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Other Reviews

"CREATIVE BRAINS: Gifted, Talented, Dyslexic" produced by the Southwest Branch of the International Dyslexia Association.
Reviewed by Dorothy Ungerleider

Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults by James T. Webb, Ph.D., Edward R. Amend, Psy.D., Nadia Webb, Psy.D., Jean Goerss, M.D., M.P.H., Paul Beljan, Psy.D., and F. Richard Olenchak, Ph.D., reviewed by Sandra Mosk, M.Ed., BCET, FAET

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon reviewed by Jeri I. Burzin, M.Ed.

When the Brain Can’t Hear: Unraveling the Mystery of Auditory Processing Disorder by Teri James Bellis, Ph.D., reviewed by Susan Grama

Understanding Women with AD/HD edited by Kathleen G. Nadeau, PhD, and Patricia O. Quinn, M.D., reviewed by Cynthia Landes

Different Minds, Gifted Children with AD/HD, Asperger Syndrome, and Other Learning Deficits by Deirdre V. Lovecky, and Jessica Kingsley, reviewed by Vicki Zale Berghoff

The Bipolar Child: The Definitive and Reassuring Guide to Childhood’s Most Misunderstood Disorder by Papolos Demitri, M.D., and Janice Papolos, reviewed by Pamela McGranahan, Ed.D.

 

BOOK REVIEW: Different Minds...

Different Minds, Gifted Children with AD/HD, Asperger Syndrome, and Other Learning Deficits by Deirdre V. Lovecky, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London and Philadelphia, (2004).

Reviewed by Vicki Zale Berghoff

I'd like to buy this book.

This is the first book of its kind to thoroughly discuss attention problems (associated with AD/HD or Aspergers Syndrome) in gifted children, address their special needs, offer an understanding of their unique strengths and provide helpful suggestions. It is a valuable resource for educational therapists, teachers, parents or counselors who work with these twice-exceptional children.

The author is a clinical child psychologist/psychotherapist at the Gifted Resource Center of New England, specializing in the needs of gifted children. The book is based on her own personal observations of gifted children that she has counseled at the Center. It is also written in response to parents who expressed frustration to the author that no one really understood their children, from either a gifted or AD/HD perspective.

Chapter One is devoted to giftedness: the definition and theories of giftedness, the traits and manifestation in gifted children, the development of gifted children, and the special needs of children in the different levels of giftedness (i.e. mildly to profoundly gifted). Throughout the book, Lovecky uses the term "asynchrony", purporting that "every gifted child shows asynchrony in at least some ways." Asynchrony, as explained in the book, pertains to gifted children who can conceptualize at a more sophisticated level than their peers, but their emotional or social abilities may in fact be functioning at a lower level. All areas of functioning do not develop equally or simultaneously. An example is given of a gifted girl who wants to write a story that she can hear in her mind but she cannot yet use a pencil well enough to write for very long.

This uneven development is more pronounced in gifted children with AD/HD. Lovecky points out that gifted children with AD/HD, Aspergers and learning disabilities may share many common qualities with other gifted children but due to their attention and/or learning deficits, show differences that may hinder the development of their giftedness.

Although a lot has been written about AD/HD, in Chapter Two Lovecky provides the reader with a well written, easily understandable, thorough dissection of AD/HD which she subdivides into the following topics: 1) Development and types, 2) Symptoms, 3) Understanding AD/HD, 4) Gifted children with AD/HD, 5) Executive functions affected by AD/HD in gifted children, and 6) Positive aspects of AD/HD. She also addresses co-existing conditions, special needs of girls with AD/HD, the differences between inattentive and the combined type (i.e. with the hyperactivity component), and presents many behavioral and cognitive comparisons between gifted and average children with and without the different types of AD/HD.

In Chapter Three Lovecky discusses Aspergers Syndrome, its types and symptoms as well as its impact on learning and behavior experienced by gifted children with AS. Deficits are described and explained in areas of cognition and executive functioning, emotional, motor, and sensory functioning. Comparisons are made of gifted children with AS to average children with AS and to gifted children without AS.

Many useful, practical suggestions for remediation and accommodations are made throughout Chapter Four, which is titled "Cognitive Issues: How those with a Different Mind Think". Learning styles are explained and specific remediation suggestions are provided for gifted children with AD/HD who may be visual-spatial learners, auditory sequential learners, or auditory learners with NVLD. The chapter also offers suggestions for improving attention, short term memory, prioritizing, time management, rule adherence, planning and goal setting, problem solving, low arousal, work effort/slow work speed, writing skills and demand performance. The majority of the suggestions contained in this chapter are as applicable for average children as well who have deficits in any of these areas.

Chapters Five and Six cover "creativity" and "emotional intelligence" respectively. Of special interest is the subsection on creativity and attention deficits although Lovecky concedes that research in this area is meager. The author further discusses the cognitive aspects of creative ability such as divergent thinking ability, problem-solving ability and visualization, as they apply to gifted children with AD/HD. Chapter Six covers the problems with emotional intelligence facing children with AD/HD and gifted children with or without AD/HD. Emotional Intelligence is summed up as follows:" people who have less emotional competency have trouble with regulating emotions and dealing with relationships". In contrast, those who are emotionally competent may be emotionally gifted because they have the ability to understand the self and/or others. Several suggestions for helping children improve emotional intelligence are included in the chapter.

Chapter Seven focuses on social competency for gifted children with and without AD/HD, and provides suggestions for helping children utilize skills for developing and maintaining successful interrelationships with others and managing behavior in social situations. Moral development is the topic of Chapter Eight wherein Lovecky discusses the theories of developing empathy, compassion and rule-based reasoning.

Chapter Nine provides guidance for the assessment of gifted children as well as an understanding of presenting symptoms and evaluation techniques for gifted children with AD/HD using intelligent scales, achievement tests, neuropsychological assessments, behavior and personality assessments. Special issues in assessment pertinent to psychologists, educational therapist's teachers and parents are presented at the end of the chapter. The final chapter is devoted to listing resources for parents and professionals working with these special students.

Vicki Berghoff was a practicing attorney for 13 years before entering the field of educational therapy. She is currently in the Post Masters Certificate Program in Educational Therapy at California State University Northfield and has interned at the Kayne Eras Center in Los Angeles for the past three years. She is a student member of AET but is working towards professional membership.