Differential Diagnosis: A Logical Approach to Understanding Commonly Misdiagnosed Features of Gifted Children

Presenter: Paul Beljan, PsyD

 

The top diagnoses asked about by parents of gifted children in my private pediatric neuropsychology practice are: short term memory deficit, processing speed deficit, central auditory processing deficit, sensory integration deficit and working memory deficit. More often than not, these disorders are not present. This SENGinar reviews these diagnoses and offers simple and logical methods for how to determine if they really exist in the child or not. We will further discuss why a gifted child may appear to have these disorders when in fact they do not. Suggestions are offered for what should be involved in an appropriate neuropsychological evaluation that parents should look for when having their child tested.

Topics include:

• Why short term memory deficit, processing speed deficit, central auditory processing deficit, sensory integration deficit and working memory deficit are probably the most over-diagnosed disorders among the gifted population.

• Why these diagnostic errors are easy to make.

• Very simple methods for how to rule out each diagnosis.

• What constitutes an appropriate evaluation to rule-in or rule-out these diagnoses.

Registration required, $40 fee which includes access to recorded SENGinar.