Gifted Students With Asperger Syndrome

Abstract

D aniel (a pseudonym) is a very bright, 9-year-old, fourth-grade student. Despite his intelligence, Daniel has a history of social, emotional, behavioral, and learning problems. He has had numerous evaluations and diagnoses, including dyslexia, clinical depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and most recently, Asperger syndrome (AS). Daniel's profile illustrates the intersection of giftedness and his disability.Daniel has many strengths. He is highly verbal, has an extensive vocabulary, and is a visual learner. He is extremely knowledgeable in the areas of entomology, arachnology, and paleontology. He can spend many hours drawing insects, spiders, and dinosaurs, or watching documentaries on any of these subjects. Despite his reading disability and difficulties with fine motor skills, Daniel's fascination with his favorite subject motivated him to spend several weeks creating a 22-page illustrated book detailing what he observed in one of his videos on prehistoric arthropods. Daniel is a visual thinker with an incredible memory, particularly for facts related to his interests. Daniel enjoys time with adults and challenges them to test him by asking him anything about insects! Gifted students with Asperger syndrome (AS) frequently exhibit behaviors that puzzle and challenge teachers and other professionals. They display many of the behaviors typically associated with AS and therefore receive educational interventions designed to address their deficit areas. Often lacking is strength-based programming-that is, educational planning with systematic attention to students' learning strengths, interests, gifts, and talents. If their strengths are not addressed, these students are at social, emotional, and academic risk. Gifted students with AS require dually differentiated instruction, including interventions that foster interests and strengths while providing strategies to compensate for areas of weakness. This article offers suggestions and resources for developing strengthbased programming for gifted students with Asperger syndrome.

The Bridges and Barriers Model of Support for High-Functioning Students with ASD in Mainstream Schools

“…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 & EstradaHernandez, 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).…”

Inclusão educacional: estudo de caso de um aluno com dupla excepcionalidade

“…Nas últimas duas décadas, tem-se observado um interesse crescente pela realização de estudos envolvendo superdotados que apresentam, simultaneamente às habilidades superiores, dificuldades comportamentais, emocionais e de aprendizagem. Na literatura, a sobreposição dessas características, aparentemente antagônicas, passou a ser denominada de dupla excepcionalidade (Arizaga, Conejeros--Solar, Rodríguez, & Solís, 2016;Bianco et al, 2009;Delou, 2013;Foley-Nicpon et al, 2011;Guimarães & Alencar, 2012;Ourofino, 2007;Vilarinho-Rezende et al, 2016;Webb et al, 2007). De acordo com Ourofino (2007), estudiosos da área de superdotação passaram a demonstrar interesse em compreender os processos diferenciados de desenvolvimento dos alunos com dupla excepcionalidade pelo fato da combinação entre alta inteligência, múltiplas potencialidades e possíveis distúrbios comportamentais e/ou emocionais constituir um achado, muitas vezes, paradoxal nas pesquisas com superdotados.…”

Key factors associated with Asperger’s syndrome and implications for effective teaching to enhance student participation and engagement

“…Many individuals living with Asperger's syndrome have deficits in attention and language development, problems with concept formation and difficulties with memory for complex information (Klin & Volkmar, 2000b;LozziToscano, 2004a). These characteristics, considered in combination with personal accounts of how individuals with Asperger's syndrome are visually oriented, suggest that visual material should be incorporated in teaching (Bianco et al, 2009; "Gifted and Talented Children with Special Educational Needs," 2013). .…”

“…Some students demonstrate strength in certain aspects of speech and language, such as sound production, vocabulary and simple grammatical structures, yet have significant difficulty carrying on a conversation, and using speech for social and interactive purposes (Bianco, Carothers, & Smiley, 2009). Similarly, a student who is high-functioning may perform numerical computations relatively easily but be unable to solve mathematical problems (Kliman, Jaumot-Pascual, & Martin, 2013).…”

“…Team members can include administrators, special education consultants, teachers, teacher assistants, therapists, parents and other community resource personnel. The school-based team is a critical part of the individualised program plan (IPP) process (Bianco et al, 2009). …”