The diagnostic category of autism has been extensively investigated over the past 65 years since the condition was first described by Dr. Leo Kanner (1943), making it one of the most validated psychological disorders. Research has examined the characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) across a variety of domains, including diagnostic symptomology, intellectual profiles, adaptive behavior, and psychosocial functioning. However, there exists a paucity of empirical research on intellectually gifted children with ASD. The goal of the current study was to compare the psychometric profiles of gifted youth with and without ASD across the domains of intellectual functioning, psychosocial/behavioral functioning, social skills, and adaptive behavior using an empirical, group study design. It was hypothesized that, in comparison to the group of youth without ASD, the group of youth with ASD would demonstrate equally strong verbal and nonverbal intellectual abilities with relatively poorer processing speed, poorer adaptive functioning skills, more psychosocial/behavior concerns, and poorer social skills. Data from 81 school-age youth who had been identified as intellectually gifted were included in the present study. Forty of the participants in this study met DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria for ASD; the remaining 41 participants did not meet diagnostic criteria for an Axis I or Axis II psychological disorder. Statistical analyses included independent-samples t tests and split-plot analyses. Results of the current study demonstrate that statistically significant differences exist between gifted youth with and without ASD in the areas of processing speed, adaptive functioning, psychosocial/behavioral functioning, and social skills, despite equivalent verbal and nonverbal intellectual functioning. The current study is unique in that it is the first to examine these domains of functioning and make empirical comparisons of characteristics among gifted individuals with ASD using a group study design. Importantly, this study has significant implications for diagnosis of ASD and will provide an empirical foundation upon which to develop effective classroom interventions to best meet the unique needs of this twice-exceptional population.

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Although a long-standing interest in the abilities of gifted students exists, researchers and clinicians have only recently focused on specific factors that may impact the likelihood of mental health diagnoses, such as anxiety and depression, within this population. This is especially true for gifted students with co-existing disabilities, or twice-exceptional students, who may have unique experiences that differ from those of gifted students without disabilities. Perfectionism is one factor that may be important to consider when examining factors that impact the development of anxiety and depression within these populations. The current study examined how perfectionism differs within gifted and twice-exceptional students within the context of self-reported anxiety and depression. Scores were reported for both gifted (N = 39) and twice-exceptional (N = 28) participants ages 8-14 on the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R), Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS), and Children’s Depression Inventory-2 (CDI-2). Pearson chi-square results suggested that gifted students reported higher rates of maladaptive perfectionism on the APS-R compared to twice-exceptional students. Although gifted and twice-exceptional students in this sample reported style of perfectionism differently, group differences disappeared when also considering self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression via 2x3 analyses of variance. Tukey post-hoc tests indicated that self-reported maladaptive style of perfectionism was related to higher scores on measures of anxiety and depression. Clinical and research implications of these findings were also explored.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (Autism Spectrum Disorder) is a neurodevelopmental syndrome characterized by impairment to social communication adjoined by the presence of rigidity, restricted interests, and/or repetitive behaviors. Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder recently shifted from a series of pervasive developmental disorders recognized in the 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) to a single, comprehensive diagnosis in the 5th edition of the same manual (DSM-5; APA, 2013). To evaluate the appropriateness in this shift in diagnostic practice, the current study evaluates the consistency in symptom presentation amongst the previous DSM-IV-TR diagnoses. Additionally, this study identifies several novel considerations for Autism Spectrum Disorder symptom presentation in high ability youth. Thus, the current study addresses broad considerations for discrete versus continuous symptom presentation in Autism Spectrum Disorder, as well as contributes to the limited literature addressing Autism Spectrum Disorder symptom presentation features in high ability youth. A review of literature on theory, conceptualization, and assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorder is provided, as well as a review of relevant literature for high ability youth diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Progression of Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis is discussed, with emphasis upon the current debate regarding shifts from utilization of many diagnoses to a single, comprehensive diagnosis. Next, unique challenges associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder in high ability youth are identified, including current conceptualization, assessment, and treatment considerations. Due to identified gaps in consistent understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder presentation, including Autism Spectrum Disorder in high ability youth, the author conducted two complementary studies. The first of these studies evaluated consistency in parent ratings on Autism Spectrum Disorder screening tools across previously used diagnostic labels (i.e., Autistic Disorder (AD), Asperger's Syndrome (AS), and Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)) now subsumed under Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5. The second study analyzed Autism Spectrum Disorder symptoms reported by parents of high ability youth. Data collection for this latter study included a novel research measure intended for identifying symptoms associated with high ability Autism Spectrum Disorder. Items on this form were derived through a card sort of items included in current symptom screening tools completed by content area experts. Additionally, this novel research measure included an open-ended item for parents of high ability youth to report additional symptoms. Results from the first study suggest that parents of children diagnosed with AD, AS, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified do not differentially report symptoms on two current Autism Spectrum Disorder screening tools: (1) The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS; Constantino & Gruber, 2005) and (2) the Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ; Ehlers, Gillberg, & Wing, 1999). Results from the second study provide evidence of parental perceptions of several nuances in symptom presentation associated with high ability youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Specifically, parents frequently endorsed impairment in development and maintenance of social relationships; however, insight into these weaknesses was not consistently reported as impaired. Additionally, restricted interests were acknowledged, with some parents identifying academic or pseudo-academic subjects as common areas of interest. The collective findings from these studies provide evidence of broad consistency in Autism Spectrum Disorder symptom presentation across previously used diagnoses, yet also unique symptom features for high ability youth. Implications for education, clinical practice, and research in both Autism Spectrum Disorder and twice-exceptionality are discussed.

