Journal article
Profoundly Gifted Girls and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Psychometric Case Study Comparison
Gifted Child Quarterly, Vol.53(2), pp.89-105
04/2009
DOI: 10.1177/0016986208330565
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.
Putting the Research to Use:
Previous literature reviews about profoundly gifted students with social impairments have cautioned against misdiagnosis (Webb et al., 2005) of psychological disorders. These psychologists posit that social impairments are primarily the result of social-emotional vulnerability associated with very high IQs. Further, they argue that concomitant social difficulties are characteristics of giftedness, not indicators of a disability. We compared two profoundly gifted girls, each with social difficulties, who are virtually identical in their cognitive and achievement profiles. Our comparison reveal the importance of basing conclusions about social impairments on comprehensive assessments that use measures uniquely designed to distinguish between “difficulty” and “disability.” We demonstrate that although “misdiagnosis” is a possibility with profoundly gifted children, the greater risk is “missed” diagnosis, which precludes the opportunity for appropriate intervention. In today's atmosphere of “anti-testing” it is important to advocate for a comprehensive assessment with the necessary measures to understand the degree of social impairment.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Profoundly Gifted Girls and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Psychometric Case Study Comparison
- Creators
- Susan G Assouline - The University of IowaMegan Foley Nicpon - The University of IowaAlissa Doobay - The University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Gifted Child Quarterly, Vol.53(2), pp.89-105
- DOI
- 10.1177/0016986208330565
- ISSN
- 0016-9862
- eISSN
- 1934-9041
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications; Los Angeles, CA
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 04/2009
- Academic Unit
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Psychological and Quantitative Foundations
- Record Identifier
- 9983993481902771
Metrics
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