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Profoundly Gifted Girls and Autism Spectrum DisorderA Psychometric Case Study Comparison
Abstract
A case study of the psychometric characteristics of two profoundly gifted girls, one with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the other without ASD, is used to describe the nuances and subtleties most relevant in understanding the relationship between extreme giftedness and social difficulties. Through the presentation of the results from psychoeducational and psychosocial assessments, we demonstrate how data from a comprehensive evaluation can distinguish between the manifestation of extreme giftedness and concomitant social impairment indicative of ASD. Comparison of the assessment results highlights the relevance of cognitive and achievement information as well as the need for specific measures to diagnosis ASD. The girls demonstrated virtually identically superior cognitive and achievement performances. However, an in-depth analysis of additional measures, especially those specific to ASD, indicates that information about adaptive behavior and executive functioning can reveal important distinctions that are helpful in understanding the need for unique interventions specific to ASD.
... • Un rendement scolaire semblable (Assouline et al., 2009); ...
... • Une vitesse plus faible de traitement de l'information et une plus faible mémoire de travail (Assouline et al., 2009;Doobay et al., 2014); ...
... • Plus de difficultés sur le plan social (Assouline et al., 2009;Doobay et al., 2014) Expressions verbales élaborées, mais retard dans certains précurseurs à la communication, dont l'apparition de l'imitation verbale. Discours peut être redondant, pédant, livresque, décousu ou monocorde ou, à l'inverse, intonation exagérée. ...
Ce document vise les objectifs suivants:
• Reconnaitre les principales manifestations du TSA.
• Briser certains mythes reliés au TSA.
• Distinguer les manifestations comportementales similaires du TSA et de la douance.
• Reconnaitre les principales caractéristiques des élèves doués ayant un TSA.
• Connaitre les facteurs de risque et de protection associés au TSA et à la double exceptionnalité.
• Cibler les principaux besoins des élèves doués ayant un TSA.
... The necessity of adding ASD evaluation to the identification processes of giftedness is expressed (Assouline et al., 2009). However, the tools used in the assessment of ASD may give inconsistent results in distinguishing these individuals (Cederberg et al., 2018). ...
... Findings: It has been determined that twice exceptional individuals exhibit higher performance than their peers with typical development and ASD in terms of academic achievement (Chain et al., 2019), and they display a similar performance with their gifted peers (Assouline et al., 2009). The areas in which these individuals experience difficulties are shown as processing speed, executive functions, language, social skills, social adaptation, and psychosocial functions (Assouline et al., 2009;Doobay et al., 2014;Foley-Nicpon et al., 2010;Foley-Nicpon et al., 2012;Melogno et al., 2015). ...
... Findings: It has been determined that twice exceptional individuals exhibit higher performance than their peers with typical development and ASD in terms of academic achievement (Chain et al., 2019), and they display a similar performance with their gifted peers (Assouline et al., 2009). The areas in which these individuals experience difficulties are shown as processing speed, executive functions, language, social skills, social adaptation, and psychosocial functions (Assouline et al., 2009;Doobay et al., 2014;Foley-Nicpon et al., 2010;Foley-Nicpon et al., 2012;Melogno et al., 2015). ...
Bu araştırmada hem özel yetenekli hem de otizm spektrum bozukluğu olan iki kere farklı bireylere yönelik ulusal ve uluslararası alanyazında yer alan çalışmaların sistematik olarak incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu kapsamda veri tabanları ve anahtar kelimeler belirlenerek taramalar yapılmıştır. Taramalarda ulaşılan çalışmalardan 17 makale dâhil etme ve dışlama kriterleri neticesinde bu araştırmada incelenmek üzere belirlenmiştir. Belirlenen çalışmalar otizmli iki kere farklı bireylerin özellikleri, tanılama süreci, müdahaleler ve aileleri temaları altında incelenmiştir. Araştırmadan elde edilen bulgular otizmli iki kere farklı bireylerin birçok akademik ve bilişsel beceri alanında ortalama üzeri performans sergilemelerine karşın sosyal becerilerde ve iletişim becerilerinde güçlükler yaşadıklarını göstermektedir. Bu bireylerin tanılama süreçlerinde sadece otizm ya da sadece özel yetenek değerlendirmelerinin etkili sonuçlar vermeyebildiği görülmektedir. Bu nedenle çoklu değerlendirme yaklaşımları gerekli görülmektedir. Etkili müdahale yaklaşımları için bu bireylerin güçlü yönlerine odaklanan ve zayıf yönlerini de göz önünde bulunduran yaklaşımlar gereklidir. Elde edilen bulgular alanyazın ışığında tartışılmıştır.
... Though the 2e population is not limited to these categories, this study focuses on these four types of twiceexceptionality because these have been studied the most. Most of the existing research has focused on gifted/ADHD (e.g., Lee & Olenchak, 2015;Leroux & Levitt-Perlman, 2000;Moon et al., 2001;Neihart, 2003) or gifted/SLD in mathematics or reading (Assouline, Foley Nicpon, & Whiteman, 2010;Brody & Mills, 1997;Crawford & Snart, 1994;Lovett & Lewandowski, 2006) followed by gifted/ASD (Assouline, Foley Nicpon, & Doobay, 2009;Chiang & Lin, 2007;Lovecky, 2004), and a small amount of research into gifted/ED and gifted-with-behavior-problems (Alloway & Elsworth, 2012;Cross, 1997;Morrison, 2001). ...
... Misdiagnosis usually occurs when behaviors demonstrated by students with high intellectual and creative ability are misunderstood due to a lack of knowledge, and consequently confused with characteristics and associated behaviors of students diagnosed with a psychological condition or disorder (e.g., ASD or ADHD) (Assouline et al., 2009;Neihart, 1999;Webb et al., 2016). Chiang and Lin's (2007) research found that even among students with high-functioning autism, there were some with co-existing mathematical giftedness, but this giftedness was not recognized when attention was focused on their observed behavior related to autism only. ...
... Lack of specialized knowledge relates to missed diagnoses or misdiagnoses of either the cognitive ability or disability in 2e individuals within and outside schools (Assouline et al., 2006;Assouline et al., 2009;Assouline & Whiteman, 2011;Neihart, 1999;Webb et al., 2016). Considering the findings described above in the context of the literature, we could argue that there is currently a gap in teachers' training concerning the education of students with high and exceptional academic potential, with or without SEND. ...
Although they have the potential to excel, twice-exceptional (2e) students of mathematics do not usually have this opportunity as their special educational abilities, and special needs, are often misdiagnosed or “missed” diagnosed in schools due to the teachers’ lack of knowledge. The study explored this issue using an electronic survey for primary school teachers in four local authorities in England. It was planned as a pilot study to gather insights from a small number of schools aiming to identify areas for further study and larger-scale research. When comparing responses from teachers with gifted-related training and those without, the study found some knowledge of specific types of 2e students among both groups of teachers, but no significant difference between them. This raised concerns about the effectiveness of the training, as well as identifying areas that need further and more systematic research.
... Even more, this potential must be teased out among coexisting disabilities. Assouline et al. (2009 more specifically stated that twice exceptional individuals are those that are identified as 'gifted' and have other special needs at the same time (Assouline et al., 2009;. In this context, giftedness is the primary exceptionality identification with a consideration for extended educational services within the protected domain of special education to meet the other exceptional needs of the gifted student. ...
... Even more, this potential must be teased out among coexisting disabilities. Assouline et al. (2009 more specifically stated that twice exceptional individuals are those that are identified as 'gifted' and have other special needs at the same time (Assouline et al., 2009;. In this context, giftedness is the primary exceptionality identification with a consideration for extended educational services within the protected domain of special education to meet the other exceptional needs of the gifted student. ...
The author affiliations were published incorrectly. They have now been corrected. The correct affiliations are listed below.
... We define 2e as "giftedness coexisting with a disability at least in one developmental area, both of which are evidenced by professional assessment and require special support services" (Atmaca et al., in press). Assessment techniques, interventions, or educational approaches developed solely for giftedness or disability are not adequate for individuals with 2e (Assouline et al., 2009;Cederberg et al., 2018;Foley-Nicpon et al., 2017). Therefore, we need a novel conceptual framework that considers both giftedness and disability together to accurately identify and effectively intervene with these individuals. ...
... We consider the case a misidentification because the individual's processing speed deficits and ADHD-related weaknesses may be left unnoticed. Students misidentified as gifted would receive support only for giftedness though individuals with 2e need services for their giftedness and disabilities (Assouline et al., 2009;Atmaca & Tan, 2021;Cederberg et al., 2018;Foley-Nicpon et al., 2017;Reis et al., 2014). This situation may not be sufficient for their needs (Trail, 2011). ...
We compared the Wechsler scores of individuals with twice-exceptionality (2e) and giftedness using a three-level Bayesian meta-analysis. Ninety-five effect sizes were calculated from 15 studies (n = 2,106). Results show that individuals with 2e who have learning disabilities perform lower than individuals with giftedness in FSIQ (g = -0.62), working memory (g = -0.79), and processing speed (g = -0.75). Individuals with 2e who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have a distinct profile in which only processing speed differs from individuals with giftedness (g = -0.55). Results suggest that using a single IQ score in the identification process will be misleading. Moreover, IQ may mask the strengths or weaknesses of individuals with 2e.
... In particular, Assouline, Foley Nicpon, and colleagues note the collective usefulness of the information gathered from individual instruments that assess intelligence, academic achievement, behavioural functioning, social skills, and ASD (Assouline, Foley Nicpon, & Doobay, 2009;Foley Nicpon et al., 2011). The specific instruments used to identify these twice-exceptional students suggested by Assouline et al. (2009) include (a) the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) to assess intellectual ability, (b) the Woodcock-Johnson (WJ-III) Achievement Battery to assess academic achievement, (c) the Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment (NEPSY-II) to assess neuropsychological functioning (i.e., attention, executive functioning, language, memory, learning, sensorimotor, social perception, and visuospatial processing), (d) the Behavioral Assessment System for Children (BASC-2) to assess psychosocial functioning, (e) the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) to assess social skills, (f ) the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Vineland-II) to assess adaptive functioning, (g) the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) as one measure to assess ASD, and (h) the Autism Diagnostic Review -Revised (ADI-R) as a second measure to assess ASD. ...
... The information gathered from the combination of instruments is likely to allow an accurate assessment of the distinguishing characteristics of twice-exceptional students (e.g., high verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning abilities, average processing speed, and many social/communication skills that are at levels comparable to students diagnosed with ASD; Assouline et al., 2009). Nevertheless, the time-and resource-intensive nature of the identification process, and the need for collaboration among psychologists, psychiatrists, educators, and other relevant professionals with expertise in two disciplines, may mean that it will not be readily available for all students who have this type of double exceptionality. ...
