A reflective conversation
with Terry Friedrichs
on teaching academics
to gifted students with
Asperger Syndrome
Terence Paul Friedrichs
University of St. Thomas, MN, USA
Michael F Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University, USA
Abstract
In this reflective interview with Terry Friedrichs—a hands-on academic-learning specialist
and researcher with gifted students with Asperger Syndrome—he defines these pupils,
describes their ‘‘straightforward’’ and confusing traits, and recounts his initial and later
instructional experiences with them over several decades. The piece proceeds to explain,
for educators and parents, specific scholastic assets and challenges that high-potential
young people with Asperger Syndrome may present within their hallmark definitional categories
of social development, restrictive interests, and communication skills. The article
also describes other frequently seen challenges for, and strengths of, these students in sensory
and cognitive functioning. The interview closes with overall considerations for the
contemporary schooling of these twice-exceptional pupils, and with the author’s views
on future educational possibilities for them.
Keywords
Asperger Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder, twice-exceptional
Corresponding author:
Michael F Shaughnessy, Eastern New Mexico University, School of Education, Portales, NM 88130, USA.
Email: Michael.Shaughnessy@enmu.edu; tpfriedrichs@stthomas.edu
Gifted Education International
2015, Vol. 31(1) 41–53
ª The Author(s) 2013
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0261429413486861
gei.sagepub.com
Downloaded from gei.sagepub.com at CMU Libraries - library.cmich.edu on September 18, 2016
Who are gifted students with Asperger Syndrome?
Perhaps the easiest answer, at least for teachers, is that high-potential
young people with Asperger Syndrome fit their local districts’ definitions
of both giftedness and Asperger’s. Thus, these students will excel
in one or more areas of giftedness, including intelligence, academic
achievement, creativity, and visual and performing arts. They will also
demonstrate characteristics of Asperger Syndrome. These traits, at
least in many school districts, tend to follow DSM-IV (Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition; American Psychological Association,
2000) guidelines, which state that students with Asperger’s demonstrate social challenges
and restrictive interests. According to DSM-IV, these students will have at least two of the
following social difficulties: (a) multiple non-verbal impairments (in eye, facial, body, or
gestural behaviors), (b) problems in peer relationships, (c) challenges in sharing experiences,
and (d) other difficulties in social and emotional reciprocity. The criteria also state that a student
with Asperger Syndrome will possess at least one of these restrictive interest characteristics:
(a) preoccupation with an unusual or abnormally intense interest, (b) adherence to
specific, non-functional rituals, (c) stereotypied and repetitive motor mannerisms, and (d)
preoccupation with parts of objects.
Although gifted young people with Asperger’s need not display cognitive, communication,
and sensory challenges, as is the case with many other students with other Autism
Spectrum Disorders (ASD), they may indeed show at least some of these challenges, as
noted by many ASD authorities (Gilliam, 2001). Some cognitive traits frequently associated
with Asperger’s include displaying superior knowledge in specific subjects, talking
about a single subject excessively, and using pedantic speech. Some communication
barriers include difficulties with slang expressions, with expressing uncertainties, and
with understanding others’ criticisms. Sensory problems include uncoordinated, stereotyped,
or unique gross motor movements.
What are some characteristics of giftedness that are often confused with Asperger
Syndrome? What are some frequently seen characteristics of gifted students who
do have Asperger’s?
Many observers have seen openings in some districts’ Asperger Syndrome definitions—
whether these definitions focus narrowly on the DSM-IV’s social and restrictive traits or
deal more expansively with Asperger’s-associated cognitive, communication, and sensory
traits—for some gifted children to be misperceived as having Asperger’s. The following
are some regularly misperceived social, communication, restrictive interest,
sensory, and cognitive traits shown by gifted children without Asperger’s: social isolation,
advanced vocabulary, specific and intense interests, and complex cognitive patterns
(Gallagher and Gallagher, 2002).
