ERIC Number: EJ860954
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 7
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1076-2175
EISSN: N/A
A Unique Challenge: Sorting out the Differences between Giftedness and Asperger's Disorder
Amend, Edward R.; Schuler, Patricia; Beaver-Gavin, Kathleen; Beights, Rebecca
Gifted Child Today, v32 n4 p57-63 Fall 2009
All-too-often, well-meaning individuals urge parents to seek referrals for psychological evaluation without considering or understanding the typical characteristics of gifted children or the impact of intellectual ability on behavior and relationships. In turn, clinicians receiving such referrals also may fail to assess the implications of giftedness when exploring potential diagnoses like Asperger's Disorder. Although the literature on Asperger's Disorder is replete with many references to high ability/giftedness and Asperger's Disorder, there is, at this time, only one instrument that delineates giftedness and characteristics of Asperger's Disorder. Burger-Veltmeijer (2008) of the Netherlands created the Dimensional Discrepancy Model GFT + ASD (DD-Checklist) to help psychologists observe the characteristics of gifted-like manifestations versus Asperger's Disorder-like manifestations. This article presents the Giftedness/Asperger's Disorder Checklist (GADC) which was similarly developed to help educators, mental health professionals, and parents during the prereferral process to see if environmental interventions would be beneficial in the process of determining the need for more formal diagnostic evaluation. Like the DD-Checklist, the GADC focuses on the educational and psychological needs of the student who may or may not be gifted and who may or may not have Asperger's Disorder. The author discusses how to use the GADC and describes two principles that should be followed to determine accurate differentiation. (Contains 1 table.)
Descriptors: Check Lists, Psychological Needs, Gifted, Psychological Evaluation, Autism, Asperger Syndrome, Psychologists, Mental Health Workers, Referral, Intelligence, Models, Evaluation Methods, Identification, Measures (Individuals), Intervention
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A