Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment The Biology of Giftedness?

Hi all, I've read these forums for a while but now that my wife and I are getting closer to getting our son on a gifted track, I finally decided to make an account.

Firstly, thank you for all the vibrant discussion and contributions: this has been an invaluable resource for us!

I would like to ask for your advice about our 7-year old son. Until now, he has seemed fine with school, but last year and this year, he started not enjoying school as much, and now I understand from his teachers that he 'asks too many questions and is sometimes disruptive'. He enjoys challenge and regularly demonstrates math ability and reading at least 3-4 grades ahead of his peers. It's time for us to do something officially because he's just not getting what he needs, and this is starting to affect him beyond academics.

We are in the process of scheduling assessments so that we document where he is, and one of the neuropsych evaluators my wife talked to mentioned including a genetic test (he mentioned that there are some companies that give reports that provide information about learning style and what areas / capacities should be focused on for development). I was surprised by this, since it's the first time I hear about intelligence and giftedness being measured in this way. I suppose more data points are always better? My understanding is that it's similar to other genetic testing services, such as 23&me, Ancestry, etc...

I was just curious on whether any of you have ever had experience with this sort of testing (in this context), and whether you have (or would) include these results in the collection of assessments you might have? Your wisdom and insights are appreciated, as always! -m

Welcome!

In my professional experience, genetic testing is not a generally-accepted practice in neuropsych evaluations, especially for GT (sometimes it is for intellectual and developmental disabilities, as there are well-researched chromosomal and genomic abnormalities associated with many forms of ID or DD). The genetics of intelligence is complex, and poorly understood at the sequence level (although it is well-established that a large proportion of intelligence is heritable--nature rather than nurture). The state of the research literature does not support drawing conclusions on intellectual function from genetic testing (outside of the known pathologies). I would take any predictions of learning style or capacity based on genetic testing under the loosest of advisement.

This is, of course, purely speculative, but honestly, it seems more likely to me that your prospective evaluator is participating in some kind of pilot study/data-gathering exercise with a genetic testing company, and recruiting study participants from among their clients. If that is the case, participation would, of course, be a question of what your family chooses to contribute to this type of research, keeping in mind many of the caveats associated with non-targeted genetic testing in general, such as those you named.