However, there are pupils who legitimately might be labeled as both gifted and having
Asperger’s. Some of the traits of these dually identified students include adapting to new
social situations and having accurate perceptions about their own interpersonal competencies
(social traits); possessing advanced speech that actually works against them in
42 Gifted Education International 31(1)
Downloaded from gei.sagepub.com at CMU Libraries - library.cmich.edu on September 18, 2016
peer dialogues and classroom discussions (communication characteristics); one-sided
lectures on important topics and difficulty in stopping those lectures (restrictiveinterest
traits); poor fine-motor functioning, handwriting, and keyboard skills (sensory–motor
qualities); and academic challenges in organization and in interpreting
intellectual tones (cognitive traits) (Niehart and Poon, 2009).
How did you become interested in educating young people who fit both the gifted
and the Asperger’s definitions?
I am proud to say that I am a professional ‘‘lifer’’ in the fields of gifted education and
special education. That long-term experience in both areas eventually led me to teaching
gifted young people with Asperger’s Syndrome.
I had dreamed of being a general education teacher from the age of 4. However, in my
internships and student teachings in the mid-1970s, I found that I particularly enjoyed
instructing small student groups who were functioning either significantly above or
clearly below the classroom’s general performance level. Based on those early experiences,
I decided that I really wanted to work with special needs and gifted students,
rather than with the large groups of secondary social studies pupils whom I had been
trained to teach.
In my early years as an ‘‘on-the-line’’ educator with both special needs and gifted
pupils, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I discovered that I was able to attain some good
results in teaching gifted young people with learning and behavioral challenges. In remedial
settings, I was able to help both gifted learning-disabled and gifted emotionally/
behaviorally disordered (EBD) students grow fairly quickly in basic skills. And in gifted
education classes, I could instruct study skills—such as efficient reading, outlining,
memorizing, and essay writing—so that many of these twice-exceptional students could
acquire those competencies efficiently.
For gifted young people with Asperger’s, whom I first encountered as a special
needs teacher in learning-disabled/EBD resource rooms in the 1990s, I was able to
teach basic skills so that these students could abstract the competencies quickly and
use them independently. With the same students in a gifted setting, I found that I
could get them to employ their impressive ‘‘special’’ knowledge in their application
projects—projects into which they previously had not been able to integrate their
knowledge.
How has the education of gifted young people with ASD changed over the years,
since you first encountered those students in the early learning-disabled/EBD
resource rooms?
There have been many changes in gifted and special education over my career (which has
been mostly in teaching, with some additional years in graduate study and teacher training).
Certainly, many of these changes have been for the better. Few of these improvements,
though, have been as helpful as those associated with the education of young
people with Asperger’s and other Autism Spectrum Disorders.
In 1979, when I was first licenced in Minnesota to teach the student category
‘‘Special Learning and Behavior Problems’’ (SLBP), SLBP students with autism were
Friedrichs and Shaughnessy 43
Downloaded from gei.sagepub.com at CMU Libraries - library.cmich.edu on September 18, 2016
usually lumped together in classes with EBD pupils (Neihart, 2000). Following the
lead of such early researchers as Bruno Bettleheim (1967), students with ASD were
often considered to face challenges in forming social and emotional attachments. It
was believed, in many quarters, that rewards or negative reinforcement, based on student
responses to stimuli, could direct these young people toward appropriate social
and emotional attachments and related interpersonal behaviors. Today, many authorities
in the ASD field, such as Brenda Smith Myles (Myles and Simpson, 2002),
instead believe that ASD is rooted in a neurological condition, for which educators
must thoughtfully organize the child’s environment and that environment’s challenging
learning, behavioral, and sensory tasks.
Moving from their general to their specific challenges, gifted young people with
Asperger Syndrome may be rigid, or at least they may be viewed in that way. Over
your years of experience, have you encountered high-potential students with
Asperger’s who wish to have things ‘‘their way or no way’’?
