On August 21, the brain science evaluation report of Xiaozheng, an 8-year-old "mathematical child" in Mianyang, Sichuan, was finally released. A week ago, on August 15, Duan Xujun, a doctoral supervisor at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and an expert in the field of autism brain imaging research, led his research team to perform a brain imaging scan for Xiaozheng. Dr. Duan Xujun told Red Star News that the gray matter volume of the small positive part of the brain area is smaller than that of ordinary children, indicating that his brain areas may be more advanced than the development of ordinary children. His talent for mathematical calculations may have something to do with the advanced development of his brain.
Dr. Duan Xujun's team performed a brain scan for Xiaozheng to check his development
From the age of more than 3, Xiaozheng was diagnosed with mental retardation and mental retardation. But in the last year, he has shown a "mathematical talent" for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division calculations. After the on-site measurement of Red Star News reporters, the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division within two digits, Xiaozheng answered almost in seconds; Multiplication of three or four digits, he will also give the answer in 20 seconds. After Xiaozheng's story was exclusively investigated and reported by Red Star News, it aroused widespread attention in the society and heated discussions among netizens. On August 7, the parents took Xiaozheng to Professor Wang Qi, chief physician of pediatrics and academic director of developmental pediatrics of Mianyang Central Hospital, for in-depth assessment of social, intelligence, autism (autism) and other aspects, and he was finally diagnosed with "Asperger's syndrome (subcategory of autism), comorbid intellectual language disorder".
On August 15, Xiaozheng went to the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China for brain scanning and other related tests, and the results were diagnosed and evaluated as typical autism, language retardation, and advanced development of some brain regions. However, Dr. Duan Xujun told Red Star News that the gray matter volume in the brain area of the brain is not as small as possible, but should follow a rule. As for the child's development plan, she said that because there are fewer similar cases, she is currently discussing with other experts in China to listen to more expert opinions, hoping to provide better learning planning for Xiaozheng and realize the value of life with her potential. At present, she suggests that Xiaozheng strengthen language training and rehabilitation, and if language comprehension ability is improved, it will be more conducive to the development of "mathematical talent".
Amazing "talent":
Arithmetic within four digits gives answers by mouth easily
Asperger's syndrome is diagnosed, with comorbid intellectual language disorder
Xiaozheng's father, Mr. Zheng, introduced to the Red Star News reporter that Xiaozheng only began to walk when he was 1 year old and 7 months, and when he was 2 years old, his intelligence test result was "low"; At the age of 2 years and 9 months, the hearing screening result was that the right ear failed, and the response was relatively slow at that time, and he spoke very little and unclear; After the age of 3 and a half, he began to speak after rehabilitation. From 2017 to July 2022, Mr. Zheng took his children to the hospital for examination several times, and several outpatient medical records and examination results provided by him showed that Xiaozheng was "mentally retarded and mentally retarded".
The reporter measured Xiaozheng's computing ability
But to Mr. and Mrs. Zheng's surprise, since the first grade in September last year, Xiaozheng began to show "mathematical talent" in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division calculation. On the morning of August 1, the Red Star News reporter measured on the spot, adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing within two digits, and Xiaozheng almost answered in seconds; Multiplication of three and four digits requires a moment of thought, but it will also give an answer in 20 seconds.
After Xiaozheng's talent story was reported by Red Star News, it attracted widespread attention and heated discussions among netizens. Mr. Zheng also listened to the advice of experts on the comprehensive diagnosis of the child, and immediately hung up the number of Professor Wang Qi, chief physician of pediatrics and academic director of developmental pediatrics of Mianyang Central Hospital. On the morning of August 7, the Red Star News reporter followed Xiaozheng's family to Mianyang Central Hospital, and after Professor Wang Qi fully understood Xiaozheng's situation, he issued a checklist, mainly for social aspects, intelligence and autism aspects to do an in-depth assessment, using the scale is the international precision standard scale, but also made a social diagnostic scale.
On the morning of August 9, Xiaozheng's inspection report came out. Professor Wang Qi said that according to the results of the scale, Xiaozheng's intellectual impairment is very serious, and the overall IQ is at a low level; Social impairment is very bad, and understanding of many ordinary communication conversations is relatively poor, but there are some numerical advantages. Through the assessment, it is also seen that the child has narrow interests and stereotyped behaviors, and according to the child's performance, it is seen that his communication, communication disorders and stereotypical narrow interests persist.
Professor Wang Qi diagnosed Xiaozheng
"Based on these two points, the diagnosis is autism spectrum disorder." Professor Wang Qi said that although pure number calculation can achieve a correct result of millions of millions, children are obviously lagging behind in language function, due to the limitation of language understanding ability and language development ability, so in too much communication, the child's comprehension ability is affected, thus affecting his calculation requirements in some aspects of not understanding. Based on Xiaozheng's situation, the child has Asperger's syndrome (a subcategory of autism), comorbid intellectual language disorder.
Brain scan:
Some brain regions are developed earlier
Computational talent may be related to this, but the extent of the association is not clear
After Xiaozheng's diagnosis, Professor Wang Qi contacted Dr. Duan Xujun of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China for the first time, hoping to do further imaging scans of Xiaozheng's brain to obtain a more refined brain development and a more accurate treatment plan.
