title: Absolute pitch in a four-year-old boy with autism.
abstract: Absolute pitch is the ability to identify the pitch of an isolated tone. We report on a 4-year-old boy with autism and absolute pitch, one of the youngest reported in the literature. Absolute pitch is thought to be attributable to a single gene, transmitted in an autosomal-dominant fashion. The association of absolute pitch with autism raises the speculation that this talent could be linked to a genetically distinct subset of children with autism. Further, the identification of absolute pitch in even young children with autism may lead to a lifelong skill.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Section, Department of Neurology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202, USA.
authors.forename: James N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Brenton
authors.forename: Seth P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Devries
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barton
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Minnich
authors.forename: Deborah K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Sokol
mesh_terms: D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010897:Pitch Discrimination / Q000502:physiology*