I definitely have encountered gifted young people with Asperger’s who have been set in
their demands, both academically and socially. Although I could focus my comments on
these students’ rigidity over many years and settings (and could do so quite rigidly, in
fact!), I find it more liberating to analyze for parents and educators the possible causes
and results of these young people’s social and scholastic demands. To me, the causes of
these young people’s rigidity are multifaceted. The socially related roots of this rigidity
may involve the gifted child’s desires to arrange the environment, as well as that student’s
tendency to be bold in stating desires to adults. Those roots may also be associated
with the inclination of young people with ASD to put things in a consistent and comforting
order. Gifted young people with Asperger’s may become even more demanding
when they are under academic pressure, as noted by ASD clinician Michelle Garcia
Winner (2001) and gifted educator Cynthia Lindquist (2006). For example, these students
may become quite rigid in their requests for the same exact testing formats as they
had during their last examinations.
Some pupils may become particularly stressed and anxious when they separate
from certain people or things. How do you work with parents to alleviate this
anxiety?
Many a gifted student with Asperger has had difficulty in separating from people, settings,
and objects. At home, he or she may wish to cling to parents, the home itself, or
favorite objects. Even as bright a student as Luke Jackson, author of the insightful,
humorous, first-person account Freaks, Geeks, and Asperger’s Syndrome (2002), had
a special pen that he was very much attached to. Parents can help educators to understand
such separation problems if they can describe their child’s particular attachment
to a parent, setting, or object, and if they can explain that attachment’s purpose or
function (Quill, 2000). For instance, a parent can truly assist an educator if he or she
can articulate that: (1) the child has a particular attachment to that parent when the
bus arrives, (2) the student may react very negatively when the parent leaves, and
(3) the pupil reacts especially negatively because harassing students ‘‘replace’’ the
44 Gifted Education International 31(1)
Downloaded from gei.sagepub.com at CMU Libraries - library.cmich.edu on September 18, 2016
parent on the school scene. When the parents describe the function of their child’s
anxiety (i.e., the child is demonstrating concern over the ‘‘replacement’’ of a parent with
a harasser), parents and teachers can together devise an on-target remedial approach
(such as the parent driving the child to school, to productively elongate the child’s parental
connection during a stressful time).
Occasionally, teachers may need to report to parents a different kind of school separation
anxiety. Educators may need to report (believe it or not!) that some students may not
wish to leave an educational setting or a school object. In this case, the educator can
explain to the parents the nature and function of the attachment, with the understanding
that subsequent discussions between the parents and the child may help to alleviate the
student’s problem.
Despite their social challenges, gifted students with Asperger’s may excel in particular
interests. Those interests, however, may prove to be ‘‘restrictive.’’ How
would these apparent strengths turn into weaknesses?
There are two ways in which interests can be restrictive. One way is that these interests
can be in very narrow areas—realms that may fall into what some educators consider
‘‘useful’’ or ‘‘non-useful’’ areas. ‘‘Useful’’ areas might include Civil War history or scientific
phyla, whereas ‘‘less useful’’ realms may include Civil War battle dates or
weather predictions for the next few weeks.
Unfortunately, because of the narrowness of both the ‘‘useful’’ and the ‘‘less useful’’
categories, many teachers and peers may care little about or may even be annoyed by
hearing the gifted student with Asperger’s report detailed information.
What is the second problem associated with restrictive interests in gifted young
people with Asperger Syndrome?
Gifted students with Asperger’s who demonstrate restrictive interests may go beyond the
often-useful emphasis on acquiring information. They may also exude the far-lesshelpful
focus on repeating that narrow information. Thus, these pupils may repeat their
Civil War facts again and again, or may repeat them frequently in inappropriate settings.
These young people might also focus almost obsessively on particular objects, just as
less cognitively–able students with ASD might do. These gifted young people might
move pencils, desks, even their own body parts in the same fashion, time and time again,
as their non-gifted ASD peers do.
Some of the social and restrictive-interest challenges endured by gifted students
with Asperger’s relate to communication problems, which may be shown by these
students, their non-disabled peers, or both. Have you seen negative peer reactions
in the schools against students with Asperger’s, in the forms of criticism, teasing,
or bullying?