... Because it is possible for an individual to have both giftedness and a disadvantage simultaneously. This situation of being disadvantaged emerging together with being gifted has been generally focused on as learning difficulties (LD), autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Assouline, Nicpon & Doobay, 2009;Foley-Nicpon, Allmon, Sieck & Stinson, 2011;Gallagher, 2009;Lupart & Toy, 2009;Reis, Baum & Burke, 2014). For instance, when the research conducted on the issue of twice exceptionality between 1990 and 2010 is reviewed, it is seen that there are a total of 43 empirical studies and five of these studies focused on giftedness and ASD; seventeen of them focused on giftedness and ADHD and twenty of them focused on giftedness and LD (Foley et al., 2011). ...
... Last but not least, when 2E definitions examined, it is possible to say that definitions mostly focus on identifications with ASD, LD and ADHD (Assouline, Nicpon & Doobay, 2009;Foley-Nicpon et al., 2011;Gallagher, 2009;Lupart & Toy, 2009;Reis, Baum & Burke, 2014). However, few research findings adressed gifted individuals with different special needs such as visual impairment, hearing impairment/deafness, social, emotional and behavioural disorders, impulse control disorders and depression (Gök, Baş & Avşar-Tuncay, 2018;Lupart & Toy, 2009;Sisk, 2003;Starr, 2003;Winstanley, 2003). ...
This research focuses on the educational and daily life of a gifted individual with albinism. The purpose of this current research was to determine the difficulties faced by this twice-exceptional individual in his education life and how these difficulties have been overcome. The study has been conducted by narrative study design of the qualitative method. Research data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with the individual himself, his mother and one of his friend. Data analyses revealed four different themes, such as: difficulties due to visual impairment and strategies to cope with these difficulties, difficulties experienced due to physical disadvantages and ways of overcoming them, being gifted and socio-emotional difficulties. More specifically, the twice-exceptional individual, who has visual impairment due to albinism (90%), continued his formal education throughout the whole education life without attending inclusion classes, and encountered many difficulties specific to those who see little, such as having difficulty in following the course and course notes. In addition to these, the twice-exceptional individual is an unrecognized gifted student (academically) who exhibited early development in the childhood period and who has achieved outstanding academic success at undergraduate and postgraduate level after having been in the 0.01% portion among the students taking the university entrance exam. As gifted, he has not received any special support in the education system. It is seen that the support of his family throughout his education life is an effective factor playing an important role in the shaping of the education life of the twice-exceptional individual, who has been confronted with many social-psychological difficulties because his difference from others as a gifted individual with albinism.
... Si bien existe respaldo teórico y empírico para comprender el desempeño a nivel cognitivo y el bienestar subjetivo de alumnos que presentan TEA o inteligencia sobre el rango Promedio de forma separada, no está claro si se presentan las mismas para estudiantes que presentan de forma conjunta ambas condiciones . Los estudios de la DE concuerdan que los estudiantes tienen fortalezas y debilidades inherentes a cada condición presentada, pero, además, muestran alteraciones en distintas áreas de su desarrollo, por las complejidades asociadas a presentar la doble excepcionalidad (Assouline, Foley-Nicpon & Doobay, 2009;Boothe, 2010). ...
... Estos antecedentes reflejan una problemática actual, ya que a pesar de que se encontró información que describe las características que se asocian al funcionamiento de los alumnos DE de forma general (Assouline et al., 2009;Boothe, 2010;Bracamote, 2010;Foley-Nicpon & Kim, 2018;King, 2005;Neihart, 2000;Pfeiffer & Foley-Nicpon, 2017;Reis, Baum & Burke, 2014), se ha demostrado que el ámbito investigativo de alumnos que presentan TEA e inteligencia sobre el Promedio requiere profundización (Assouline et al., citado en Foley-Nicpon & Kim, 2018;Neihart, 2000;Burger-Veltmeijer, Minnaert & Van Houten-Van den Bosch, 2011;Foley-Nicpon & Assouline, 2015) particularmente en el contexto nacional, donde el tema es aún más incipiente (Conejeros-Solar, Gómez-Arizaga, Sandoval-Rodríguez & Cáceres-Serrano, 2018;. ...
Los estudiantes con doble excepcionalidad son alumnos que presentan dos condiciones fuera de lo común, típicamente una condición asociada a talento y otra condición a discapacidad. Este estudio buscó determinar un perfil de funcionamiento ejecutivo (FE) y bienestar subjetivo (BS) de alumnos con doble excepcionalidad (DE) que presentan trastorno del espectro autista (TEA) e inteligencia sobre el rango promedio, para compararlo con estudiantes con desarrollo normativo e inteligencia Promedio de la comuna de Concepción.Los alumnos fueron pareados por sexo, edad y nivel socio económico. Mediante un método cuantitativo, descriptivo, comparativo y transversal, se evaluaron a 10 varones; cinco alumnos DE (M = 12.65 [4.18]) y cinco del grupo comparativo (M = 12.48 [4.10]). Al comparar funcionamiento ejecutivo entre grupos, se observó que los alumnos con DE presentan mejor desempeño en Razonamiento Fluido (p = 0.04) y, según la percepción de los docentes, un mejor control Inhibitorio (p = 0,04). A pesar de que no se encontraron otras diferencias significativas entre grupos, el perfil de alumnos DE si mostró un déficit en funciones ejecutivas, pero únicamente en la manifestación conductual de las mismas. Los resultados asociados al bienestar subjetivo, indican que no existen diferencias significativas entre grupos. El perfil de alumnos DE refleja que mantienen “moderada” satisfacción con la vida y mayor Afecto Positivo que Negativo.
Abstract
Students with double exceptionality are those who present two out of the ordinary conditions: one associated with outstanding skill and the other associated with a disability. This study sought to determine a profile of executive functioning and subjective well-being of students with double exceptionality (DE) which presented both above-average intelligence and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The results were compared with a control group of equally numbered students. The students were paired by sex, age, and socio-economic level. Through a quantitative, descriptive, comparative and cross-cutting method, 10 males were evaluated: five DE students (M = 12.65 [4.18]) and five control group Students (M = 12.48 [4.10]). The results of executive functioning show that DE Students present higher performance in Fluid Reasoning (p = 0.04) and, according to teachers’ perception, a better Inhibitory Control (p = 0.04). Although no other significative differences were found between groups, DE students'''' profile did show a deficiency in executive functioning, but only in its behavioral manifestation. Results associated with subjective well-being didn’t show any significative differences between groups. DE students'''' profile reflects that they maintain moderate satisfaction with life and higher positive affect than negative.
... Giftedness can often mask a disability or a disability can mask giftedness (Baum, 1990), making the identification of 2e students extraordinarily difficult (McCoach et al., 2001;Ruban, 2005). Most educators lack the knowledge and training needed to accurately identify 2e students and intervene such that their students' strengths are bolstered while their limitations are accommodated appropriately (Assouline et al., 2009;Assouline and Foley-Nicpon, 2007;Assouline and Whiteman, 2011;Foley-Nicpon et al., 2013). When teachers are unaware that this combination of giftedness and disability is even possible, it is common for the 2e child's talents to go unnoticed or his or her behaviors misunderstood (National Education Association, 2006). ...
... There are similar issues of under identification and reports of shortages in effective strategies and trained teachers throughout the literature (for a review, see Foley-Nicpon et al., 2011). Unfortunately, most teachers and professionals have limited knowledge and training to accurately identify students with twice-exceptionality and implement the necessary accommodations to simultaneously address giftedness and challenges within the same student (Assouline et al., 2009;Assouline and Whiteman, 2011). A number of research studies on this topic lend support to the concern that 2e students are often offered inappropriate or inadequate educational support (e.g. ...
Gifted children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often referred to as twice-exceptional, the term that highlights the co-occurrence of exceptional challenges and exceptional giftedness. This study performed secondary data analysis on samples of twice-exceptional children from the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study and the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study datasets. The results provide a descriptive profile of twice-exceptional (e.g. demographics, average academic performance, and services utilized), trajectory plots that indicate how academic performance changes over time, and multilevel analyses that model growth in academic outcomes using demographics, school services, and giftedness as predictors. Some of the key findings are that twice-exceptional students show not only higher initial levels of academic performance, but they improve over time relative to the non-gifted ASD counterparts and—with the exception of Letter Word Matching—even relative to the general population. Moreover, they benefit from mental health services disproportionately. Together, the results offer a deeper understanding of the twice-exceptional autistic population, their academic performance over time, and the services that they utilize.
... Up to recently, there was no theoretically grounded heuristic regarding assessments and interventions of children and youngsters (hereafter named 'students') with (suspicion of) Intellectual Giftedness and an Autism Spectrum Disorder (IG+ASD) (Assouline, Foley Nicpon & Doobay, 2009;Burger-Veltmeijer, 2006a,b;Burger-Veltmeijer, Minnaert & Van Houten-Van den Bosch, 2011;Huber, 2007). It was amply documented that this lack of theoretical grounding forced professionals to indicate psycho-educational assessment trajectories and interventions in a haphazard way, merely based on clinical opinions and anecdotal case reports (e.g. ...
... As such, assessment departs from IG+ASD characteristics (Burger-Veltmeijer et. al., 2011, 2014, instead of IG-characteristics apart from ASDcharacteristics, as seemed customary up till now (see for instance Assouline et al., 2009;Doobay, 2010); 2. Biased assessments can be reduced if assessments are primarily focused at the identification of S&W profiles within the aforementioned dimensions, and subsequently, if still necessary, at the identification of categorical labels such as IG, ASD or IG+ASD. This is opposite to common psycho-educational practice, in which the label merely precedes and determines the intervention-indications. ...
Recientemente Burger-Veltmeyer, Minnaert y Van der Bosch (2014) han desarrollado un marco conceptual denominado Heurístico de Fuerzas y Debilidades (Heurístico S&W) para poder facilitar la sistematización y la coherencia en la investigación así como en la práctica psico-educativa, refiriéndose a pruebas de evaluación en estudiantes con Dotes de superdotación intelectual (I.G.) y con (sospecha de) Espectro de Trastorno Autista. En este aporte evaluaron si las pruebas de evaluación en la práctica psico-educativa resultaron consistentes con los principios teóricos del Heurístico S&W. Los resultados mostraron la posibilidad de pérdidas de señales de ASD características en estudiantes IG así como una tendencia de que gran parte de las pruebas de evaluación en estudiantes IG con (o sin) características de ASD no se calificara de una manera sistemática, dimensional y basada en necesidades acorde con los principios básicos del Heurístico S&W. Estas comprobaciones sugieren la necesidad de optimización de la ruta de pruebas de evaluación en la práctica psico-educativa o la necesidad de optimización del Heurístico S&W en sí mismo.