The aim of the study is to describe the ways in which contrast of critical aspects of the object of learning is used to improve children’s ways of discerning the concept twice as found by analysing a learning study process in Swedish preschool. By that, the attempt is to contribute to an expanded understanding of application of learning study and variation theory in preschool educational practice. One researcher, five preschool teachers and 44 preschool children (6 year olds) participated in the project. The empirical material consists of verbatim transcriptions of three video documented interventions and 132 individual test forms (pre-, post- and delayed post-test). The preschool learning study process analysed in this study has been built up by a joint reflection on the use of contrast of critical aspects related to the intended object of learning. The study suggests that a developed use of contrast of critical aspects of the object of learning seem to have bearing on children’s ways of discerning aspects of their surrounding world short- as well as long term. Main principles found seemingly emerging the children’s ways of discerning the intended object of learning is discussed in terms of separation, contrast and generalisation. However, the study indicates the need of additional complementary learning study projects to further expand the knowledge of what it means and entails to take critical aspects of the intended object of learning into account when dealing with content focus in preschool educational practice.

The mixed-grass prairie region of southwestern Manitoba is a hotspot for many endangered grassland birds. This region has been degraded to less than a quarter of its historical amount of mixed-grass prairie. Remaining prairie is primarily used for livestock grazing. The objective of this study was to evaluate the contribution of sustainable land management practices, such as rotational grazing, in the conservation of this region. In 2008 and 2009, I compared the abundances of grassland birds on two grazing regimes, twice-over rotation and season-long, to ungrazed fields. Bird surveys were done during the breeding season and were conducted using 100-m fixed-radius point-count plots. I determined the effects of treatment, landscape and vegetation characteristics on songbird abundances using generalized linear mixed models. Grassland birds selected grazed pastures over ungrazed fields in both years, and species richness of obligate grassland birds was significantly greater (α = 0.10) on season-long than twice-over pastures (β = 0.419, p = 0.032, in 2008 and β = 0.502, p = 0.043 in 2009). Season-long grazing may actually benefit grassland bird communities by creating somewhat temporally stable areas of high use and low use within the pasture. However, nesting success studies and long-term monitoring are necessary to further understand how twice-over rotation grazing systems contribute to the conservation of grassland birds in southwestern Manitoba.