I definitely have seen negative comments toward our students. Again, though, rather than
recite numerous examples of poor peer behavior that I have witnessed, I would prefer to
address several actions that teachers can take to prepare our students to deal with that
Friedrichs and Shaughnessy 45
Downloaded from gei.sagepub.com at CMU Libraries - library.cmich.edu on September 18, 2016
behavior (Friedrichs, 2012). First, if gifted young people with Asperger’s can avoid criticism
by lifting their performances in some specific skill areas, such as in a particular
lunchroom behavior or phonics skill, then educators can truly make a difference with
these students by practicing with them those critical competencies. Second, if these
pupils can explain to their peers the reasons for their behavior in a broad category (such
as non-participation in gym games), then these peers might be able to understand better
why these twice-exceptional students do what they do. Third, these students’ educators
can discuss with these pupils, to these youth’s benefit, the reasons for their peers’ behavior
towards them. Educators can subsequently roleplay with these twice-exceptional
students how to speak to their non-disabled peers about those reasons. Finally, if peer
criticism cuts to the core of these young people’s very beings, through attacks on the
children’s identities as persons with Asperger’s, or if peer attacks are malicious in any
respect, then teachers may need to intervene to educate the critics and to protect the
twice-exceptional students.
Sometimes, students with Asperger’s may face challenges in communicating with
peers and teachers because they have some thinking and language limitations.
Have you noticed some situations in which gifted young people with Asperger’s
may be limited by concrete thinking and language, and other times during which
they may excel at abstract language and thought?
If gifted students with learning disabilities are known for their inconsistencies in academic
performance, and high-potential young people with emotional problems are seen
as variable in their emotional performance, gifted young people with Asperger’s are
often noted for their communication ups and downs. This variability may occur in both
quality and flexibility of thought and language. Simply put, these high-potential young
people with Asperger’s may be both knowledgeable and facile in some areas of language
but not in others. Similarly, they may be cognitively and linguistically flexible in some
subjects but not in others.
Students with concrete language in a subject may be both less knowledgeable about
and less flexible with language on that topic. In some subjects, concrete language users
may have real trouble in understanding reasons and principles. In History class, for
example, some gifted young people with Asperger’s may not grasp all of the important
reasons behind a war, depression, or social injustice. In other subjects, though, these
same students may grasp key principles quickly. In Math, for instance, some of these students
may use multiplication concepts to quickly solve word problems.
Is this the full picture? Although sensory challenges are not in states’ Asperger
Syndrome definitions as frequently as social and communication difficulties are,
sensory problems definitely can diminish the environmental functioning of gifted
young people with Asperger’s. What about the environment and its sensory challenges?
Do students truly need a distraction-free environment to thrive?
Many gifted young people with Asperger’s can certainly benefit from a reduction in distractions
in the learning environment. However, they may also be assisted by an increase
46 Gifted Education International 31(1)
Downloaded from gei.sagepub.com at CMU Libraries - library.cmich.edu on September 18, 2016
in breaks—which might be thought of as ‘‘planned distractions’’ from their usual learning
environments and patterns.
Many gifted students with Asperger’s may be distractible because of their sensitivity
to stimuli, a sensitivity shown by both high-potential and ASD students. To keep highpotential
students with Asperger’s engaged at higher instructional levels, teachers may
be tempted to reduce all classroom stimuli. In reality, however, educators would be wise
to present these young people with high-level cognitive stimuli. These presentations can
‘‘turn on’’ these pupils to new subjects or keep them focused on familiar topics in which
they already excel. Even though gifted students with Asperger’s need a focused atmosphere,
they also can benefit from breaks from that environment, after a learning segment
has been completed.
What about fluorescent lights? Are they useful or detrimental to the learning environment
for gifted young people with Asperger’s? We have heard comments from
both proponents and opponents of this lighting.
Great sensitivity to visual stimuli (as with other sensory stimuli) is characteristic of many
young people with Asperger Syndrome. Thus, it is not surprising that many gifted students
with Asperger’s can be especially sensitive to the things that they see. Truly, it can be hard
for some of these students to ‘‘see the light’’ in their academic work when they cannot even
see that work at all! However, not all of these twice-exceptional young people are the
same. Some have a tremendous sensitivity to fluorescent lights, whereas others do not. The
wisest guideline is to assess these students, preferably early in the school year, for the particular
stimuli to which they are sensitive. Through this assessment, educators may be
enlightened earlier on these pupils’ various types of environmental sensitivity.