Dr. Duan Xujun is a doctoral supervisor of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, whose main research field is autism brain imaging, and has carried out a series of research in autism brain dynamic network imaging, multimodal fusion imaging, and brain plasticity imaging, and established an autism brain imaging platform of "intervention-evaluation-prediction" to provide imaging basis for autism intervention and carry out clinical application.
Dr. Duan Xujun's team performed a brain scan for Xiaozheng to check his development
On the morning of August 15, Red Star News reporters accompanied Xiaozheng's family to the Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Center of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and Dr. Duan Xujun led his research team to carefully scan Xiaozheng's brain. After a few days of nervous and expectant waiting by parents, on August 21, Xiaozheng's "brain science evaluation report" was released.
Dr. Duan Xujun told Red Star News that they did an MRI examination of several key brain regions of Xiaozheng's brain, mainly looking at the development level of brain regions. According to the results of the examination, compared with ordinary children, the gray matter volume of most of the brain regions is within the normal range, but the gray matter volume in the prefrontal lobe, hippocampus, orbitofrontal lobe and other brain regions is significantly lower than the ordinary range, that is, the gray matter volume is reduced. From a developmental point of view, with the development of the brain, neuronal synaptic pruning, the gray matter volume will become smaller and smaller, and the gray matter volume will become smaller, indicating the completion of a degree of development.
Dr. Duan Xujun's team conducted relevant tests for Xiaozheng
"Through Xiaozheng's examination results, and then look at the gray matter volume of key brain areas, the gray matter volume of most brain areas is lower than that of ordinary children, which means that he is a stage of relatively rapid development, indicating that his brain areas are more advanced than the development of ordinary children." Dr. Duan Xujun said that Xiaozheng is now lower than the normal range, indicating that he has a greater degree of development, which may be a phenomenon of advanced maturity, that is, an advanced maturity of the cerebral cortex.
However, Dr. Duan Xujun said that the gray matter volume cannot be said to be as high as possible, nor can it be said that the lower the better, and should follow a rule, in a normal range is the best.
So, is Xiaozheng's amazing mathematical "computing talent" related to this?
In this regard, Dr. Duan Xujun said that this is just an image report, it is difficult to link this image report with some skills and skills in specific life, Xiaozheng's talent in mathematical calculation, may have a certain relationship with his brain advanced development, "but the degree of this correlation is so strong, it is not clear for the time being."
Expert advice:
Genustypical loneliasis
It can strengthen language training and rehabilitation, which helps the development of their mathematical talents
Dr. Duan Xujun told Red Star News that during the inspection that day, she led the research team to conduct a vocabulary test for Xiaozheng to test his language vocabulary comprehension ability, but the test showed a relatively low score, similar to the score of the Merriam-Webster intelligence test done in Mianyang. That is to say, whether it is a regular intelligence test or a language-related vocabulary test, it shows that Xiaozheng's language development is delayed.
"But whether this test can reflect intelligence, this is not necessarily, because these intelligence tests are evaluated according to the overall cognitive level of ordinary children, so maybe such tests may not be very suitable for children like Xiaozheng, and it cannot be said that the test is more than 50 points, the child's intelligence is only more than 50 points, in fact, many aspects of intelligence we can't measure." She said.
At the same time, Dr. Duan Xujun introduced that from Xiaozheng's autism behavior check scale, social response scale, autism treatment evaluation scale, repetitive behavior scale, and child behavior scale tests, he belongs to typical autism, but because they did not specifically evaluate his Asperger's syndrome, it cannot be completely said that he is an "Asperger".
Little is playing at home
So, in view of Xiaozheng's current situation, how should it develop in the future?
In this regard, Dr. Duan Xujun said that she discussed this case with other experts in China, in autism, people often say that autistic children have more geniuses, but in fact, there are not many, such cases are rare.
"Xiaozheng's future planning needs to be discussed more deeply, because each child's situation is different, can not be planned with everyone's similarity, I am still looking for other experts in China, I hope to listen to the opinions of other experts in China, see if there is a better way to provide him with a better learning plan, so as to be more likely to develop his potential and realize his value." Dr. Duan Xujun said that at present, she suggested that Xiaozheng should strengthen language training and rehabilitation, because his current language comprehension ability is relatively poor, and if his language comprehension ability is improved, it will be more conducive to the development of his mathematical talent.
On the evening of August 21, Xiaozheng's father, Mr. Zheng, told Red Star News that more and more people are paying attention to Xiaozheng. He posted a video on social platforms on the 19th, the content of the video was, Xiaozheng was ill and hospitalized, and his mother casually asked "What is 4326 multiplied by 6666?" After more than 30 seconds, Xiaozheng answered the correct answer through oral arithmetic. What he didn't expect was that this video has nearly 900,000 views so far, and netizens have praised and cheered for the child. They are also grateful for the attention and encouragement of netizens.
Red Star News reporter Tang Xiaojun photo report (pseudonym of Xiaozheng in the article)
Edited by Guo Yu Responsible Editor: Wei Kongming
For more details, please click on Red Star News' previous reports:
"Mathematical Odd Child" survey: 8-year-old boy added and subtracted within 4 digits of easy oral arithmetic He was diagnosed with mental retardation, and the reporter measured it
"Math Wizard" has an amazing talent for calculation: parents say they have registered experts to do a comprehensive examination of their children, hoping to have a complete growth plan
The 8-year-old "math boy" was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, and the comorbid intellectual language disorder experts gave a preliminary treatment plan
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