Students who meet criteria for both being intellectually gifted and having a disability are known by the term ‘twice exceptional’. To date there is little known about the classroom interactions of these students, and how these interactions impact their developing self-esteem. The interactions of four gifted primary school students with identified learning difficulties (twice exceptional) were observed along with four matched typically developing students and their teacher during normal classroom teaching activities. The number and type of positive, negative, neutral or no response interactions were recorded over four, one hour observation sessions. The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory was then administered to the four twice exceptional and four comparison students. Results indicated that there was little difference between the twice exceptional and comparison students in terms of number of interactions recorded, with the twice exceptional students showing slightly more positive interactions with their teacher and peers. All four twice exceptional students reported lower self-esteem levels than their matched peers, with two students being in the low range. The results suggested that these four twice exceptional students were interacting in a manner similar to their typically developing peers, although they displayed lower self-esteem levels. The implications of these findings and recommendations for future research are discussed.

The mixed-grass prairie region of southwestern Manitoba is a hotspot for many endangered grassland birds. This region has been degraded to less than a quarter of its historical amount of mixed-grass prairie. Remaining prairie is primarily used for livestock grazing. The objective of this study was to evaluate the contribution of sustainable land management practices, such as rotational grazing, in the conservation of this region. In 2008 and 2009, I compared the abundances of grassland birds on two grazing regimes, twice-over rotation and season-long, to ungrazed fields. Bird surveys were done during the breeding season and were conducted using 100-m fixed-radius point-count plots. I determined the effects of treatment, landscape and vegetation characteristics on songbird abundances using generalized linear mixed models. Grassland birds selected grazed pastures over ungrazed fields in both years, and species richness of obligate grassland birds was significantly greater (α = 0.10) on season-long than twice-over pastures (β = 0.419, p = 0.032, in 2008 and β = 0.502, p = 0.043 in 2009). Season-long grazing may actually benefit grassland bird communities by creating somewhat temporally stable areas of high use and low use within the pasture. However, nesting success studies and long-term monitoring are necessary to further understand how twice-over rotation grazing systems contribute to the conservation of grassland birds in southwestern Manitoba.

Past studies have found substantial benefits associated with integrating neurotypically developing students as peer supporters for children with autism (McCurdy & Cole, 2013). The current study asks the question as to whether or not the support of typically developing students benefits the social skills development of twice-exceptional students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The “twice-exceptionality” in this study is specifically related to a heightened interest and proficiency in technology compared to children in their same age group, along with a coexisting diagnosis of autism. iSocial, a virtual learning intervention for children with ASD, is a recently developed program targeted to help children with ASD. To date, no research has examined iSocial’s use with peer supporters. As such, a new intervention that combines the use of iSocial with a peer support component is proposed. Typically developing peer supporters and children with ASD will collaboratively complete an 8-10 week intervention. It is predicted that children with autism in the experimental group will score significantly higher on post-intervention tasks than their baseline tasks. It is also predicted that children who collaborated with peer supporters will achieve greater symptom improvements on the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) and higher scores on the Reading the Mind in Eyes test than the control group. While children in both groups are anticipated to benefit from the iSocial intervention, it is likely that the highest gains will be observed in the peer-supported group. The outcomes of this study may serve as essential and practical ways for developing new methods to test and design interventions for children with ASD.

This thesis’s purpose is twofold. The first purpose is to present both information about what twice-exceptionality is and to make recommendations based on the existing research as to how parents or guardians can become more effective advocates and advocate for effective programming and services for their children who are twice-exceptional. While this thesis focuses on a specific subset of twice-exceptional students, those who are both gifted and have autism, a good deal of the material presented will be applicable to children who are gifted with learning disabilities. Effective parent advocacy looks the same across exceptionalities: producing the best educational experience based on the child’s unique needs. Strengths-based programming has been demonstrated to benefit twice-exceptional students no matter the disability, however the areas of deficit will vary depending on the specific disability a child has and his/her unique learning profile. The resources for information on special education law and twice-exceptionality will be useful to parents regardless of the twice-exceptional child’s disability. The second, and I feel most important, purpose of the thesis is to provide those parents/guardians with a “Quick Start Guide to Advocacy” to help them get started on the path to becoming the most effective advocate they can be for their child(ren). While educators and school administrators are expected to have a solid understanding of the rights and responsibilities of all stakeholders, many times parents are thrust into the world of special and gifted education with no preexisting knowledge. The aim of this thesis is to help bridge this gap for parents and guardians of this unique subset of students.