Some intensity in gifted young people with Asperger’s seems brought forth by sensory
challenges, while other intensity seems rooted in the students’ cognitive
strengths. What should teachers do if they are faced with a gifted young person
with Asperger’s who simply knows more about, and is more focused on, a topic
than they are?
Teachers can undertake many of the same actions for a highly-focused gifted student
with Asperger’s as they would pursue for another high-potential young person whose
knowledge exceeds their own. These actions often involve educators checking their own
egos while they check for student strengths! That is, these teachers: (1) might listen to the
student expand on his or her detailed knowledge on the topic at hand, (2) might ask the
pupil questions to find out more about his or her knowledge on that topic, (3) might
change assignment content so that tasks emphasize the student’s special knowledge, and
(4) might direct the pupil toward community mentors who do know more than the
student does.
Educators should realize, however, that implementing these steps may play out somewhat
differently with a gifted young person with Asperger’s than with other highpotential
students. First, when a gifted student with ASD expands on favorite topics,
teachers may have to listen beyond what they consider to be the point of social appropriateness.
That is, educators may find themselves listening more intently to a
Friedrichs and Shaughnessy 47
Downloaded from gei.sagepub.com at CMU Libraries - library.cmich.edu on September 18, 2016
narrowly-focused but enthused pupil as they try to eat their lunches or as they attempt to
exit for their homes at night. Second, when teachers of a gifted student with Asperger’s
ask questions of this student, the educators may be surprised by the child’s possible
processing-related need to hear rephrasings of questions. (These teachers may also be
nonplussed when the student indelicately asks how they, as educators, could possibly not
know about some piece of sought-after information!) Third, as noted by Margarita
Bianco and her colleagues (2009), even when educators change task content for a student
with ASD, the pupil may still have trouble with directions on how to organize answers.
This student may need additional task changes on those directions or on different modes
for presenting their answers. Fourth, when teachers direct a student toward community
mentors, those experts must handle more than just pupil questions. The pupil will need
additional direction from mentors to ensure that mentor–student interactions will be successful
for both parties.
How should teachers specifically react when a gifted student with Asperger’s asks
a question that the educators cannot handle?
Historically, high-potential young people have been known to raise awareness—and
occasionally raise hackles—with their difficult queries. Gifted young people with
Asperger may ask several specific kinds of queries related to their characteristic challenges.
Some of these questions may prove especially difficult for educators. In their
areas of cognitive excellence, for example, these students may ask questions that are
indeed above their educators’ levels of knowledge. For these students, teachers need
to acknowledge openly that they do not know the answers and that they may need
time to research detailed responses. With their communication problems, students
also may ask their own questions, with their own concrete, sometimes unique understandings
of words and phrases. For these young people, educators might try to
rephrase the pupils’ queries by trying out these students’ several possible meanings,
one meaning at a time. Because of their social problems, these students also may ask
questions that peers find blatantly ignorant of social norms. For these questions,
young people with Asperger’s need to learn what the social norms are and why those
guidelines exist. Finally, because of their propensities to repeat, these students may
advance their same questions several times, feeling that educators have not adequately
answered them. For those young people, educators first need to try to
rephrase the pupils’ apparently intended queries, and then (failing clarifications that
suit the students) need to schedule later times to clarify the questions and give
‘‘on-target’’ answers.
Schooling is not just about asking questions but also about demonstrating needed
knowledge, through completion of in-school tasks and homework. Do you see
homework as important for gifted students with Asperger’s to undertake, to
demonstrate their knowledge?
Although homework can be overdone for some of our tightly wound Asperger Syndrome
students, homework can help some gifted students with Asperger’s to demonstrate
their knowledge. Homework can help these young people in at least two
48 Gifted Education International 31(1)
Downloaded from gei.sagepub.com at CMU Libraries - library.cmich.edu on September 18, 2016
critical ways. First, it can help students with Asperger’s to review basic skills that
they have learned but not retained. These competencies are often ones very much
holding these young people back academically. For example, for a third-grade math
student, homework can help that student to remember math facts well, so that he or
she can execute calculations fluently in word problems. For an older student,
perhaps one in eleventh-grade American History, homework can help the student
to remember the facts on which he or she will be tested, such as the causes of
historical events.
