Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Need to find tester experienced with 2E in SE

My sister is desperate to find an experienced tester in NW Florida or even in the SE. My nephew is 6 and in first grade,
he is very imaginative, has a long attention span for what he's
interested in and is a math whiz. He also displays some Asperger's traits, poor social skills, clumsy, has sensory issues which cause major meltdowns. Teachers have conflicting
opinions about him ranging from HG to PDD and we need to get to the bottom of this before any more damage is done.

If anyone has knowledge of a professional who might be able
help please let us know.

Dr. Amend is in KY. We have met him, but not yet used his services. He is the person we will probably go to if dd needs to retest/needs counseling.

KY may seem far away, but I know people travel as far as FL to meet with him. It is my understanding that he specializes in these 2E kiddos without over diagnosing them.

You can google his name and he also has books on amazon if you want to research him more.

We've traveled from the Northeast. It was so worth it. Weirdly, Dr. Ed is empathetic to parents. There's something you don't see every day. Especially if HG is on the table, it's important to see someone who knows that range of normal in HG kids - and as statistics show, that isn't going to be every psychologist in every town.
Grinity

There's a list of providers searchable by state here, on the OASIS at MAAP website:

http://www.aspergersyndrome.org/Local.aspx

There is no reason a child can't be HG and have PDD or AS at the same time; it's possible the teachers are each seeing part of the elephant, or that some of them are just wrong.

I would try to use a neuropsych or developmental pediatrician who has extensive experience with the high-IQ end of the autism spectrum; these kids are hard to diagnose correctly.

That website also has a good discussion forum for talking about Asperger's with experienced parents.

Best wishes--
DeeDee

If your sister is willing to travel, I highly recommend Spomenka Newman in Lawrenceville, GA (Near Atlanta). She is absolutely wonderful. She has a warm, gentle way of talking to children which absolutely engages them, even if they are shy. She was so helpful to my family in helping us pursue occupational therapy (my son, like me, has coordination issues) and helping us find appropriate educational venues. She is very well versed in gifted issues.

I posted a similar question earlier today. Very helpful, as we are in the same area!

I did notice, however, that Dr. Newman does psycho-educational testing and not neuro-psychological testing. I keep hearing it's better to have neuropsych testing done, but she seems quite experienced in assessing gifted children, which is wonderful.

You might consider Nadia Webb, N.O. Louisiana -

http://www.sengifted.org/about_editorial_bd.shtml

towards the bottom of the page, specializes in 2e.

The tests administered in a neuropsych eval and psycho-educational eval overlap. In many cases, the test battery is identical.

In my experience, psycho-educational evaluations will provide you with better information regarding school issues and recommendations.

Both types of evaluators will be able to administer the appropriate tests. The personality of the evaluator makes a difference. Looks for someone who ENJOYS working with children and takes time to establish rapport.

Poor rapport=underestimation of potential.

I LOVE DR. Amend. Our first contact was by phone when he called me in the evening and we talked for an hour. He confirmed results for my son and was able to give me ideas to take back to the school to address his tourettes and gifted elements. We did go in for a 3 hour session.

I highly recommend Kathryn Funke in Gainesville, Fl. She did a great job assessing my son, and identified AS, severe dysgraphia, and giftedness, which confirmed our suspicions. In stark contrast to the school, she clearly put a lot of effort and thought into choosing assessment instruments that would allow her to clearly isolate and identify his strengths and weaknesses, (for example, administering the RIAS in addition to the WISC-IV that the school administered to elucidate the depressing effect of his motor and social deficits on the WISC IQ score), and she was able to put my son at ease, which I feel was important for him to be able to really show what he could and couldn't do.