Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Highly gifted and cognitive assessment post trauma

I have a friend who was hit by a car while running. He has a head injury among many other problems. He is HG+.

Is important to tell the doctors who are conducting cognitive assessments about him being gifted? It seems to me that he could have a deficit and still be above average (which wouldn't be noticed).

I would think so. If he happens to have any prior assessments of cognition, he might want to provide those documents so they have pre-trauma estimates of ability. Neurologists often use proxies for pre-trauma estimates, such as education, and sometimes vocabulary, but obviously, an actual standardized assessment would be better.

He has a PhD in a math intensive field, so that should give them an idea. I'll ask his wife if GRE and other scores are available. Thanks!

Yes - it is essential that his doctors have all possible information regarding his pre-trauma cognitive abilities. If he doesn't have IQ scores, then SAT scores, especially if he has ones from the 1980's (with MENSA conversion charts) would work better than GRE scores due to low ceiling. My DS' IQ score dropped a couple of SD after the medical equivalent of massive brain trauma but all of the indices were still average except for processing speed, which was only in the average range previously. There is also a pattern to how different types of cognitive abilities recover. The brain is an amazing organ and hopefully your friend will recover most of what he loses with time and therapy.