3D mom,
I am coming from this perspective: my DS8 is both gifted and has Asperger's. It's perfectly possible to have two or more things going on with the same child, which may be why you are getting confusing explanations.

I would say that you should have your child evaluated by a professional, so you can figure out what's going on in his particular case. A neuropsychologist or developmental pediatrician would be a good place to start.

I'm not going to recapitulate all my recent posts on this here, but if you search my posts, you will find a lot on this topic.

Best wishes,
DeeDee