Second, and more fundamentally, for a gifted young person with Asperger’s,
homework can enhance his or her overall capacity to work, an asset that prepares
that student for a possible academic future. With homework’s importance duly
acknowledged, there are work limits that may be as vital as the homework itself.
For many students who reach social and sensory overload during the school day
(sometimes to the point of ‘‘blowing a circuit’’), homework needs to be limited to
just the most important review points. Homework may also need to be limited to
a circumscribed time period. Finally, the pupil’s homework schedules also may need
to fit his or her family’s busy social and therapeutic activities, at home and in the
community.
Like other young people, gifted students with Asperger’s face testing as well as
homework challenges. Do gifted students with Asperger’s have testing preferences?
As with other students, some high-potential young people with Asperger’s would prefer
to have no tests at all! However, there are many more who may wish to ‘‘belly up
to the bar’’ (as my father would say), to is show what they know. In my experience,
these pupils may have several testing preferences for content, preparation, and methods.
These young people, perhaps more than some other gifted students, prefer to
know more precisely what content will be examined. They especially seem to appreciate
visually related specifications for upcoming tests, such as study guides or marked
notes.
Gifted students with Asperger’s also appreciate preparation on how to study this
marked, test-related material. Despite their natural intelligence, many such young people
have not learned how to study, and they can definitely benefit from memory strategies
(such as chunking and chaining) to acquire the factual data frequently seen on
multiple-choice, true–false, and fill-in question examinations.
Finally, many high-potential students with Asperger’s like to have test directions
explained to them before an examination. They also may appreciate having the teacher
monitor their first several answers, before the educator departs for broader classmonitoring
duties.
Considering all aspects of gifted students with Asperger’s—social, communication,
restrictive-interest, sensory, and cognitive—are there differences in how
these pupils might experience elementary and secondary schools?
There are some variations in how these students may react to the two major levels. As in
days gone by, many grade K-6 gifted young people with Asperger’s may continue to go
Friedrichs and Shaughnessy 49
Downloaded from gei.sagepub.com at CMU Libraries - library.cmich.edu on September 18, 2016
undiagnosed, as their communication, social, intellectual, and other deficits may seem to
educators like developmental lags rather than disabilities. If students do not interpret
non-verbal cues well (a communication deficit), for example, they may be simply considered
‘‘young and scattered.’’ If they do not do what the rest of the group is doing
(a social challenge), then they may be considered just ‘‘self-centered.’’ And if they interpret
language mostly concretely (a cognitive obstacle), then their linguistic interpretations
may be thought of simply as ‘‘preferences’’ rather than problems.
With the passage of time, though, these young people’s same problems may seem,
to a wider array of educators, as being ‘‘real’’ difficulties. For instance, gifted students
with Asperger’s in grades 7 to 12 may be more obvious in their non-verbal communication
problems when teachers make waving motions toward the door and when
these pupils do not move toward that exit as they should. These older students also
appear to stick out more in social situations when they blurt or shout out answers.
Similarly, they may make themselves apparent when they see only the most concrete
meaning of some expressions, such as, ‘‘The fog was so thick, you could cut it with
a knife!’’
As Harpur et al. (2004) note so well, gifted college students with Asperger’s may continue
to demonstrate the pronounced communication, social, intellectual, and other needs
seen at the grade 7–12 level—even if these young people improve in their skills in secondary
school—as a result of the entire, complex life transitions that they encounter
between high school and college.
Considering the many and varied realms that must be addressed for highpotential
students with Asperger’s to succeed, what kinds of teachers work well
with them?
I am a big believer in specific training in the fields in which one teaches. First, I think
that gifted students with Asperger’s are best served by educators with ample and specific
backgrounds in both gifted and ASD education. There are, finally, a few teacher
training programs around the country that are beginning to focus on twice-exceptional
young people, such as the program for which I am fortunate enough to serve as an
adjunct professor, at the University of St. Thomas, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Some
of these programs even have courses with specific segments that focus on gifted young
people with ASD.
