical and mathematical gifts as well, which is usually the case in my experience with Aspergers.

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I also have a student this year (going into 2nd grade) who also has a special gift as an artist and draws incredibly well, again very technical in his abilities and his undeniable knowledge of the solar system and outer space..i marvel at his many gifts as well.

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[Edited 6/28/16 16:18pm]

Meh, maybe. A friend of mine's fiancee is an Aspie, but I had no idea until she told me, becaue he's a pretty social person, and wasn't at all awkward.

On the other hand, though, he could have just been pretty introverted, and completely uninterested in other people as a general rule. Hell, the description of him in high school? That was me. I pretty much ignored anyone and anything that wasn't within my sphere of interest -- and I picked up the sax and was really good at it within a very short time.

I'm not an Aspie though. At least... I've never been diagnosed as such.

Asperger Syndrome can take different forms, but it's not like:

-- all those who have it are musically inclined;

-- also have seizures;

-- all people who display some kind of so-called obsessive-compulsive traits have Asperger.

They said Isaac Newton and Glen Gould had Asperger, and I'd say those two are much closer to the criteria than Prince ever was for the simple reason that :

- Prince could clearly connect with people other than through his musical abilities (his faces, his jokes, his dancing, his "acting" -- he was connecting on multiple levels);

- while he wasn't the most educated man, he exhibited scope in terms of his interests, he wasn't one or two tracked though of course his music overshadowed everything else.

Because Asperger is associated with some highly developed (but very focused) abilities as well as a social disconnect, the label is often given to anyone who is obsessive, talented and kind of socially off.

This site needs some sort of a search feature. It would be really helpful to users asking these kind of questions.

Aerogram said:

Asperger Syndrome can take different forms, but it's not like:

-- all those who have it are musically inclined;

-- also have seizures;

-- all people who display some kind of so-called obsessive-compulsive traits have Asperger.

They said Isaac Newton and Glen Gould had Asperger, and I'd say those two are much closer to the criteria than Prince ever was for the simple reason that :

- Prince could clearly connect with people other than through his musical abilities (his faces, his jokes, his dancing, his "acting" -- he was connecting on multiple levels);

- while he wasn't the most educated man, he exhibited scope in terms of his interests, he wasn't one or two tracked though of course his music overshadowed everything else.

Because Asperger is associated with some highly developed (but very focused) abilities as well as a social disconnect, the label is often given to anyone who is obsessive, talented and kind of socially off.

True but,many are and can play a ton of instruments.Many sing before they walk or talk.When they talk its like they slow their words.And they wont give eye contact much.Both of my friends sons are talented.They catch on very quickly to everything.His name is david militello he has a few video's online.Grant it he's no prince in singing and playing instruments but,he is very well known in the child actor world.

destinyc1 said:

I feel like now that he's gone every1 and their Granny is trying to figure out what was "wrong" with him. Or "journalists" looking at all these past interviews are trying to form some bogus diagnosis. To me he was an immensely prolific human being. The world is far better for him being in it. While no 1 was like him and there'll never be another like him the world needs more ppl that had his kindness, love, compassion, humor, and even an ounce of his talent is more than what most "artists" have today. Whether we find out he had any underlying health issues does it really effect who he was, or the quality of art he put out? To me it doesn't matter. It's like wondering what size shoe Da Vinci wore.

I work in Special Education as well, and NO i don't believe Prince was ''on the spectrum'' but i do believe many who are do have these special musical/mathematical/technical gifts...at least thats been my experience for several years.

GeniusLuv said:

I work in Special Education as well, and NO i don't believe Prince was ''on the spectrum'' but i do believe many who are do have these special musical/mathematical/technical gifts...at least thats been my experience for several years.

I watched a video of prince joining in on someone playing a song.He walks up shakes his head up and down for a few seconds then goes right into it.Not sure if he plays by ear or what or how this works.Also the picture or video where he gives halle berry her award his eyes look exactly like the boy who had aspergers and they let him play in the final hs bball game and he hit like 6 three's.And for some reason prince didn't have a lot of facial movement

Aerogram said:

destinyc1 said:

GeniusLuv said:

I work in Special Education as well, and NO i don't believe Prince was ''on the spectrum'' but i do believe many who are do have these special musical/mathematical/technical gifts...at least thats been my experience for several years.

