Back in the 1980's Howard Gardner, a leading light in educational research, wrote a book called "Frames of Mind." In it, he posited the idea that there are many forms of intelligence. He cited a total of seven, including visual, social, verbal, and so on.

Later, during the 1990's, he came up with the idea of an 8th form of intelligence which he called "naturalist intelligence." I had never heard of this idea until just recently, and I decided to research it a bit further. In the process of my search, I came upon an article by Leslie Owen Wilson on the New Horizons website (New Horizons publishes books and multimedia related to autism). Here's a hefty citation from Wilson's article:

Naturalist intelligence deals with sensing patterns in and making connections to elements in nature. Using this same intelligence, people possessing enhanced levels of this intelligence may also be very interested in other species, or in the environment and the earth. Children possessing this type of intelligence may have a strong affinity to the outside world or to animals, and this interest often begins at an early age. They may enjoy subjects, shows and stories that deal with animals or natural phenomena. Or they may show unusual interest in subjects like biology, zoology, botany, geology, meteorology, paleontology, or astronomy. People possessing nature smarts are keenly aware of their surroundings and changes in their environment, even if these changes are at minute or subtle levels. Often this is due to their highly-developed levels of sensory perception. Their heightened senses may help them notice similarities, differences and changes in their surroundings more rapidly than others. People with naturalistic intelligence may be able to categorize or catalogue things easily too. Frequently, they may notice things others might not be aware of. As children these people often like to collect, classify, or read about things from nature -- rocks, fossils, butterflies, feathers, shells, and the like.

If your child:

• Notices patterns and things from nature easily,
• Has keen senses and observes and remembers things from his/her environment and surroundings,
• Likes animals and likes to know and remember things about them,
• Really appreciates being outside and doing things like camping, hiking or climbing, even just like sitting quietly and noticing the subtle differences in the world of nature, or
• Makes keen observations about natural changes, interconnections and patterns, then this child may be nature smart.

Primary examples of notable people having naturalistic intelligence are John Muir, Rachel Carson, and Charles Darwin. Examples of cultural groups possessing and valuing this form of intelligence are many Native American Tribes and Aboriginal Peoples.

Children having naturalistic intelligence may exhibit some of the following characteristics: They may:

• Have keen sensory skills - sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.
• Readily use heightened sensory skills to notice and categorize things from the natural world.
• Like to be outside, or like outside activities like gardening, nature walks or field trips geared toward observing nature or natural phenomena.
• N otice patterns easily from their surroundings -- likes, differences, similarities, anomalies.
• Are interested and care about animals or plants.
• Notice things in the environment others often miss.
• Create, keep or have collections, scrapbooks, logs, or journals about natural objects -- these may include written observations, drawings, pictures and photographs or specimens.
• Are very interested, from an early age, in television shows, videos, books, or objects from or about nature, science or animals.
• Show heightened awareness and concern of the environment and/or for endangered species.
• Easily learn characteristics, names, categorizations and data about objects or species found in the natural world.

Of course, not every person with autism falls into the "naturalist" category. But boy - my son sure does. And I'm guessing many readers know someone on the spectrum with "naturalist intelligence." Of course, our kids' sensory sensitivities are labelled as problemmatic; our kids propensity to collect and sort is considered to be perseverative, and our children's interest in Animal Planet is discouraged as socially inappropriate. Maybe, though, there's an up side to our kids' unusual form of intelligence, which is more about observation, categorization and information gathering than it is about conversation, social interaction and verbal learning.

If you do know a child who fits the naturalist description, you might want to check out the teaching strategies for kids with the abilities described above - also offered through New Horizons.

Are you familiar with this "new" form of intelligence? Does it ring any bells for you? Have you made use of educational strategies to reach and teach children with autism who tend toward this "naturalist intelligence?"