... Researchers have increasingly investigated the high-ability subset of children who meet criteria for both ASD and intellectual giftedness (Assouline, Nicpon, & Doobay, 2009). Gifted youth with ASD often show high intellect accompanied by intense interests, asynchronous development in abilities, inability to communicate and behave in a socially conventional manner, and extreme rigidity for rules and structure (Rubenstein, Schelling, Wilczynski, & Hooks, 2015). ...
... These unique characteristics commonly present challenges for parents and educators to provide effective support and advocacy, develop strengths, and address the individual areas of deficit for the child (Dare & Nowicki, 2015;Rubenstein et al., 2015). Within this population, the absence of a linguistic or intellectual impairment, or a complex behavioral presentation, may also make identification more difficult (Assouline et al., 2009;Neihart, 2000). There exists a need for valid and reliable screening tools for the range of autistic disorders across intellectual abilities from the general population to clinical settings (Ehlers, Gillberg, & Wing, 1999). ...
High-ability youth diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) historically have been neglected within samples validating ASD screening measures, and consensus for what constitutes high ability has not been established. The Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) and Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) are two common screening tools for ASD used within research and practice settings. We investigated the accuracy of the ASSQ and SRS for ASD identification among a sample of 23 high-ability youth previously diagnosed with ASD. Results suggest both ASSQ and SRS measures inconsistently screened for ASD. The high-ability students with ASD scored significantly lower on the SRS total score and social cognition, communication, and motivation subscales, suggesting potential phenotypic differences among high-ability youth with ASD that could inform assessment and intervention strategies.
... First, the sample consisted of high ability children (cognitive ability score of greater than or equal to 120 [92nd percentile]). Less is known about the applicability of these tools among gifted youth; it may be that ASD manifests uniquely among this population (Assouline et al. 2009(Assouline et al. , 2011Foley Nicpon et al. 2010), but empirical research examining this possibility is limited. Second, the authors determined whether those who no longer met criteria for ASD under the DSM-5 did meet criteria for SCD. ...
... Individuals were considered high ability if one or more index score was 120 or above (within a 95% confidence interval), which is considered the superior range. Index scores were used in favor of full scale scores given high ability youth with ASD typically score lower in processing speed, which contributes to the full scale index (Assouline et al. 2009;Doobay et al.2014;Calhoun and Mayes 2005;Foley Nicpon et al. 2012;Calhoun 2007, 2008;Oliveras-Rentas et al. 2012) Similar criteria for identifying high ability among children with ASD have been used elsewhere (e.g., Assouline et al. 2011;Foley Nicpon et al. 2010). High ability among this population is typically within the higher order reasoning domains (e.g., verbal, nonverbal), rather than the lower order domains (e.g., short-term memory and processing speed; Foley Nicpon et al. 2010) but high ability children demonstrate strengths in both/or verbal and nonverbal domains (Reis et al. 2014). ...
This study was a replication of Mazefsky et al.'s (Journal of Autism and Developmental Disabilities 43:1236-1242, 2013) investigation among a sample of 45 high ability children and adolescents diagnosed with ASD under DSM-IV-TR. Items from the ADOS and ADI-R were mapped onto DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for ASD and SCD to determine whether participants would meet either diagnosis under DSM-5. If the ADOS were administered alone, 62% of individuals diagnosed with ASD would no longer meet criteria under DSM-5; however, when the ADI-R and ADOS scores were combined, 100% of individuals would continue to meet ASD diagnosis. The ADOS was determined to be an insufficient measure for SCD due to the small number of algorithm items measuring SCD diagnostic criteria, suggesting the development of SCD measures is required.
... It is possible that the optimal approach for the identification of exceptional skills in autistic individuals will require a range of instruments to be administered and/or evaluated by experts in both exceptional skills and autism (Assouline et al., 2009;Foley Nicpon et al., 2011). Indeed, the lack of agreement between parent and teacher reports in this study highlights the importance of a multiple criteria, multi-instrument and multi-disciplinary approach to the identification of exceptional skills in autistic children. ...
Background:
Although autism is commonly described in terms of deficits, many autistic individuals have been found to demonstrate exceptional skills. The shift to a strengths-based approach in the field of autism necessitates increased understanding of these skills.
Aims:
This study examined (1) rates of exceptional skills in autistic school-age children as reported by parents and teachers, (2) associations between exceptional skills, autism severity and intellectual disability and (3) correlations between parent and teacher reports of exceptional skills.
Method:
Parents and teachers of 76 children attending autism-specific schools in Australia completed online questionnaires. Thereafter, 35 parents and teachers who identified their child as having one or more exceptional skills were interviewed by a clinical psychologist.
Results:
Forty parents (53%) and 16 (21%) teachers reported that their child had at least one exceptional skill (agreement between the parent and teacher reports was low; κ = .03, p = .74). In comparison, clinical psychologist assessments identified 22 children (29%) as having at least one such skill. No statistically significant relationships were identified between exceptional skills, autism severity and intellectual disability.
Conclusion:
While different exceptional skills were identified, regardless of children's intellectual functioning or autism severity, parents and teachers varied substantially in their evaluations of these skills. Furthermore, the identified prevalence rates of exceptional skills did not always align with the rates identified in previous studies. The study findings highlight the need for definitional consensus on different types of exceptional skills, and the importance of multiple criteria/multi-instrument approaches in the identification of exceptional skills in autistic children.
... Terman, influenced by Binet, develops the first intelligence test in a way to distinguish gifted individuals and introduces the first standardized intelligence test called "Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale" in 1916. In addition to intelligence test studies, Terman supports the literature through the longterm researches on students with high IQ (Alamer, 2017;Assouline et al., 2009). In a longitudinal study conducted by Terman, it is found that there is a relation between social adaptation, emotional sensitivity and cognition levels of gifted children (Gündüz, 2010;Terman, 1925). ...
... The size of the problem that gifted people experience in social relations may also vary depending on the level of giftedness. For instance, profoundly gifted children may have more difficulty in social relations than moderately gifted children (Assouline et al., 2009). ...
The present study aimed to examine the effect of video games on gifted children's spatial orientation and entrepreneurial skills. An embedded mixed methods design was utilized to conduct the study. A randomized control group design was used in the quantitative part of the research, and a case study design was used in the qualitative part. The study was conducted with 21 volunteer secondary school students receiving supportive education at a science and art center. The experimental group comprised 10 students while the control group included 11 students. The data were collected through "Spatial Orientation Test", "Entrepreneurship Scale for Secondary School Students", and "Weekly Progress Form". Additionally, the game profiles and career progress of each student were photographed at the end of each session. The students in the experimental group played the Euro Truck Simulator 2 video game for six weeks. No statistically significant difference was found between the pre-test and post-test scores of the gifted children in the experimental and control groups. Furthermore, no statistically significant difference was not found between pre-test and post-test scores of the gifted children in the experimental group. These results show that the activities undertaken in the experimental and control groups did not lead to a significant difference in the spatial orientation and entrepreneurial skills of the gifted students. Qualitative findings revealed that gifted children mostly preferred to save the money they earn, did not take risks and preferred to carry products with low-risk transportation. These results show that risk-taking sub-behavior, which is one of the most important indicators of entrepreneurial skill, was not shown. It is seen that the quantitative findings were supported by the qualitative findings. Further research might examine the effect of increasingly challenging non-routine tasks that enable gifted children to fulfill their true potential on their entrepreneurial and spatial skills and results can be compared.
... The size of the problem that gifted people experience in social relations may also vary depending on the level of giftedness. For instance, profoundly gifted children may have more difficulty in social relations than moderately gifted children (Assouline et al., 2009). ...
Bu çalışmada video oyunlarının üstün yetenekli çocukların mekânsal yönelim ve girişimcilik becerileri üzerindeki etkisinin incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmada eşzamanlı iç içe desene dayalı karma yöntem kullanılmıştır. Çalışmanın nicel kısmında seçkisiz ön test son test kontrol gruplu desen, nitel kısmında ise durum çalışmasından yararlanılmıştır. Araştırma Bilim ve Sanat Merkezi’nde destek eğitimine gelen 21 gönüllü ortaokul öğrencisi ile yürütülmüştür. Çalışmanın deney grubunda 10, kontrol grubunda 11 öğrenci yer almıştır. Araştırmada veri toplama aracı olarak Uzamsal Yönelim Testi, Ortaokul Öğrencilerine Yönelik Girişimcilik Ölçeği ve Haftalık İlerleme Formu kullanılmıştır. Ek olarak her bir öğrencinin oyundaki kariyer ilerlemeleri ve profilleri her hafta uygulama sonunda fotoğraflanmıştır. Deney grubundaki öğrenciler Euro Truck Simulator 2 video oyununun 6 hafta boyunca oynamışlardır. Deneysel uygulama sonrasında deney ve kontrol grubunda yer alan üstün yetenekli öğrencilerin ön-test puanlarına göre son-test puanlarında istatiksel olarak anlamlı bir şekilde farklılaşma olmadığı belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca deney grubunun ön test ve son test puanları arasında da manidar bir farklılık olmadığı görülmüştür. Bu sonuç deney ve kontrol gruplarında gerçekleştirilen uygulamaların üstün yetenekli öğrencilerin mekânsal yönelim ve girişimcilik becerilerini manidar olarak farklılaştırmadığını göstermektedir. Nitel bulgular, üstün yetenekli çocukların daha çok kazandıkları parayı biriktirmeyi tercih ettiklerini, risk almadıklarını ve düşük riskli taşımalı ürünleri taşımayı tercih ettiklerini ortaya koymuştur. Bu sonuçlar girişimcilik becerisinin en önemli göstergelerinden biri olan risk alma alt davranışının gösterilmediğini göstermektedir. Nicel bulguların nitel bulgularla desteklendiği görülmektedir. Üstün yetenekli öğrencilerin potansiyellerini daha iyi ortaya koyabilecekleri ve tekdüzelikten uzak gittikçe zorlaşan/karmaşıklaşan görevler içeren uygulamaların onların girişimcilik ve mekânsal becerileri üzerindeki etkisi incelenerek elde edilen sonuçlar karşılaştırılabilir.
... "Twice-exceptional" is the expression that refers to the condition in which giftedness is associated with a neuropsychiatric disorder. According to clinical records, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and learning disabilities are the three diagnoses most often reported in comorbidity with giftedness [9,10]. However, the differential diagnosis is complicated. ...
This work systematically reviewed past literature to investigate the association between intellectual giftedness and socio-emotional and/or behavioral disorders. Nineteen studies met the inclusion criteria, 17 of which have children and/or adolescents as participants, and 12 have a non-gifted control group. Socio-emotional problems, such as withdrawal, were found in 3 out of 8 studies; internalizing disorders, such as anxiety, were found in 5 out of 9; externalizing disorders, such as hyperactivity, were found in 3 out of 5. The most investigated comorbidity was attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. A univocal conclusion on the relationship between intellectual giftedness and socio-emotional/behavioral problems cannot be drawn, principally because of the heterogeneity of participants’ age, informants, and instruments. The review highlights the need for future studies to use multi-informant and comprehensive assessments, to reach more robust findings, and suggests that age and discrepancy between verbal and non-verbal intellectual abilities should be considered critical factors.
... Some children belonging to category C) show social difficulties which may indicate the presence of an ASD condition. Assouline, Foley Nicpon and Doobay [8] compared the cognitive and neuropsychological profiles of two gifted girls with and without ASD, Carrie and Hannah. Carrie met the criteria for category C and Hannah, those for category B. ...
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have been shown to have social cognitive issues .The purpose of this clinical case study was to describe the social cognition examination and therapy of a gifted child, SC (9 years old), who had ASD and a very high verbal IQ (146). The objectives of the treatment were to improve the child's capability of decoding social behavior, and enhance his mentalistic reasoning. Theory of mind, emotion perception, and pragmatic abilities were all assessed and found to have certain flaws. SC's ability to perceive emotions and interpret mental states were to be improved during the four-month treatment, which was divided into 14 sessions. The intervention's major strategy was "social reading" with video clips. Following the treatment, the first assessment was repeated in a follow-up session. At the end of the treatment and at follow-up the social cognition measures showed some improvement. The findings of this case study imply that "social reading" may be a useful strategy for children with high-functioning ASD, particularly those with giftedness.
... One of the important outcomes to emerge from recent research in the neuroscience of learning is that traditional ideas about learning have been challenged. Facilitated by newer theoretical conversations about intelligence, the notion of twice exceptionality has highlighted that a student may be both gifted and learning disabled (Assouline et al., 2009;Willard-Holt et al., 2013;Assouline et al., 2012), as is the case with many high-functioning students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), sometimes described as Asperger's syndrome. 1 Such students may attend mainstream schools and be recognised as gifted, while simultaneously requiring learning support in certain areas (Norris and Dixon, 2011), for example, in social and communication skills, emotion processing, and learning activities that employ executive functions (Williams and Minshew, 2010;Brady et al., 2017). ...
This paper reports on a framework of thinking, memory and learning that emerged from a
qualitative research study into the nature of learning for individuals with autism. The
framework is useful for professional development of teachers regarding the learning
characteristics of neurodiverse students with autism spectrum disorder. The paper
provides a review of the neuroscience and memory-in-autism literature and introduces
the Learning Ladder, a new evidence-based model that facilitates explanation of the
learning characteristics of neurodiverse learners and serves as a guide for pedagogical
decision-making. The application of the framework for teaching and learning within the
context of Christian education is considered.
... In some cases, their advanced abilities are identified first, but most often their disabilities are identified, while their academic talents are not (Reis et al., 2014). When this occurs, 2e students' academic and social needs may not be met and ultimately they may not receive appropriate clinical and educational intervention services (Assouline et al., 2009). ...
Little is known about the academic and extra-curricular experiences of academically talented students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This study focused on how these capable students with ASD successfully navigated and completed high school, and specifically, the experiences that enabled them to attend competitive colleges. Using comparative case studies and directed content analysis, data were derived from semi-structured interviews with 40 students who had been identified as academically talented with ASD, and were enrolled in, or recently graduated from, highly competitive colleges in the United States. The majority were identified as having academic talents, participated in challenging honors classes, enrichment opportunities, interest-based extra-curricular activities, residential summer programs, and pursued other advanced educational experiences. Implications for educational and talent development services are included.
... Under IDEA, individuals with ASD in academic settings represent about 10% of eligible students (McFarland et al., 2019). Within this 10%, gifted youth diagnosed with ASD represent one subset among a growing field related to high-ability students who present with a coexisting disability-a special population known as twice-exceptional (e.g., Assouline et al., 2009). ...
... Unlike gifted children, ASD children are often unaware of their behavior and fail to perceive others' perceptions. Thus, ASD children tend to present an inadequate theory of mind, which is explained as metacognition that allows the individual to comprehend and handle situations from the perspective of others (Assouline, Foley-Nicpon, & Doobay, 2009;Foley-Nicpon et al., 2010). Furthermore, gifted children can be distracted by external stimuli which leads them to have attention difficulties; however, ASD children are more likely to be distracted from an internal stimulus as they attend more to their innerness than the outward. ...
This study used the bibliographic scattering analysis to explore the scientific publications trends on gifted individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) over the past 23 years. The study examined the applicability and appropri-ateness of Bradford's and Lotka's laws of scattering to measure the impact factors of journals, institutions, countries, researchers, and personal publications on the area of research. After examining 95 research papers published in 55 Social Sciences Citation Indexed (SSCI) journals from 1998 to 2020. The rank list was prepared to identify the core journals in education. Themost frequent venues of journals in descending order of times cited are, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Science (USA) with 33.8% of citation, followed by the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (USA) with 10.3% of citation and Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (USA) with 8.2% of citation. The top four categories of research were psychology with 37.13% of publications , followed by psychiatry (13.77%), neurosciences and neurology (11.38%), and education (8.38%). The study found that Asperger syndrome (AS) is still used in academic studies, even after it was immersed in the ASD by DSM-5 criteria. The findings and limitations were presented and discussed.
... Unlike gifted children, ASD children are often unaware of their behavior and fail to perceive others' perceptions. Thus, ASD children tend to present an inadequate theory of mind, which is explained as metacognition that allows the individual to comprehend and handle situations from the perspective of others (Assouline, Foley-Nicpon, & Doobay, 2009;Foley-Nicpon et al., 2010). Furthermore, gifted children can be distracted by external stimuli which leads them to have attention difficulties; however, ASD children are more likely to be distracted from an internal stimulus as they attend more to their innerness than the outward. ...
This study used the bibliographic scattering analysis to explore the scientific publications trends on gifted individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) over the past 23 years. The study examined the applicability and appropriateness of Bradford’s and Lotka’s laws of scattering to measure the impact factors of journals, institutions, countries, researchers, and personal publications on the area of research. After examining 95 research papers published in 55 Social Sciences Citation Indexed (SSCI) journals from 1998 to 2020. The rank list was prepared to identify the core journals in education. Themost frequent venues of journals in descending order of times cited are, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Science (USA) with 33.8% of citation, followed by the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (USA) with 10.3% of citation and Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (USA) with 8.2% of citation. The top four categories of research were psychology with 37.13% of publications, followed by psychiatry (13.77%), neurosciences and neurology (11.38%), and education (8.38%). The study found that Asperger syndrome (AS) is still used in academic studies, even after it was immersed in the ASD by DSM-5 criteria. The findings and limitations were presented and discussed.
... For example, a visually creative student with ADHD likely would respond differently to an intervention than a student who is talented in verbal based domains. [5] Fifth, there are needs to be further exploration into the "masking" phenomenon to verify its existence(Baum & Olenchak, 2002). [6]Sixth, is considering the increaseof the sample size because this is too difficult given that the prevalence of twice-exceptionality is relatively low and identification is complex, but increased sample sizes would make analyses more powerful and results more influential for states or districts planning to enact positive change in their schools. ...
... This activity was based upon two case studies of individuals with a diagnosis of ASD, one taken from Roth et al., (2010), and one from Assouline et al., (2009). Each of the case studies were transcribed, and the name of the individual and gender specific pronouns were removed. ...
The diagnosis of ASD has increased over the last fifteen years, with many scholars
providing possible explanations for this (Elsabbagh et al., 2012; Russell et al., 2015).
Specifically, this study contributes to the body of research investigating the awareness that the identification of ASD in females may be later than that in males, as well as the awareness that misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis is more likely in females (Dworzynski et al., 2012; Loomes et al., 2017; Van Wijngaarden-Cremers et al., 2014).
This study focused upon the perceptions and understandings of ASD within a specific
population sample. Furthermore, the exploratory nature of study facilitated the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data, as well as enabling comparisons to prior literature in the field to be made.
Methodologically, this study enlisted a mixed method approach, made up of three
methods; questionnaires, interviews and a case study based task. These methods were used in two base locations, with the inclusion criteria being standardised and practices mirrored in both locations. Through these methods, data was gathered, coded, and analysed, to enable conclusions to be made. Ethical issues, for example confidentiality and informed consent, were considered throughout the completion of the project, with ethical approval from the university ethics board being obtained prior to collecting data. Questionnaires were collected from staff currently employed within a school, for example, a class teacher. In comparison, interviews and the case study based activity were collected from specific professionals involved with ASD, for example, speech and language therapists.
A total of 29 questionnaires were collected, all of which were completed through the
medium of English. Additionally, a total of nine responses were obtained for the case study based activity, as well as two participants who completed the interview. No participants who completed the questionnaire stated that they had a diagnosis of ASD. This marker was not ascertained within the other two methods.
Overall, three key themes were identified upon analysis of results gathered from all
three methods used. The first theme considers participant’s understanding and awareness of the diagnosis rates of ASD, which overall presented an understanding that males were more frequently diagnosed, with the awareness that females can be diagnosed in a smaller proportion of participants. Secondly, current developments in the field were mentioned and discussed by some participants, although, it is likely that inaccurate responses and statements were a result of various factors, including a lack of awareness in current developments and societal assumptions and misconceptions. Finally, the awareness and acknowledgement that gender may have an effect within the field of ASD lacked frequent understanding, specifically within the questionnaire respondents.
This study obtained findings that contribute to wider research, with some findings
supporting previous research, as well as some that challenge or differ from previous study. Irrespective of this, this study demonstrates that understandings of ASD, and the possible relationship with gender, remain variable. Regardless of if or how this study is expanded, increasing the reliability and validity of diagnoses should remain at the centre of the objectives and aims of study.
... Studies of highly able learners with ASD were most commonly associated with academic achievement, cognitive differences, psychometric characteristic comparisons, and behavioral scales (Assouline, Foley Nicpon, & Doobay, 2009;Assouline et al., 2012;Foley Nicpon, Doobay, & Assouline, 2010;Foley Nicpon et al., 2012). These studies focused more on assessment-based academic performance of highly able learners with ASD, instead of examining their learning strategies and educational processes. ...
Empirical studies investigating twice-exceptional students’ learning experiences and intricate needs remain scarce to date. Even though highly able learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASDs) demonstrate potential for high achievement and/or creative productivity, they also face potential psychosocial distresses such as anxiety disorders and poor self-concept. This study aimed to explore positive educational opportunities for highly able learners diagnosed with ASD. Using a success case method, the researchers invited two fifth-grade highly able learners with ASD to participate in this study. Data collection included interviews, observations, questionnaires, and supplementary artifacts. Adopting a general inductive analysis approach and a Glaserian coding paradigm, the researchers identified a core category, supportive school context (SSC), along with three subcategories: (a) curriculum flexibility, (b) strength-based approaches, and (c) safe environment. The findings could provide effective pedagogical strategies for teachers, school administrators, and parents. Furthermore, we rendered several suggestions for future research.
... tipos de 2e. Un estudio de casos realizado porAssouline, Foley Nicpon y Doobay (2009), el cual comparó los perfiles de dos niñas AC una con y otra sin TEA, encontró resultados similares, en donde la participante con diagnóstico dual AC-TEA obtuvo resultados más bajos en velocidad de procesamiento. También se encontraron diferencias importantes en las funciones ejecutivas, donde la estudiante AC-TEA demostró importantes dificultades en atención selectiva, distractibilidad e impulsividad. ...
En la década de los 80 surge un nuevo concepto en educación -doble excepcionalidad- que hace referencia a una paradoja entre una alta habilidad y una dificultad que impactan en el desarrollo y aprendizaje de niños, niñas y jóvenes. El objetivo del presente artículo es aportar a la comprensión de esta temática poco abordada en el contexto latinoamericano y a su estado de desarrollo para que profesionales que se vinculan al ámbito educativo la visibilicen e incorporen a sus prácticas pedagógicas. Se realizó una búsqueda sistemática en diversas bases de datos electrónicas y en revistas especializadas en el área de alta capacidad y se identificaron variables cognitivas y socioafectivas a la base de la condición de alta capacidad con trastorno por déficit de atención y alta capacidad con trastorno del espectro autista. Se incorporaron, además, aspectos relativos a identificación y apoyos educativos. Como principales temáticas se visualizan la complejidad en la comprensión de la doble condición, así como la necesidad de procesos de identificación e intervención comprensivos que reconozcan las características particulares de cada dualidad. Se recogen y comentan los principales desafíos tanto para su identificación como para su abordaje psicoeducativo y se plantean los aspectos que requieren de mayor investigación para avanzar en el estudio de esta temática. Es responsabilidad de los grupos profesionales de la educación visibilizar y atender a este estudiantado que convive con la incomprensión personal y social en entornos educativos que no los reconocen ni distinguen sus características.
... All of these characteristics together may negatively impact academic achievement (Foley Nicpon et al. 2011). Further, students may deal with feelings of loneliness, frustration, self doubt, and exhibit problem behaviors making it difficult to build positive relationships with family members, peers, and educators (Assouline et al. 2009;Foley-Nicpon and Assouline 2015). ...
An increased body of research on twice exceptionality provides insight on recruitment and retention issues concerning gifted students with dis/abilities, particularly those with specific learning dis/abilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or autism spectrum disorder. However, little research on twice exceptionality incorporates intersecting identities (i.e., race and gender) or twice exceptionality with other dis/ability categories (i.e., traumatic brain injuries). The current study provides a case analysis that examines the intersection identities of a gifted Black male student with a traumatic brain injury. Findings from qualitative interviews indicate that while giftedness greatly shaped his perspective, the onset of his traumatic brain injury created an increasing number of challenges for him in his educational pursuits.
... The invitation to encourage more qualitative research in the gifted field (VanTassel-Baska, 2006a, 2006b) has been heeded, and this research is aimed at enhancing the understanding of the complex phenomenon of twice-exceptional students. This contribution to the field aims to provide a platform for understanding phenomena using context-based, case-study methodology, and, although not generalisable, will contribute to informing a gap in the literature (Assouline, Foley Nicpon & Doobay, 2009). ...
Academic self-concept relates to students' perceptions of their academic accomplishments, and academic competence and expectations of academic success or failure. Academic self-concept has been identified as being critical for academic success in school as it underpins educational aspirations, academic interest, course selection, and achievement over time. Twice-exceptional students are intellectually gifted with a coexisting disability and hence present as a dual paradox for education systems, both in terms of being gifted and having a disability. The paradox of two, or one, or neither of the exceptionalities being visible in a child in school is due primarily to outward behaviours, lack of community knowledge, and challenges with identification (Vail, 1989). Despite over twenty years of empirical research on twice-exceptional students, the influences on academic self-concept remains virtually unexplored. This research investigates teachers' influences on the school experience of twice-exceptional students and how these influences shape academic self-concept. A case study research design includes both quantitative instrument data and interview data. Findings provide new understandings about teachers' influences on academic self-concept for twice-exceptional students. This research contributes to a gap in the field and leads to a better understanding that can be applied to policy and practice for gifted education.
... A growing number of clinicians consider that an overlap exists between ASD and HIP, and emphasize the difficulty in assessing the presence of ASD in a child with a high Intellectual Quotient (IQ) (Little, 2002;Lovecky, 2003;Assouline et al., 2009). This potential relationship between high intellectual abilities and ASD is not a novelty. ...
An increasing number of clinicians point to similar clinical features between some children with High Intellectual potential (HIP or “Giftedness” = TotalIQ>2SD), and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) with out intellectual or language delay, formerly diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. Some of these common features are social interaction impairments, special interests, and in some cases high-verbal abilities. The aim of this article is to determine whether these similarities exist at more fundamental levels, other than clinical, and to explore the literature in order to provide empirical support for anover lap between ASD and HIP.
Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder, giftedness, asperger syndrome, high functioning autism, fundamental
overlap, developmental trajectories
... Twice-exceptionality, (gifted and disabled), creates additional challenges for individuals in terms of acquiring an appropriate education; heightened psychological, social-emotional and academic risk (Bianco, Carothers, & Smiley, 2009;Wood & Estrada-Hernandez, 2009), high dropout rates (Hansen & Toso, 2007), the lure and misuse of technology (Hunter, 2009), and complex social difficulties (Assouline, Foley Nicpon, & Doobay, 2009;Cash, 1999). ...
National statistics indicate the ongoing challenge of catering for the unique needs of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) within the context of inclusive education. Higher rates of difficulty and poorer outcomes are experienced by this cohort when compared to both the general population and others within the disability sector. The perspectives of educators from a variety of roles were examined to identify factors impacting upon the educational experience of high-functioning students with ASD to determine how they could be supported more effectively. Findings indicate despite extensive educational experience and considerable knowledge of ASD, many educators lack an understanding of how to identify individual student needs, and also of specific impacts of ASD and appropriate supportive strategies. Emerging from the data, the Bridges and Barriers Model of Support (BBMS) provides inclusive school communities with a framework for planning a shared understanding of student strengths, identified challenges, supportive strategies and specific targets for success.
... This discrepancy can intensify socio-emotional issues, making it difficult for students to maintain positive self-esteem and self-efficacy in the face of their disability (Assouline et al., 2006;Williams King, 2005). Further, as twice exceptional students negotiate their disability and giftedness they often experience frustration and exhibit problem behaviors, making peer interactions increasingly difficult (Assouline, Foley Nicpon, & Doobay, 2009;Williams King, 2005). Despite these challenges, it is possible for twice exceptional students to thrive not only in school, but also in life. ...
There has been a substantial increase in research concerning the identification and support of twice exceptional students. However, much of the scientific and theoretical literature exclude the experiences and perspectives of twice exceptional African American students. This chapter focuses specifically on the experiences and needs of twice exceptional African American students, including those challenges around identification and navigating the school environment. In this chapter, the authors also discuss how school counselors may use a group counseling intervention to help twice exceptional African American students achieve healthy identities (i.e., race, giftedness, disability) needed to achieve their educational goals.
ASD manifests in children throughout the ability spectrum, though screening tools may not adequately identify high-ability youth who would benefit from a comprehensive identification evaluation; thus, the impetus for developing The High Functioning ASD Screener (HFAS). Information from content area expert interviews determined the 93-item pilot form administered to high ability youth (ages 5 years, 11 months to 18 years, 2 months) with ASD (n = 15), average ability students (n = 10), and high ability students (n = 23). ANOVAs identified items that differentiated the three groups and/or were most endorsed by the high ability/ASD group, resulting in the 36-item HFAS. Preliminary receiver operating characteristic curves indicate the scale is excellent at classificaiton.
As a conceptual backdrop for the book, this chapter aims to uncover the most relevant and the most current research that highlight factors that contribute to possible misunderstandings about twice-exceptionality as well as the educational implications and recommend practices to positively affect twice exceptional students’ comprehensive educational experiences. Twice-exceptional (2e) students are those who have exceptional abilities and disabilities. The complex nature of twice exceptionality requires that all educational professionals are trained to recognize and address all characteristics that may occur due to the lack of appropriate identification in terms of both the students’ exceptional abilities and the student’s exceptional disabilities. This is particularly important when one of the student’s learning exceptionalities dominate, overshadow, minimize, or make invisible the other learning exceptional; practices and interventions, in these cases, will inevitably dismiss the causal relationship between any adverse outcomes influenced by the minimized exceptionality. The authors conclude, in order to unveil the complexity existing in twice-exceptionality and to provide a quality education to these students who remain invisible, it is essential to have more scientific research that investigates how to identify and serve twice-exceptional students effectively.
Twice-exceptional individuals are those who have high cognitive ability in one or more areas, but also have a diagnosed disability. The needs of these individuals likely differ from those with high cognitive ability without a disability and those who solely have a disability. Intervening early can offer exceptional benefits for twice-exceptional individuals, but this has proved challenging due to the high cognitive abilities masking disabilities. This study explores if parent-reported developmental milestones can predict the number of disabilities diagnosed for an individual, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and Specific Learning Disorder (SLD). Using a clinical sample of about 1,300 individuals, we used a Bayesian cumulative logistic model to explore if developmental milestones can predict the number of diagnoses after controlling for IQ and age. Study results showed that when an individual began to count and read informed predictions for the number of future diagnoses in the clinical sample. Implications for future study and practitioners are discussed in further detail.
This article includes a current research synthesis on a subpopulation of twice exceptional individuals, those who are academically talented with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This population is emerging as an increasing focus of research, as the numbers of individuals identified are increasing. A total of 32 articles were included using the study’s inclusion criteria, and of these 32 articles, 62.5% presented data, whereas the remaining 37.5% were review or conceptual articles. This review of articles published between 1996 and 2019 suggests little research is being conducted on this population. Some of the research conducted recently involve case studies, others are correlational in nature, and most are descriptive, focusing on participants’ characteristics and how they were identified. A wide range of definitions were utilized in the literature, and to date, no empirical research has been published about this population. Implications from the current research base and suggestions for future research are included.