I watched a video of prince joining in on someone playing a song.He walks up shakes his head up and down for a few seconds then goes right into it.Not sure if he plays by ear or what or how this works.Also the picture or video where he gives halle berry her award his eyes look exactly like the boy who had aspergers and they let him play in the final hs bball game and he hit like 6 three's.And for some reason prince didn't have a lot of facial movement

That ONE time...you can't go by that only, i've seen interviews where all he had were facial expressions going the whole time..he was silly and empathetic, so know i still don't think so..not all geniuses are cut from the same cloth, but i do know that many Asperger children/adults do have special talents but they also have a ton of other issues..like many can not have love/intimate relationships..or at least not long term..my cousin can't and he is classic Asperger..a brilliant guy that can't show/accept much physical expression, intimate types of love..he's gotten better though

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[Edited 6/28/16 19:49pm]

laurarichardson said:

Aerogram said:

Asperger Syndrome can take different forms, but it's not like:

-- all those who have it are musically inclined;

-- also have seizures;

-- all people who display some kind of so-called obsessive-compulsive traits have Asperger.

They said Isaac Newton and Glen Gould had Asperger, and I'd say those two are much closer to the criteria than Prince ever was for the simple reason that :

- Prince could clearly connect with people other than through his musical abilities (his faces, his jokes, his dancing, his "acting" -- he was connecting on multiple levels);

- while he wasn't the most educated man, he exhibited scope in terms of his interests, he wasn't one or two tracked though of course his music overshadowed everything else.

Because Asperger is associated with some highly developed (but very focused) abilities as well as a social disconnect, the label is often given to anyone who is obsessive, talented and kind of socially off.

In the article they do discuss people develop their social skills over time. I also have thought that when Prince said he heard music in his head 24 hours a day and that he could not rest until he put music on tape. This too me is OCD.

[Bait snip - luv4u]

sonshine said:

I have a son "on the spectrum". If for no other reason than the fact that Prince was quite accomplished with the ladies it's probably safe to say he didn't have Asperger's.

yall trying to say Prince was "short bus" status?...

word?

RJOrion said:

yall trying to say Prince was "short bus" status?...

word?

I have High Functioning-autism myself (can't be the only autistic orger here lol) and I can only say that he kinda does strike me as one on some occasions. while it's not proven that he's on the spectrum but it can be possible having 'Savant-like' traits in him. Some autistics lack communication skills and/are highly introverted and like many autistics they have their own special interest in things (it could be anything like comics, collecting things, art, etc), Prince indeed have a special interest in music in general. hell maybe he has other interest he likes that we'll never know about like Photography being as one.

My wife and I are both almost certainly on the spectrum (but never diagnosed), and we both strongly suspect he might have been--but unless you really knew him, I don't see anyway to be able to tell.

I was at the AutismRocks - Tribute To Prince concert at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London on the Friday night and the MC said that the reason that Prince endorsed that charity and performed for it a few times was because he thought that perhaps he suffered from it in some form or another himself!!

I think he was more of a tofuburger kind of guy.

PurpleSpirit319 said:

I was at the AutismRocks - Tribute To Prince concert at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London on the Friday night and the MC said that the reason that Prince endorsed that charity and performed for it a few times was because he thought that perhaps he suffered from it in some form or another himself!!

Interesting. I always wondered about his connection to that particular cause.

I have Asperger's syndrome myself and I've been asking the same question - was Prince on the spectrum or was he at least neuroatypical? I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if he was. For the record, I believe that MJ was neuroatypical, but I've not been Prince's fan too long to tell.

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I think it's pretty stereotypical to think of people with AS as of someone that can't form sexual or romantic relationships. I'm in mid-twenties and have had three romantic and four sexual relationships... Well, hard to tell since most of my sexual encounters fall into "friends with benefits" category. I'm in an open relationship right now and we're fine, there are things that I'm not willing to do (and I believe most neurotypical people would like to do), but my partner doesn't care.

ACharmed1 said:

I feel like now that he's gone every1 and their Granny is trying to figure out what was "wrong" with him. Or "journalists" looking at all these past interviews are trying to form some bogus diagnosis. To me he was an immensely prolific human being. The world is far better for him being in it. While no 1 was like him and there'll never be another like him the world needs more ppl that had his kindness, love, compassion, humor, and even an ounce of his talent is more than what most "artists" have today. Whether we find out he had any underlying health issues does it really effect who he was, or the quality of art he put out? To me it doesn't matter. It's like wondering what size shoe Da Vinci wore.

These journalists wait until after he's passed to ponder these things? Someone previously in this thread commented that Prince wasn't a heavily educated man. Just because he dropped out of school to pursue music doesn't mean much; I believe all of Prince's accomplishments would prove otherwise. When I think that some people spend YEARS mastering ONE instrument, and perhaps do some song writing/singing as well. To be able to not only play multiple instruments, write the songs, arrange and layer and produce an album...and figure the business side of things too... highly intelligent individual. Is it asperger's? We likely will not ever know 100% certain; I have never wondered this myself but it is interesting that the media NOW decides they are curious about this...

ForeverPaisley said: