Gifted or Autistic?
By Inderbir Kaur Sandhu, Ph.D
Q:
Hi, I'm hoping you could help me regarding my daughter
Charli and her behaviors. She's 32 months old. I know it'll
be too early to identify if she's gifted, at the moment
we've been investigating autism with the pediatrician
because she only just started talking at 2.3 years, but
everything else she has done not language related points to
either being quite bright, or potentially gifted.
For instance she:
-
Lifted her head off my shoulder to look around while still
in hospital after birth
-
Spent 5 hours awake directly after birth
-
Usually never slept more than 1/2 hour at a time as a baby
and was always a difficult sleeper, and difficult to get to
sleep and stay asleep
-
Rolled at 3 months
-
Crawled at 5 months (literally got up and crawled perfectly
straight away)
-
Walked at 9.5 months (perfectly - never toddled - walked)
-
Walked up stairs and down stairs, kicking and throwing
balls, jumping at 12-15 months with ease
-
Could drop kick a ball perfectly at about 18 months
-
In gymnastics performs everything perfectly and well above
her age - jumping, forward rolling etc. as did lots of these
things early on anyway
-
Understood high level of instructions from very early on
even though didn't speak
-
Barely spoke 10 words until 2.3 years though understood
instructions really well
-
At 2.3 years literally just started talking, and now at 32
months speaks fluently 4-5 word sentences and has a huge
vocabulary range
-
Did have fluid in her ears for first 2 years of life which
may have contributed to language delays
-
Counted as soon as started talking - up to 10 and for a few
months now can count 1-1 objects up to 10 and draw lines up
to 10 etc.
-
Had obsessions with circles and round things and drawing
from very early age - even as a baby
-
Has just become very interested in drawing - suddenly she's
drawing full pictures of people and animals with people
having accurate oval head, 2 arms, 2 legs, feet, 2 eyes
perfect in place, accurate mouth, nostrils, hair, hat,
bellybutton and very intricately drawn - sometimes with 2
body parts (tummy/head) and does so better with a pen than
crayons - and with a pen draws small intricate drawings
-
Has shown significant autistic behaviors with early on
repetitiveness of phrases words and necessity for routine,
to have certain things - when anxious blurts out a saying
that is stuck in her head constantly
-
Has had social difficulties - never wanted to integrate
socially preferred independent play or play with either
babies or much older children
-
Has always been a thinker - never smiled much as a
baby/young toddler but observes situations rather than
getting involved
-
Seems to take things so seriously regarding accomplishing
things, but has a most fabulous sense of humor and did as a
baby through to now
-
Loved puzzles accomplishing basic puzzles by 15 months or
so. By 2 years she could really pick up any of her 20 odd
puzzles (with knobs) and knows where each piece goes without
hardly looking - if there was a bunch of puzzles on the
floor she's know where each puzzle belonged
-
likes to keep things in sets (or do I teach her that - I'm
pedantic about that too!)
-
Will sit for ages on one activity - as a baby would lie in
her cot for ages reading a book or engaged in an activity
she was interested in
-
LOVES books - reads them back to herself now and could read
books for hours - in fact many times she's fallen asleep
with literally 50 books or more at her feet - notice big
difference between DD1 and DD2 here as Charli at 4 months
would sit and listen attentively as we read 3-4 books every
night, paying attention to every page - whereas Poppy 10
months old can barely sit still for a second and certainly
pays no attention to what we are doing. We thought this was
just normal behavior of Charli until we had Poppy!
There's probably more, but that's a start. She was seeing a
pediatrician and still is because of her lack of
social/language skills but with the language skills suddenly
taken off, it is more than she doesn't enjoy company of kids
her age - almost as if she sees the things they do as boring
and silly. For instance, when instructed today to do things
at gym in a relay race, she just had this look on her face
as in to say 'why' (like put a foam block over your head and
sit down) - even though she'd do it if I showed her how, its
like she didn't see sense it and therefore didn't want to do
it - after a while lost interest and walked off.
I'm actually going to use her as my case study for my
Masters of Education research project next year, as she
truly puzzles me on a day to day basis. Sometimes she so
evidently shows autistic traits, but other times she does
things way above her peers, and doesn't really seem to want
to play their little games etc.
So hoping with your experience you'd shed some light on it.
My second daughter is achieving milestones early too (she's
10 months) and also shows excellent sense of humor and
things like that, figures out how to work things like DD1
did, but at the same time, she's done them more
progressively, rather than with DD1 who just suddenly
started crawling, walking, speaking, drawing without any
seemingly prior development of skills.
Anyway, I find it so interesting and would love your
thoughtfulness to this issue!
A: Charli certainly has shown
some speedy development for her age. However, to ascertain
that she may be autistic or simply above average
developmentally is something that warrants some testing in
terms of observation by a certified medical professional who
specializes in pervasive developmental disorders. This is
usually done by 3 years of age. Observation by parents or
teachers may not be a very reliable indicator and should be
best not used to diagnose autism. From your description, it
is rather hard to say if she is gifted or has some
developmental disorder since observation by a professional
is crucial in this case. There is also a possibility of
Charli having Asperger Syndrome, though children diagnosed
with Asperger Syndrome usually have normal language
development (but normal/above average intelligence) or
perhaps gifted with a developmental disorder. Charli had
fluid in her ears when very young and that may cause
language delays.
Some behaviour associated with autism and Asperger Syndrome
are limited communicative ability and reluctance to
initiate/sustain communication with other that results in
limited ability to make friends, repetitive and unusual use
of language, limited imaginative or social play, intensity
in focus on subject of interest, preoccupation with objects
and reluctance/difficulty of changing patterns or routines.
You would need to firstly, rule out any disorder or if a
disorder is determined, the paediatrician would advise you
on the course of treatment. Secondly, I believe that
whatever the diagnosis may be, Charli appears to be growing
quite well, in fact, developmentally in terms of her motor
skills, way ahead of her peers. Therefore, all she needs is
for you to guide her develop her skills well; and you are
indeed doing the right thing for now. Keep her stimulated
and help her make the best of her speedy development. I’m
afraid I am not able to advise much more as you would need
to see a specialist to determine her condition.
Do read the articles on the following site - it may be of
interest especially if you plan to do your post graduate
project.
Genius May Be an Abnormality
Understanding our Gifted and Complex Minds
Asperger's Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism
Best of luck.
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