The study aimed to construct a test for the behavioral implications of verbal working memory among Savant syndrome and Verify the factor structure of the test using factor analysis. The study relied on the Geweke & Singleton (1980) approach to select the participants. The study sample consisted of a targeted sample with Savant syndrome. 32 Savant syndrome cases had selected. The verbal working memory test was applied electronically with the help of four colleagues in the field of special education. The applying procedure lasted nine months. The Exploratory Factor Analysis results reached a fitted general factor model. The confirmatory analysis results revealed the fitted construct of the first-order three-factor model structure. The results indicated the possibility of the three-factors loading on a second-order general factor structure.
Friendship can be critical at any age but considering the gifts and challenges of twice-exceptional students, friends can be an essential element in navigating school years. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions that close friends of twice-exceptional students have about their friendship, characteristics, and how they relate to classmates and teachers. The sample was comprised of 17 students. Under a qualitative design, in-depth interviews were conducted with friends of students who were gifted with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or with autism spectrum disorder. Results showed a deep relationship, in which friends of twice-exceptional students were able to make a realistic depiction of them, which was based on empathy, common interests, and a connection that stems from facing adversity. The results are not only a contribution to current research but also take a positive and strengths-based angle not always found in the literature. Implications for practice and research were discussed.
Alanyazında "iki kere farklı" öğrenciler olarak gruplandırılan ve hem özel yetenek hem de öğrenme güçlüğü olmak üzere ikili tanı alan öğrencilere ilişkin mevcut araştırmaların sınırlılığı, bu öğrencilere özgü değerlendirme araçlarının olmaması ve bu öğrencilerle çalışan öğretmenlerin bilgi ve yeterliliklerinin sınırlı olması müdahaleler geliştirilmesi ve sonuçlarının değerlendirilebilmesinde zorluklara neden olmaktadır. Bu çalışmada hem özel yetenekli hem öğrenme güçlüğü olan "iki kere farklı" öğrencilerle karşılaşma olasılığı yüksek olduğu düşünülen Bilim ve Sanat Merkezi (BİLSEM) öğretmenlerinin iki kere farklı öğrenciler hakkındaki bilgi ve öz yeterliklerinin incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda araştırmaya Türkiye'deki BİLSEM'lerde çalışan ve amaçlı örnekleme yöntemiyle belirlenen 752 öğretmen dahil edilmiştir. Öğretmenlerin hepsi demografik bilgi formunu doldurmuş ve 752 öğretmenin hepsine bu araştırma için geliştirilmiş ve geçerlik ve güvenirlik çalışmaları gerçekleştirilmiş olan İki Kere Farklı Öğrenciler Bilgi Testi (İFBT) ve İki Kere Farklı Öğrenciler Öğretmen Öz Yeterlik Ölçeği (İFÖÖ) uygulanmıştır. Google Form'lar yoluyla elde edilen veriler SPSS paket programına girilerek öncelikle araçların geçerlik ve güvenirlik çalışmaları gerçekleştirilmiş daha sonra araştırma amaçları doğrultusunda analizleri gerçekleştirilmiştir Araştırmada a) BİLSEM öğretmenlerin iki kere farklı öğrencilere yönelik bilgi düzeyleri nedir? b) BİLSEM öğretmenlerin iki kere farklı öğrencilere yönelik öz yeterlik düzeyleri nedir? c) BİLSEM öğretmenlerin iki kere farklı öğrencilere yönelik bilgi düzeyleri ile öz yeterlikleri arasında ilişki var mıdır? ve d) BİLSEM öğretmenlerin iki kere farklı öğrencilere yönelik bilgi düzeyleri ile öz yeterlikleri farklı değişkenler açısından değişmekte midir? sorularına cevap aranmıştır. Araştırmanın birinci sorusunun yanıtını bulmak için BİLSEM öğretmenlerinin İFBT'den aldıkları puanların ortalamaları hesaplanmış ve öğretmenlerin iki kere farklı öğrencilere yönelik bilgi düzeylerinin orta düzeyde olduğu sonucuna varılmıştır. Araştırmanın ikinci sorusunun yanıtını bulmak için BİLSEM öğretmenlerinin İFÖÖ'den aldıkları puanların ortalamaları hesaplanmış ve bunun sonucunda öğretmenlerin iki kere farklı öğrencilere yönelik öz yeterliklerinin yüksek düzeyde olduğu belirlenmiştir. Araştırmanın üçüncü sorusunun yanıtını bulmak için Pearson Momentler Çarpımı katsayısı ile öğretmenlerin bilgi düzeyleri ile öz yeterlikleri arasındaki ilişkiye bakılmış ve bilgi ve öz yeterlikleri arasında pozitif yönlü düşük düzey ilişki olduğu bulunmuştur. Araştırmanın son sorusunun yanıtını bulmak için öğretmenlerin iki kere farklı öğrencilere yönelik bilgi ve öz yeterliklerinin farklı değişkenler açısından a) öğretmenlik deneyimlerine ( i) 1-10 yıl, ii) 11-20 yıl, iii) 21 yıl ve üzeri), b) eğitim düzeylerine ( i) lisans, ii) yüksek lisans, iii) doktora), c) lisans mezuniyetlerine ( i) öğretmenlik mezunu, ii) diğer bölümler), d) özel yeteneğe ilişkin eğitim alıp almama ve e) öğrenme güçlüğüne ilişkin eğitim alıp almamaya göre değişip değişmediği incelenmiştir. İki değişkenli olan analizler bağımsız örneklemler t testi, üç değişkenli olanlar ise ANOVA ile incelenmiştir. Araştırma bulgularına göre; a) BİLSEM öğretmenlerinin öğretmenlik deneyimlerine göre bilgi ve öz yeterlik düzeylerinde herhangi bir değişiklik olmadığı belirlenmiştir. b) BİLSEM öğretmenlerinin doktora mezunu olan öğretmenlerin lisans ve yüksek lisans mezunu öğretmenlerden daha yüksek bilgi düzeyi ve öz yeterliğe sahip olduğu bunun yanı sıra lisans ve yüksek lisans mezunu öğretmenler arasında bilgi ve yeterlik açısından anlamlı bir fark olmadığı görülmüştür. c) BİLSEM öğretmenlerinin lisans mezuniyet bölümlerine göre öğretmenlerin iki kere farklı öğrencilere yönelik bilgi ve öz yeterliklerinin farklılaşmadığı belirlenmiştir. d) BİLSEM öğretmenlerinin özel yeteneğe ilişkin eğitim alma durumlarına göre öğretmenlerin bilgi ve öz yeterliklerinin eğitim alanlar lehine farklılaştığı görülmüştür. Son olarak e) öğrenme güçlüğünden eğitim alan ve almayan öğretmenlerin de bilgi düzeylerinde anlamlı bir fark olmadığı fakat öz yeterliklerinin eğitim alanların lehine farklılaştığı görülmüştür.
Twice-exceptional students have complex cognitive, academic, and psychosocial profiles that present challenges to identification and intervention practices. A high ability student’s disability or mental health diagnosis may go unidentified; a student’s talent domain may go unnoticed as they receive disability accommodations; or a student’s ability and disability may mask each other, resulting in neither being acknowledged. Most of the extant research literature has focused on identifying twice-exceptional students’ cognitive and academic profiles, potentially at the expense of examining their behavioral, social, and emotional strengths and areas for growth. Comprehensive assessment of all domains is needed to guide appropriate interventions. There are few individual, group, and school-based empirically validated interventions for twice-exceptional populations, yet best-practice guidelines exist within the clinical psychology, special education, and gifted education literatures. Educators and mental health professionals should consult these resources while considering ability and disability among the numerous contextual factors that influence a child’s presentation. To improve services for twice-exceptional students, we recommend increasing professional development opportunities regarding twice-exceptional students’ presentations and multifaceted needs; adapting for twice-exceptional populations current empirically supported treatments; assuming a strengths-based perspective where talent development is regarded first; and disseminating resources about twice-exceptionality to parents, school personnel, and mental health providers.
This study explored the experiences of children identified as gifted as they began primary school in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, in 2013. A case study approach within a bioecological framework was used for an in-depth analysis of the experiences of 11 children, their parents, pre-school teachers and Kindergarten teachers during their transition to school. A three-level model of data analysis was developed, with data content and context analysed separately before the relationship between the content and the context of the data was explored. This multi-level process of analysis considered the influences on the child and their contexts. The findings highlighted variations in the ways that pre-school and Kindergarten teachers addressed the needs of children who had been identified as gifted. In particular, it revealed some difficulties that these children had during the first few weeks of school. Both pre-school and Kindergarten teachers prioritised the children’s social-emotional and attention-related skills over their intellectual development. The findings reinforced the need for teachers in both contexts to find a better balance between the child’s social-emotional, attention-related and intellectual development within the transition to school.
Contemporary models highlight the need to cultivate cognitive and psychosocial factors in developing domain-specific talent. This model was the basis for the current study where high ability youth with self-reported social difficulties (n = 28, 12 with a coexisting disability) participated in a social skills and talent development intervention over the course of a two-week summer enrichment program. Compared to high ability youth not in the social skills intervention (n = 9), participants reported positive changes in friendship qualities (help), indicating a treatment effect. Among all participants, positive changes were reported in friendship companionship and security, suggesting the talent development program alone had significant impact on psychosocial factors (friendship qualities). For those in the social skills group, higher scores on performance approach goal orientations were related to lower change scores in friendship closeness, suggesting if one is driven academically to outperform peers, this may negatively affect their ability to form close ties with peers.
This paper presents findings from two separate research projects conducted between 2012 and 2015, which together examined the experiences of 19 twice exceptional children. The first study used a mixed methods approach with eleven students to investigate their educational experiences through quantitative instruments and in-depth interviews. The second study used narrative case study inquiry methods to elicit eight children's in-school and out-of-school experiences of being twice exceptional, using the unique method of interviewing the children in their own home settings. Relatively little is known about the educational experiences of twice exceptional children, particularly in Australia, and how their experiences may contribute to our understanding of individual needs. Findings across both studies point to twice exceptional children's insights about their giftedness and their disability. These insights reflect feelings of being different to their peers, issues with interpersonal relationships; such as bullying and limited understanding from others. Many of these experiences increased stress and anxiety levels, which were further exacerbated by some educators' frequent focus on disability rather than ability. These negative experiences were often ameliorated by out-of-school support, personal interests, and both parental and self-advocacy. Together, the findings across these two studies provide new understandings about these children's experiences.
