I know people whose mothers were schitzophrenic, who are not only 'normal', but are writers and painters of note.
I also know very intelligent mothers (and fathers) who have autistic children. (This is true. I'm not making it up.)
It's a roll of the dice.
This girl must be protected...somehow.
why would anyone doubt that? My family has 2 autistic children in it as well as engineers, accountants, pharmacists, and oddly very talented artists. One thing we have going for us seems to be this very analytical way of thinking. It's the same thinking that people generally see as 'intelligent' but also seems to share strong links for having families with some type of autistic tendencies in them. I'm of the mind that the genetic predisposition has to do with the way the brain is ordered: sometimes that wiring goes a bit too extreme in the direction of the family's strengths and you end up with a child with autism rather then a genius mechanical engineer. Thing is if not for the processing issues, the autistic children are probably just as bright at their parents.
But given what Mrs. Smith has said there is a world of difference between autism and schizophrenia. Autism has no (proven) environmental ties. No amount of how you raise a child will make them autisic. Schizophrenia, on the other hand, seems to have a variety of factors that contribute to it, including genetics.
