Wechsler profiles in referred children with intellectual giftedness: Associations with trait-anxiety, emotional dysregulation, and heterogeneity of Piaget-like reasoning processes

Family Functioning and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems in Gifted Children

INTRODUCTION

Although gifted children can express high cognitive skills, they can also show socioemotional difficulties. Drawing from Olson's circumplex model, the present paper assessed the role of family functioning in internalizing and externalizing problems in gifted children.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

362 mothers and their 362 gifted children were included. The unbalanced subscales of the FACES IV-disengagement, enmeshment, rigidity, and chaos-and the CBCL were administered to mothers. The children completed the WISC-IV.

RESULTS

The model predicting internalizing problems was significant and explained 5.6% of the variance. Only rigidity had an independent and positive effect on internalizing problems in gifted children over and above sociodemographic variables and QI, whereas disengagement, enmeshment, and chaos were not associated with internalizing problems. The model predicting externalizing problems was significant and explained 10% of the variance. Again, rigidity was the only variable that had an independent and positive effect on externalizing problems in gifted children over and above sociodemographic variables and QI, whereas disengagement, enmeshment, and chaos were not associated with externalizing problems in this population.

DISCUSSION

Rigid families with a low ability to change in conditions that require readjustment appear to increase the risk of both internalizing and externalizing problems in gifted children. Although further studies are needed to support these preliminary findings, parental support interventions aimed at increasing flexibility appear to be useful.

From gifted to high potential and twice exceptional: A state-of-the-art meta-review

Despite the abundant literature on intelligence and high potential individuals, there is still a lack of international consensus on the terminology and clinical characteristics associated to this population. It has been argued that unstandardized use of diagnosis tools and research methods make comparisons and interpretations of scientific and epidemiological evidence difficult in this field. If multiple cognitive and psychological models have attempted to explain the mechanisms underlying high potentiality, there is a need to confront new scientific evidence with the old, to uproot a global understanding of what constitutes the neurocognitive profile of high-potential in gifted individuals. Another particularly relevant aspect of applied research on high potentiality concerns the challenges faced by individuals referred to as "twice exceptional" in the field of education and in their socio-affective life. Some individuals have demonstrated high forms of intelligence together with learning, affective or neurodevelopmental disorders posing the question as to whether compensating or exacerbating psycho-cognitive mechanisms might underlie their observed behavior. Elucidating same will prove relevant to questions concerning the possible need for differential diagnosis tools, specialized educational and clinical support. A meta-review of the latest findings from neuroscience to developmental psychology, might help in the conception and reviewing of intervention strategies.

Developmental Trajectory of Depressive Symptoms from Early Childhood through High School in Children and Adolescents with a High Intellectual Potential

We aimed to explore the developmental trajectory of depressive symptoms in a national sample of French children with a high intellectual potential (HIP) seeking help from gifted organizations. Participants were drawn from a national retrospective survey sent to 1200 families with HIP children (IQ ≥ 130) from primary to high school and they answered a self-report questionnaire of a depression scale (MDI-C). The children's parents completed a self-report questionnaire collected on different stages of the child's school level, perinatality, psychomotor development, health, family's history, behavior, interpersonal relationships and daily activities, school performance, presence of learning disorders and remediation. Four hundred and twenty HIP children were eligible with an IQ ≥ 130 aged from 8 to 17 years-old, 49% with depressive symptoms and 51% with no depressive symptoms. Analysis of 136 variables from anamnestic fields based on the use of Spearman's ρ test (ρ) with a non-parametric correlations showed that "learning disabilities" are significantly related to depressive symptoms in different groups (primary p = 0.001, middle p = 0.02, high school p = 0.001) as well as "difficulties in psychomotor skills" during primary (p = 0.003) and middle school (p = 0.02). Good relationships with family as well as with peers are significantly negatively correlated with depressive symptoms from childhood to primary (p = 0.003) and high school (p = 0.02). Certain details of correlations between the MDI-C scale's subfactors and anamnestic variables were analyzed. The ANOVA test about the MDI-C scale showed provocation as a significant marker at middle school (F (1, 418) = 3.487, p = 0.03) and low self-esteem at high school (F (1, 418) = 3.337, p = 0.03). A holistic developmental approach allowed us to highlight the risk factors of depression with a developmental trajectory origin linked to disorders of social adjustment and psychomotor skills and to the importance of misdiagnosed learning disabilities because of giftedness. Our findings support the interest in an early identification of and intervention in depression risk to improve clinical decision making on the effect of giftedness on mental health outcomes.