This study compared the number of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) cases defined by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)-IV versus DSM-V criterion in children who have learning or behavioral problems with high IQ. The medical records of children ≤15 years of age who presented with learning or behavioral problems and underwent a Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)-III IQ test at the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic unit between 2010 and 2015 were reviewed. Information on DSM-IV and DSM-V criteria for ADHD were derived from computer-based medical records. Twenty-eight children who had learning or behavioral problems were identified to have a full-scale IQ ≥120. Sixteen of these high-IQ children met the DSM-IV criteria diagnosis for ADHD. Applying the extension of the age-of-onset criterion from 7 to 12 years in DSM-V led to an increase of three cases, all of which were the inattentive type ADHD. Including the pervasive developmental disorder criterion led to an increase of one case. The total number of ADHD cases also increased from 16 to 20 in this group. The data supported the hypothesis that applying the extension of the age-of-onset ADHD criterion and enabling the diagnosis of children with pervasive developmental disorders will increase the number of ADHD diagnoses among children with high IQ.
El presente estudio explora la construcción de autoimagen y el tipo de experiencias ocurridas con compañeros y profesores en la condición de doble excepcionalidad. Se analizan cuatro casos de estudiantes de 8 a 15 años que presentaban trastorno de déficit de la atención (TDAH) con alta capacidad y trastorno del espectro autista (TEA). Los resultados indican que los estudiantes presentaban una noción de la discrepancia de su condición a pesar de desconocerla; estaban motivados al aprendizaje, pero se aburrían con tareas poco desafiantes o repetitivas; presentaban buena relación con profesores y compañeros, sin embargo, para el grupo de estudiantes con alta capacidad y TEA existía una connotación negativa. Se discu-ten implicancias para la investigación y práctica educativa. Palabras clave: doble excepcionalidad, alta capacidad, trastorno de déficit de la atención, trastorno del espectro autista, contexto escolar.
The principal looked around the table in bewilderment, the file of 9-year-old Jason open in front of her. The math teacher has proclaimed this child a genius: he understands ideas that others won't get for years. No wonder he has trouble talking to the other kids...he's just way beyond them. The English teacher thinks it's something different-Jason seems bright in math, but in English he's nowhere. She's not always really sure he knows the meaning of all those words he uses-she's not sure he should have been grade skipped. You know if you went in the hall and asked Jason's classmates, they'd have a diagnosis: geek, dweeb. Jason's parents simply look confused. They've come here for help, but it seems like a futile effort. Now the special education teacher pipes up: Jason isn't gifted, he's got Asperger's Syndrome. What's the problem with this scenario? The gifted education teacher wasn't invited to the meeting... Across the country, around the world, this scene is repeated. A relatively new category in the continuum of behavior disorders, Asperger's Syndrome (AS) is both compelling and alarming to educators in gifted education. What does it mean to be gifted with Asperger's? It's a question that gifted educators must learn to answer, to ensure proper programming for children who are gifted, children who are Asperger's, and children who are both. What is Asperger's Syndrome? Asperger's Syndrome is one of a number of pervasive developmental disorders, a group of disorders that includes autism. Early on Asperger's Syndrome was referred to as "high functioning autism." Now AS is recognized as a disorder separate from autism, although the primary difference between the two is level of mental functioning: while autistic children tend to also have lower than average measured intelligence, children with Asperger's Syndrome have average or above measured intelligence.
Asperger's Syndrome is a pervasive developmental disorder characterized by deficits in social comnmniunication and by repetitive patterns of behaviors or interests. It is observed in some ifted children. The author proposes that gifted children with Asperger's Syndromie mnay not be identified because their unusual behaviors may be wrongly attributed to either their giftedness or to a learning disability. The article discusses ways in which Asperger's Syndrome might be missed in gifted children and proposes guidelines for differentiating characteristics of giftedness fromn characteristics of Asperger's Syndrone.
There is evidence to support two contrasting views about the psychological well‐being of gifted children; that giftedness enhances resiliency in individuals and that giftedness increases vulnerability. There is empirical and theoretical evidence to support both views. It is clear that giftedness influences the psychological well‐being of individuals. Whether the psychological outcomes for gifted children, adolescents, and adults are positive or negative seems to depend on at least three factors that interact synergistically: the type of giftedness, the educational fit, and one's personal characteristics.
Are faces recognized using more holistic representations than other types of stimuli? Taking holistic representation to mean representation without an internal part structure, we interpret the available evidence on this issue and then design new empirical tests. Based on previous research, we reasoned that if a portion of an object corresponds to an explicitly represented part in a hierarchical visual representation, then when that portion is presented in isolation it will be identified relatively more easily than if it did not have the status of an explicitly represented part. The hypothesis that face recognition is holistic therefore predicts that a part of a face will be disproportionately more easily recognized in the whole face than as an isolated part, relative to recognition of the parts and wholes of other kinds of stimuli. This prediction was borne out in three experiments: subjects were more accurate at identifying the parts of faces, presented in the whole object, than they were at identifying the same part presented in isolation, even though both parts and wholes were tested in a forced-choice format and the whole faces differed only by one part. In contrast, three other types of stimuli--scrambled faces, inverted faces, and houses--did not show this advantage for part identification in whole object recognition.
This article reviews behavioral and electrophysiological studies of face processing and discusses hypotheses for understanding the nature of face processing impairments in autism. Based on results of behavioral studies, this study demonstrates that individuals with autism have impaired face discrimination and recognition and use atypical strategies for processing faces characterized by reduced attention to the eyes and piecemeal rather than configural strategies. Based on results of electrophysiological studies, this article concludes that face processing impairments are present early in autism, by 3 years of age. Such studies have detected abnormalities in both early (N170 reflecting structural encoding) and late (NC reflecting recognition memory) stages of face processing. Event-related potential studies of young children and adults with autism have found slower speed of processing of faces, a failure to show the expected speed advantage of processing faces versus nonface stimuli, and atypical scalp topography suggesting abnormal cortical specialization for face processing. Other electrophysiological studies have suggested that autism is associated with early and late stage processing impairments of facial expressions of emotion (fear) and decreased perceptual binding as reflected in reduced gamma during face processing. This article describes two types of hypotheses-cognitive/perceptual and motivational/affective--that offer frameworks for understanding the nature of face processing impairments in autism. This article discusses implications for intervention.
The Color-Word Interference Test, Trail Making Test, Verbal Fluency Test, and Design Fluency Test from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (Delis, Kaplan, & Kramer, 2001) were administered to 12 high-functioning adults and adolescents with autistic disorder or Asperger's disorder. Each test included a switching condition in addition to baseline and/or other executive-function conditions. Participants performed significantly below average on a composite measure of executive functioning adjusted for baseline cognitive ability. Complex verbal tasks that required cognitive switching and initiation of efficient lexical retrieval strategies produced the most consistent deficits, whereas cognitive inhibition was intact. We discuss implications of these findings for understanding the neurocognitive substrates of autistic spectrum disorders.
This study examined executive dysfunction and its relation to language ability in verbal school-age children with autism. Participants were 37 children with autism and 31 nonautistic comparison participants who were matched on age and on verbal and nonverbal IQ but not on language ability, which was lower in the autism group. Children with autism exhibited deficits compared to the comparison group across all 3 domains of executive function that were assessed including working memory (Block Span Backward; Isaacs & Vargha-Khadem, 1989), working memory and inhibitory control (NEPSY Knock-Tap; Korkman, Kirk, & Kemp, 1998), and planning (NEPSY Tower; Korkman et al., 1998). Children with autism were less developed than the comparison group in their language skills, but correlational analyses revealed no specific association between language ability and executive performance in the autism group. In contrast, executive performance was positively correlated with language ability in the comparison group. This pattern of findings suggest that executive dysfunction in autism is not directly related to language impairment per se but rather involves an executive failure to use of language for self-regulation.
Emotional Stroop tasks have shown attention biases of clinical populations towards stimuli related to their condition. Asperger Syndrome (AS) is a neuropsychiatric condition with social and communication deficits, repetitive behaviours and narrow interests. Social deficits are particularly striking, including difficulties in understanding others.
We investigated colour-naming latencies of adults with and without AS to name colours of pictures containing angry facial expressions, neutral expressions or non-social objects. We tested three hypotheses: whether (1) controls show longer colour-naming latencies for angry versus neutral facial expressions with male actors, (2) people with AS show differential latencies across picture types, and (3) differential response latencies persist when photographs contain females.
Controls had longer latencies to pictures of male faces with angry compared to neutral expressions. The AS group did not show longer latencies to angry versus neutral expressions in male faces, instead showing slower latencies to pictures containing any facial expression compared to objects. When pictures contained females, controls no longer showed longer latencies for angry versus neutral expressions. However, the AS group still showed longer latencies to all facial picture types, compared to objects, providing further evidence that faces produce interference effects for this clinical group.
The pictorial emotional Stroop paradigm reveals normal attention biases towards threatening emotional faces. The AS group showed Stroop interference effects to all facial stimuli regardless of expression or sex, suggesting that faces cause disproportionate interference in AS.
Development of Autism as a Diagnostic Concept Issues in Classification The Role of Research Approaches to Categorical Definitions of Autism DSM-III-R From ICD-9 to ICD-10 DSM-IV and ICD-10 Current Controversies in Diagnosis Conclusion
Background: Many children with autism spectrum disorders present with behavioral difficulties that necessitate the use of an abbreviated measure of intelligence. The authors of the Stanford- Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (SB5) (Roid, 2003) report a correlation of .81 between the Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) and Abbreviated IQ (ABIQ) for children ages 2 to 5 and a correlation of .87 for children ages 6 and above. Coolican, et. al, (2008) examined the performance of children with ASD on the SB5 and determined that ABIQ scores accounted for 89.9% of the variance in the FSIQ, and that ABIQ overestimated FSIQ in 15 out of 17 cases.
Objectives: To determine the relationship between the SB5 ABIQ and FSIQ in a sample of children with ASD; to determine this relationship when the sample is stratified on level of cognitive functioning; and to determine the rate of false positives/negatives for children with scores above and below 70.
Methods: This study utilizes the Autism Treatment Network (ATN) Registry data. 519 children (male = 441; ages 2-17 years) who had a SB5 FSIQ (thus, generating an ABIQ) were included in the study. Correlations between the FSIQ and ABIQ and a regression analysis were performed to determine the proportion of variance in the FSIQ accounted for by the ABIQ. Subjects were also split into High Functioning (IQ >70) vs. Low Functioning groups. Correlation coefficients were run between ABIQ and FSIQ for these two groups. FSIQ scores and ABIQ scores were analyzed to examine the rate of false positives (ABIQ <70 and FSIQ > 70) and false negatives (ABIQ > 70 and FSIQ < 70).
