Rote Memory

Children with ASD often have excellent rote-memories. They can store huge lists of items in their minds, for prolonged periods, and reproduce them accurately.

Calculation skills

Some children with ASD also have the ability to say on which day of the week any date will fall. This is unlikely to be a form of rote-memorisation since calendars for years way in the past and in the future are not available. Rather, it seems as if they understand the rules governing dates and are able to automatically apply them – without knowing how they do so – and very rapidly. They can be quicker than even mathematicians who have worked out the formulae for calendar calculation. Occasionally, children with ASD also have lightning mathematical calculation, able to mentally add, subtract, multiply and divide large numbers at astonishing speeds.