Gifted Children with ADHD: How Are They Different from Non-gifted Children with ADHD?

The present study focused on inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity differences of gifted children with and without attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Based on clinical assessment utilizing the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children (ADISC-IV) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Fourth Edition, attendees of a public outpatient child service (boys = 359, girls = 148), with mean age 10.60 years (SD = 3.08 years), were allocated into four groups: ADHD (N = 350), gifted (N = 15), gifted/ADHD (N = 18), and clinical controls (N = 124). The Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD-Symptoms and Normal Behavior Scale dimensionally assessed inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity variations. Compared to the gifted/ADHD group, the ADHD group had higher scores for inattention and comparable scores for hyperactivity/impulsivity. For most symptoms, the ADHD groups (gifted or not) rated higher than the non-ADHD groups (control and gifted without ADHD). Findings appeared to indicate that (i) ADHD is a valid diagnosis among children who are gifted, (ii) gifted children might tend to be less inattentive than non-gifted ADHD children, and (iii) ADHD-gifted children appear to differ from the non-ADHD-gifted children with regard to specific hyperactive and impulsive behaviors. The practical implication of these findings is that clinicians may wish to focus on these symptoms when diagnosing ADHD among children with high intelligence.

Hemispheric Differences in White Matter Microstructure between Two Profiles of Children with High Intelligence Quotient vs. Controls: A Tract-Based Spatial Statistics Study

Objectives: The main goal of this study was to investigate and compare the neural substrate of two children's profiles of high intelligence quotient (HIQ). Methods: Two groups of HIQ children were included with either a homogeneous (Hom-HIQ: n = 20) or a heterogeneous IQ profile (Het-HIQ: n = 24) as defined by a significant difference between verbal comprehension index and perceptual reasoning index. Diffusion tensor imaging was used to assess white matter (WM) microstructure while tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) analysis was performed to detect and localize WM regional differences in fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity, axial (AD), and radial diffusivities. Quantitative measurements were performed on 48 regions and 21 fiber-bundles of WM. Results: Hom-HIQ children presented higher FA than Het-HIQ children in widespread WM regions including central structures, and associative intra-hemispheric WM fasciculi. AD was also greater in numerous WM regions of Total-HIQ, Hom-HIQ, and Het-HIQ groups when compared to the Control group. Hom-HIQ and Het-HIQ groups also differed by their hemispheric lateralization in AD differences compared to Controls. Het-HIQ and Hom-HIQ groups showed a lateralization ratio (left/right) of 1.38 and 0.78, respectively. Conclusions: These findings suggest that both inter- and intra-hemispheric WM integrity are enhanced in HIQ children and that neural substrate differs between Hom-HIQ and Het-HIQ. The left hemispheric lateralization of Het-HIQ children is concordant with their higher verbal index while the relative right hemispheric lateralization of Hom-HIQ children is concordant with their global brain processing and adaptation capacities as evidenced by their homogeneous IQ.

Can IQ predict parent-reported behavioral and emotional problems in children with neurological deficiencies?

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the current study was to investigate whether total intelligence scores (FSIQ) and/or a discrepancy in intelligence can predict behavioral or emotional problems in children with neurological deficiencies.

METHOD

The population consists of children with neurological deficiencies (N = 610, ranging from 6 to 17 years), referred due to concerns on the (educational) development of the child to a tertiary outpatient clinic. All children were tested with the Dutch Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - third edition (WISC-III-NL). A VIQ-PIQ discrepancy score was calculated by subtracting the performance capacities of the verbal capacities. The effects of demographic variables, FSIQ, and the VIQ-PIQ discrepancy on two parent-rated questionnaires measuring behavior and emotions in children were analyzed with linear and logistic regression models.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The VIQ-PIQ discrepancy was not predictive of behavioral or emotional problems recorded on the above-mentioned parent-rated questionnaires. The FSIQ score, age, and sex were predictive to some extent: increases in age and FSIQ led to a decrease of reported problems, and boys showed more problems than girls. Children with neurological deficiencies had on average significantly higher verbal capacities than performance capacities, in line with the neuropsychological principle that language survives brain damage whereas performance capacities are more affected.