ADHD is often diagnosed lazily - sometimes by desperate parents who don't want to be labelled as bad parents and place pressure on the diagnosing professional to come up with the DX. This contributes to the 1 in 150 figures the US media speaks of.
This is wrong and it has to stop.
So...
Can't people on the spectrum be gifted?
So...
Can't people on the spectrum be gifted?
Hello,
Precisely what I was thinking…
Just curious, may you post the link to this article?
Thanks for posting the story here
Will
More proof that there are plenty of psychologist's have their heads stuck up in dark places...
I'll take more than a moment with the article later, as I'm headed off to work, but at first glance it does not appear to say that Aspies can't be gifted, it just says that non-Aspie gifted kids are sometimes labeled aspie.
Max, I sincerely hope that's the case and not just alienating those who Aspies who are not gifted from those who are.
This is not the first time I have heard the perspective that someone who is gifted or 'high functioning' rejected as aspie because they aren't dysfunctional enough - and that they just need to try harder to think like an NT.
It's a good thing that gifted Aspies would be treated better and get more options for their education at their own learning pace, but it could be really bad if it means that anyone with a dx who doesn't have a parent pushing to shift it to the 'gifted' label won't get the same positive attention because they aren't as 'valuable'.
*sigh* I suppose it might just be the growing pains of learning about something new that people don't know what to do with...
Well, here's a quote about the book from the author's website:
"Physicians, psychologist, and counselors are unaware of characteristics of gifted children and adults that mimic pathological diagnoses. Six nationally prominent health care professionals describe ways parents and professionals can distinguish between gifted behaviors and pathological behaviors."
It appears those "pathologies" include "behavioral and emotional disorders such as ADHD, Oppositional-Defiant Disorder, Bipolar, OCD, or Asperger’s. "
The Author, Nadia Webb, is located in Virginia (alas! another unlikely spouse for GuessWho) but she'll be doing a national book tour. I plan to go up to her little autograph table and vomit on her, saying "I was diagnosed gifted, but I'm actually bulimic."
*LOL*
You might also ask her if she believes 'gifted' might be another term for 'indigo'. Because that's pretty much what this sounds like - and the type of parents and educators it will appeal to.
Out of curiosity I'd like to know what some of these distinguishing ways are.
There is a core of truth to what she says -- I directed several gifted programs over the years and we would ask teachers to refer kids they thought were "gifted." Teachers were incredibly bad at recognizing the traits of gifted kids, even after we ran workshops to explain it to them. We would still get overly-complaint, well-mannered, hard-working little ass-kissers with 102 IQ's. Sorry, teach -- the freak in the corner making a space station out of stolen baseball cards is the gifted one.
There is a lot of cross labeling and misdiagnosing -- and authentic overlap -- among gifted, ADD, ADHD, Aspie and whatever other labels du jour are flying around. This is true.
BUT Nadia Web's attitude seems to be that "Gifted" is matter of genetically bestowed royalty, and the gifted kids must be protected from Aspie Cooties. Everything but gifted is a "pathology."
I'll read her book only when I find it used, because I'm not putting one of my nasty, pathological ADHD pennies in her pocket.
Max - hindsight is 20/20, but I could have told you that trying to teach teachers how to recognise a gifted child is a waste of time. It requires the sort of qualifications a social worker would need - at least. I guess one could argue that should be part of teacher training (and fair enough as well) but I'm not sure if that is done.
Really, the only people who can do the job properly (and even then there are quacks around) are psychologists and psychiatrists. And maybe a social worker who has experience in the field.
I've probably said it a thousand times before, but why not say it again?
You can have Asperger's without being "gifted." Fact.
Stupid idea that gifted children are often erroneously misdiagnosed.
I was gifted (my high school French teacher called in my parents to give them details about the National Association for Gifted Children); my IQ was measured to be 150.
But yes, I was a bit naughty and my behaviour was a bit challenging to the teachers, because I was bored and not sufficiently stretched. But that doesn't mean I'm not also Aspie. Although I wasn't formally diagnosed for another 22 years after leaving high school.
It's certainly possible to be a 'gifted' student and Aspie.
Not true. Look at the statistics.
At IQ 130, the most common definition of giftedness, you are in the top 2.2% of society.
The autism spectrum makes up only .67% of society.
Many autistic people also have mental retardation. But even if you assumed that every autistic person is gifted (or else that those who don't have IQ 130+ are gifted in some less general way), you would still have more than twice as many non-autistic gifted people (and that's not counting NTs who are gifted in some other way than IQ).
But it could appear to be that way. You notice more when people are "gifted" if they're talking about some esoteric and complex subject; but non-Aspie gifted people just aren't that obvious about it. They tend to use their giftedness for something else--say, becoming a doctor, or a college professor, or a lawyer, or a scientist, or a top executive, or any number of occupations that are really only open to people with IQs of 130+, or else an amazing work ethic.
Consider also musical, artistic, and athletic talent--again, fields dominated by NTs, with autistics making up not much more than the usual 1 in 150. (Musical and artistic talent seems to be more common among autistics than NTs, but not dramatically more so, really.)
Not to mention that there are *socially gifted* people--most politicians, actors, and celebrities in general qualify--and these are vastly more likely not to be autistic.
Of course there are the special interests, the splinter skills, the savant talents. Those all qualify as giftedness, of course. But not every autistic person has them. Every autistic has strengths; but a strength does not mean giftedness, necessarily. (It does mean an opportunity beyond your measured IQ, of course. You can't depend on IQ tests to tell you your abilities if you're autistic.)
Autistic people are more likely to be mentally retarded. We are also more likely to be gifted. Some of us are simultaneously both--that's where the outdated term "idiot savant" came from, somebody who has a skill expected of someone with IQ 130+, but whose actual measured IQ is under 70. A gap of 60 points like that is not unknown on the Spectrum. That's just because our abilities vary so much more than most people's abilities do.
Gifted autistic people may be held back by their weaknesses, however, much more so than gifted NTs, whose weaknesses tend to be not much lower than their strengths, just because their skills have much less scatter.
Oh, and to get back to the original post: Yes. Gifted children are under-served in most schools. Considering that 2.2 percent of children qualify, that is a significant portion of the population. Schools are required to have education in place for delayed children--but there is no such provision for gifted children. No wonder they get into trouble. Children who read the textbooks during the first week, and are bored thereafter, are not children who are happy in school.
I seem to have been over-valuing IQ here. Sorry. Not my intention.
Measures of intelligence may be valuable — although the value is often overrated — but much harm can be done by persons who try to classify individuals strictly on the basis of such measures alone. No one should be either alarmed or discouraged if he finds that his IQ is not as high as he might have hoped. Remember that many elements besides IQ contribute to success and happiness. Also note that IQ is not a fixed quantity, but can be increased by means of education.