The fact that these kids can also improvise and compose makes me wonder if they were born with a lot of innate musical talent beyond pitch recognition. Of course that's the kind of "old thinking" the author doesn't want us to believe.

I do believe AP can be taught to some degree. My pitch recognition isn't that great in general but when I play my instruments I can immediately tell if something is off so the super-strong feedback loop you gain from learning an instrument, especially something that can go off-pitch, is a strong driver.