Beyond strong college and in-service training, I also enjoy seeing teachers who have
effective instructional behaviors in the classroom. For me, these behaviors incorporate
the teacher traits of planning, flexibility, and family connectedness—characteristics useful
for both educators of the gifted and teachers of young people with Asperger’s. Successful
educators must not only create lessons, but also plan out the child’s physical
environment in advance. They must be able to think about how the student might react
differently in different situations. Owing to the complexity of these young people, teachers
must also be flexible. Gifted students with Asperger’s may often show unexpected
strengths or gaps, and they may display these surprising gaps in weak as well as strong
areas. Educators certainly need to be able to react productively to these surprising patterns,
providing rapid curricular advancement or additional step-by-step instruction
50 Gifted Education International 31(1)
Downloaded from gei.sagepub.com at CMU Libraries - library.cmich.edu on September 18, 2016
when needed. Finally, teachers need to keep in close touch with families throughout the
school year. Families can help with initial instructional planning, can report on how well
teaching is being received, and can brainstorm ways in which student strengths and
weaknesses might be nurtured in the community.
Can personality differences between gifted students with Asperger’s and their
teachers enhance the relationships between these two groups? Specifically, can
personality factors enhance the instructional productivity of educator–pupil
pairs?
Although educators may think that personality factors primarily enhance their social
relationships with high-potential young people with Asperger’s, these factors can also
enhance instructional relationships with these students. In dealing with students’ academic
weaknesses, teachers need to be outgoing and need to reach out to young people
early, when trouble first occurs. Conversely, in addressing pupils’ scholastic strengths,
educators may need to lay back, listening carefully to what students wish to share about
their special areas of knowledge.
In dealing with the communication deficits of some young people with Asperger’s,
teachers need to be prepared to provide those students with explanations for how and
why they should communicate in a particular way, in a given situation. By contrast, in
dealing with high-potential gifted communicators who have Asperger’s, educators can
encourage (though not force) the students to present their impressive information in different
ways than they would usually do.
Often, I have found, the most skilled educators encourage students through their own,
as well as the students’, sense of humor. As Lyons and Fitzgerald (2004) have recently
found, some students with Asperger’s can truly excel in their sense of humor!
What does the future hold for gifted young people with Asperger’s?
There are many challenges today for gifted young people with Asperger’s, from both
school and employment perspectives. In school, these young people currently may find
themselves over-recognized for their weaknesses and undernoticed for their strengths.
However, there is also expanding public and educator knowledge about, and growing
employment and educational opportunities for, these students. As public knowledge of
Asperger’s expands, these young people may be better understood and be better supported
for their special challenges. Similarly, as teachers’ knowledge about Asperger’s
grows, these young people may be more fully assisted in school, with more time spent on
the pupils’ strengths and weaknesses, rather than on these students’ ‘‘perplexing’’
natures.
Employment opportunities for gifted pupils with Asperger’s may also expand, as
companies increasingly emphasize the technical knowledge that some of these young
people possess. And employment opportunities may also grow, as employers learn to
accommodate these individuals’ sometimes unique ways of doing things.
In what direction do you intend to go in your own future efforts to teach gifted
ASD young people?
Friedrichs and Shaughnessy 51
Downloaded from gei.sagepub.com at CMU Libraries - library.cmich.edu on September 18, 2016
In my ASD certification program at the University of St. Thomas, I was absolutely fascinated
by what I learned! I acquired many skills from the ASD field with which I could
assist the ‘‘whole child’’ (as aging ASD and gifted educators, like me, tend to call that
student). In particular, I acquired many new insights into the ASD student’s social and
emotional dimensions, understandings that I had not previously acquired as an academically
focused learning-disabled/EBD and gifted education resource teacher.