Results: The correlation between the ABIQ and the FSIQ for the entire sample was r=.899 (p<.0001) and a regression using the FSIQ as the dependent variable showed a strong relationship (r=.910, p<.0001) for the entire group. There was a weaker (but significant) correlation between ABIQ and FSIQ for the 212 subjects with IQ scores < 70 (r=.672) while the relationship between ABIQ and FSIQ for subjects with cognitive levels > 70 was stronger (r=.806, p<.0001). There was 90% agreement for individuals (n=178) who were low functioning on the FSIQ and the ABIQ (10% rate of false positive) and 85% agreement rate for individuals (n=341) who were high functioning on the FSIQ and the ABIQ (15% false negatives).
Conclusions: Results show a strong relationship between abbreviated and full cognitive measures of intelligence in a sample of children with ASD. Compared to Roid’s rate of false positives for the SB5 standardization sample (<1%), we see an increased rate of false positives and false negatives. This suggests that while the ABIQ may both over and underestimate overall cognitive abilities, it is a valid estimate of intelligence.
In response to a mandate from the Congress (Public Law 91-230, Section 806), a study was conducted on the gifted and talented which consisted of five major activities: review of research, analysis of educational data bases and the development of a major data base, public hearings to interpret regional needs, studies of programs in representative states, and review an analysis of the system for delivery of Office of Education programs to benefit gifted and talented children. Recommendations and details of the study are found in the text and in Volume 2 (ED 056244). Major findings include: a conservative estimate of the number of gifted and talented from the total elementary and secondary school population of 51.6 million is 1.5 to 2.5 million; existing services for the gifted serve only a small percentage of the total; differentiated education for the gifted and talented is perceived as low priority at Federal, State, and most local levels of government; 21 states have legislation to provide services but in many cases this merely represents intent; services for the gifted can and do produce significant outcomes. Ten major activities to be initiated in 1971 are outlined. (RJ)
This edition is guided by a developmental psychopathological orientation to autism and pervasive developmental disorder in children and adults. Within this framework, principles and findings about normal development are used to illuminate how development may become derailed and lead to pathological conditions; conversely, studies of disorders such as autism are used to cast light on normal developmental processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The organization of this book follows a four-section outline that the authors have found useful in conceptualizing the social and emotional issues facing the gifted child and the adults who care for them: section one, issues deriving from students' advancement compared with age peers and from internal unevenness in development; section two, common areas of psychological response; section three, groups of gifted children and youth with special needs; and section four, promising practices and interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The Processing Speed Index (PSI) was first introduced on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale, Third Edition (WISC-III; D. Wechsler, 1991), and little is known about its clinical significance. In a referred sample (N = 980), children with neurological disorders (ADHD, autism, bipolar disorder, and LD) had mean PSI and Freedom from Distractibility Index (FDI) scores that were below the group mean IQ and lower than Verbal Comprehension (VCI) and Perceptual Organization (POI). For these groups, Coding was lower than Symbol Search. The majority of these children had learning, attention, writing, and processing speed weaknesses. This pattern was not found in the other clinical groups. For children with depression, only PSI was low. Children with anxiety disorders, oppositional-defiant disorder, and mental retardation had no PSI weakness. PSI and POI were both low in children with traumatic brain injury and spina bifida. Implications for a revision of the WISC-III (WISC-IV; D. Wechsler, 2003) are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 333–343, 2005.
Six girls aged 6–10 years meeting criteria for autistic disorder are presented. They were all high-functioning in that they had IQs in the 60–100 range and spoke in complicated sentences. Their clinical picture had not led a variety of specialists to consider an autism diagnosis before age 6 years in spite of the fact that they had shown mild motor delays, uncharacteristic developmental deviance and social, communicative and imaginative deficits already before age 2 years in all cases. It is suggested that the autism phenotype might be different in girls as compared with boys. It is further speculated that if female cases such as those described — and others given a whole host of different diagnostic labels — were only considered for an autism diagnosis, the high male:female ratio traditionally encountered in autism might drop considerably.
Wien, Med. F., Hab.-Schr., 1943 (Nicht f. d. Austausch).
SYNOPSIS
The clinical features, course, aetiology, epidemiology, differential diagnosis and management of Asperger's syndrome are described. Classification is discussed and reasons are given for including the syndrome, together with early childhood autism, in a wider group of conditions which have, in common, impairment of development of social interaction, communication and imagination.
The Pre-Linguistic Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (PL-ADOS) is a semistructured observation scale designed for use as a diagnostic tool for children less than 6 years old who are not yet using phrase speech and are suspected of having autism. The PL-ADOS takes approximately 30 minutes to administer and is appropriate for use with this population because of its emphasis on playful interactions and the use of toys designed for young children. Reliability studies indicated that both individual activity ratings and summary ratings could be reliably scored from videotaped assessments by naive raters. Additionally, PL-ADOS scores of nonverbal preschool-aged children referred for clinical diagnosis and classified on the basis of a diagnostic team's clinical judgment, clearly discriminated between autistic and nonautistic developmentally disabled children. The resulting diagnostic algorithm is theoretically linked to diagnostic constructs associated with ICD-10 and DSM-IV criteria for autism.
This study examined differences in the ability to decode emotion through facial expression, prosody, and verbal content between 14 children with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) and 16 typically developing peers. The ability to decode emotion was measured by the Perception of Emotion Test (POET), which portrayed the emotions of happy, angry, sad, and neutral among the modalities of static and dynamic facial expression, prosody, verbal content, and all modalities combined. Results revealed that children with AS had more difficulty identifying emotions through static facial expression, dynamic facial expression, and prosody than typically developing children. Results are discussed in relationship to an over-reliance on verbal content as a compensatory strategy in social interactions. Treatment implications for individuals with AS are also discussed.
Utilizing standardization and validation data from the NEPSY, this study presents a reanalysis of the High-Functioning Autism (HFA) versus Typical samples using IQ as a covariate. The reanalysis in the present paper should prove important to clinicians and researchers by (1) determining if the original findings can be replicated for the HFA sample when controlling for IQ, and (2) providing neuropsychological description for children with HFA versus Typical children across the NEPSY variables. The sample included 23 children with HFA who ranged in age from 5 years 5 months to 12 years 11 months (Mean = 9.59 years). The HFA Group comprised 19 males, 22 Caucasians, and was 87% right handed. All of the parents had between 12 to 15 years of education. A Typical Group was selected from the standardization sample of the NEPSY and matched on the variables of chronological age, race, gender, parental education, and region of the country. A MANCOVA revealed significant group differences on 8 of the 14 core subtests of the NEPSY, with the HFA Group performing lower than the Typical Group. While these findings significantly overlapped with those from the original validation study, significant group differences also were uncovered for the subtests of Phonological Processing, Auditory Attention and Response Set, and Speeded Naming; Comprehension of Instructions and Narrative Memory were no longer significant after controlling for IQ. When the groups were compared with respect to the number of cases falling below the 10th percentile, the HFA Group showed a higher rate of occurrence on each subtest, but only significantly so on the Arrows Subtest. These findings provide additional support for the phenotypic neurocognitive presentation of individuals with HFA, and they suggest that the NEPSY can contribute to the neuropsychological description of children with HFA.
The classification agreement of the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) was examined in 129 children and adolescents (aged 7-18 years) who were evaluated for autism. Participants received a diagnosis of autism or non-autism based on the ADI-R. Linear discriminant analysis revealed adequate concordance between the ADI-R and ADOS, with 75% of the participants being correctly classified using the ADOS. Classification accuracy significantly improved to 84% when a measure of adaptive functioning (i.e., the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales) was included in the analysis. The findings suggest that when clinicians obtain discrepant information on the ADI-R and ADOS, assessment of an individual's adaptive functioning may reduce diagnostic errors.
The relationship between adaptive functioning (ability) and autism symptomatology (disability) remains unclear, especially for higher functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study investigates ability and disability using the Vineland and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), respectively, in two clinical samples of children with ASD. Participants included 187 males with VIQ > 70. Vineland scores were substantially below VIQ, highlighting the magnitude of adaptive impairments despite cognitive potential. A weak relationship was found between ability and disability. Negative relationships were found between age and Vineland scores and no relationships were found between age and ADOS scores. Positive relationships were found between IQ and Vineland Communication. Results stress the need for longitudinal studies on ability and disability in ASD and emphasize the importance of adaptive skills intervention.
Learning, attention, graphomotor, and processing speed scores were analyzed in 149 typical control children and 886 clinical children with normal intelligence. Nonsignificant differences were found between control children and children with anxiety, depression, and oppositional-defiant disorder. Control children performed better than children with ADHD and autism in all areas. Children with ADHD and autism did not differ, except that children with ADHD had greater learning problems. Attention, graphomotor, and speed weaknesses were likely to coexist, the majority of children with autism and ADHD had weaknesses in all three areas, and these scores contributed significantly to the prediction of academic achievement.
Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text revision).
Die "autistischen psychopathen" im Autistic Psychopathy in Childhood Kindesalter. Archives fur Psychiatri und Nervenkrankheiten
- H Asperger
Asperger, H. (1944). Die "autistischen psychopathen" im Autistic
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Assessment issues in children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome
- A Klin
- S S Sparrow
- W D Marans
- A Carter
- F R Volkmar
Klin, A., Sparrow, S. S., Marans, W. D., Carter, A., & Volkmar, F. R.
(2000). Assessment issues in children and adolescents with
Asperger syndrome. In A. Klin & F. R. Volkmar (Eds.), Asperger
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Clinical presentation of autism spectrum disorders in intellectually gifted students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation
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Huber, D. H. (2007). Clinical presentation of autism spectrum
disorders in intellectually gifted students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Iowa, Iowa City.
Social skills rating system
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- S N Elliott
Gresham, F. M., & Elliott, S. N. (1990). Social skills rating system. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
NAGC position paper: Use of the WISC-IV for gifted identification The impact of giftedness on psychological well-being: What does the empirical literature say?
National Association for Gifted Children. (2008). NAGC position
paper: Use of the WISC-IV for gifted identification. Retrieved
July 15, 2008, from http://www.nagc.org/uploadedFiles/
Information_and_Resources/Position_Papers/WISC-IV.pdf
Neihart, M. (1999). The impact of giftedness on psychological
well-being: What does the empirical literature say? Roeper
Review, 22(1), 10-17.
Education for the gifted and talented
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Marland, S. P. (1972). Education for the gifted and talented
(Report to the Congress of the United States by the U.S.
Commissioner of Education). Washington, DC: U.S.
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- M Korkman
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Korkman, M., Kirk, U., & Kemp, S. (2007). NEPSY (2nd ed.).
III tests of cognitive ability
- Woodcock-Johnson
Woodcock-Johnson III tests of cognitive ability. Itasca, IL:
Riverside Publishing.