According to a new study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, children diagnosed with autism are performing better on math exams than non-autistic kids who are on the same IQ level. The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that 1 in 88 children are diagnosed with some form of autism.

The study included 18 autistic children and 18 non-autistic children between the ages of 7-12. What researchers found is that when taking standardized tests, all children performed normally on reading and verbal portions of the exams, however autistic children did better on the math portion than their counterparts.

Scientists tracked the children’s brain activity during the math exam via MRI. The scans of the autistic children showed that there was uncommon activity within the ventral temportal occipital cortex, which is the portion of the brain that deals with the processing of faces and other object. Occasionally, children with autism demonstrate amazing talents such as exceptional memory.

This research is one of the first of its kind due to earlier research usually focusing on the detriments of children with autism.