Based on my previous background with twice-exceptional young people and my new
training in students with ASD, I believe that I might somehow be able to assist both the
gifted and ASD fields—both of which need to know much more about our gifted
‘‘Aspies’’ (Bianco et al., 2009; Trail, 2010). Specifically, I believe that I could provide
helpful academic recommendations on high-potential pupils with Asperger’s. I have
even been considering undertaking an ASD-focused master’s degree, through which I
might write a book on gifted young people with Asperger’s, one that emphasizes their
often-overlooked academic functioning. Wish me luck!
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or
not-for-profit sectors.
References
American Psychological Association (2000) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
4th edition. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Bianco M, Smiley LR and Carothers DI (2009) Gifted students with Asperger’s Syndrome:
Strategies for strength-based programming. Intervention in School and Clinic 44(4): 206–215.
Bettleheim B (1967) The Empty Fortress: Infantile Autism and the Birth of the Self. New York:
Free Press.
Friedrichs TP (2012) Teaching academics to gifted children with Asperger’s Syndrome. Web
seminar for Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted. Available at: www.sengifted.org
Gallagher SA and Gallagher JJ (2002) Giftedness and Asperger’s Syndrome: A new agenda for
education. Understanding our Gifted 4(2): 4–12.
Gilliam J (2001) Gilliam Asperger’s Disorder Scale (GADS). Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
Harpur L, Lawton M and Fitzgerald M (2004) Succeeding in College with Asperger’s Syndrome: A
Student Guide. London: Kingsley.
Jackson L (2002) Freaks, Geeks, and Asperger Syndrome: A User Guide to Adolescence. London:
Jessica Kingsley.
Lindquist CL (2006) The Twice-Exceptional Student with Asperger Syndrome and Giftedness: A
Qualitative Survey. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI.
Lyons V and Fitzgerald M (2004) Humor with autism and Asperger Syndrome. Journal of Autism
and Developmental Disorders 34(5): 521–531.
Myles BS and Simpson RL (2002) Students with Asperger’s Syndrome: Implications for counselors.
Counseling and Human Development 34(7): 1–14.
Neihart M (2000) Gifted Children with Asperger’s Syndrome. Gifted Child Quarterly 44(4):
212–230.
Neihart M and Poon K (2009) Gifted Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Waco, TX:
Prufrock.
52 Gifted Education International 31(1)
Downloaded from gei.sagepub.com at CMU Libraries - library.cmich.edu on September 18, 2016
Quill KA (2000) Do, Watch, Listen, Say. Baltimore: Brooks.
Saffron SP, Saffron JS and Ellis K (2003) Intervention A B C’s. Topics in Language Disorders
23(2): 154–165.
Winner MG (2001) Strategies for Organization: Preparing for Homework and the Real World.
San Jose, CA: Social Thinking.
Author biographies
Terence Paul Friedrichs, PhD, EdD, has spent a varied career of 35 years as a graduate
student, teacher, and teacher educator specializing in the education of students who are
gifted, disabled, and twice-exceptional. He has taught, among the disabled and twiceexceptional,
young people with learning disabilities, emotional/behavioral disorders, mental
handicaps, and autism spectrum disorders. In these fields, he has earned 15 teaching and
consulting certifications, most recently his teaching credentials in autism spectrum disorders
(2010) and twice-exceptional students (2013). He has earned a PhD in gifted and special
education from the University of Virginia, has earned an EdD in critical pedagogy
from the University of St. Thomas, and is the author of Distinguishing Characteristics
of Gifted Students with Disabilities (Waco, TX: Prufrock Press, 2001). Dr. Friedrichs currently
serves as director of Friedrichs Education, a one-on-one learning center in Mendota
Heights, Minnesota, in which he academically assesses, tutors, and find schools for a full
range of twice-exceptional students, from those in kindergarten through the doctoral level.
Email: tpfriedrichs@stthomas.edu
Michael F Shaughnessy is currently Professor of Educational Studies at Eastern
New Mexico University in Portales, New Mexico. He has been a teacher, coach, guidance
counselor, school psychologist, and university professor. He has written, edited, or coedited
more than 12 books and published more than 500 articles, interviews, book reviews
and research studies. His research interests include intelligence testing and personality
assessment of gifted children.
