18.5: Cognitive Deficits and Giftedness

Learning Objectives

1. Define intellectual disability.
2. Describe how societal attitudes and language use around intellectual disabilities have changed over time.
3. Explain what giftedness is and discuss both benefits and challenges associated with high IQ.
4. Differentiate between achievement tests and aptitude tests and provide examples of each.
5. Summarize the history and impact of educational policies such as No Child Left Behind and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

Intellectual Disabilities

People with very low IQs define one end of the distribution of intelligence scores. Intellectual disability (also known as intellectual developmental disorder) is assessed based on cognitive capacity (IQ) and adaptive functioning. The severity of the disability is based on adaptive functioning, which refers to how well the person handles everyday life tasks. About 1% of the United States population, most of them males, fulfill the criteria for intellectual developmental disorder, but some children who are given this diagnosis lose the classification as they get older and better learn to function in society. A particular vulnerability of people with low IQ is that they may be taken advantage of by others, and this is an important aspect of the definition of intellectual developmental disorder (Greenspan, Loughlin, & Black, 2001).

One example of an intellectual developmental disorder is Down syndrome, a chromosomal disorder caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome. The incidence of Down syndrome is estimated at approximately 1 per 700 births, and the prevalence increases as the mother’s age increases (CDC, 2014a). People with Down syndrome typically exhibit a distinctive pattern of physical features, including a flat nose, upwardly slanted eyes, a protruding tongue, and a short neck.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Down Syndrome is caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome. Image by Vanellus Foto is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Fortunately, societal attitudes toward individuals with intellectual disabilities have changed over the past decades. We no longer use terms such as “retarded,” “moron,” “idiot,” or “imbecile” to describe people with intellectual differences, although these were the official psychological terms used to describe degrees of what was referred to as mental retardation in the past. Laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) have made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of mental and physical disability.

The normal distribution of IQ scores in the general population shows that most people have about average intelligence, while very few have extremely high or extremely low intelligence.⁴¹

Giftedness

Being gifted refers to children who have an IQ of 130 or higher (Lally & Valentine-French, 2015). Having an extremely high IQ is clearly less of a problem than having an extremely low IQ; however, there may also be challenges associated with being particularly intelligent. It is often assumed that school children who are labeled as “gifted” may have adjustment problems that make it more difficult for them to create and maintain social relationships.

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Children who get a score on an intelligence test showing an IQ of 130 or higher are labeled as gifted. Image by Ben Mullins on Unsplash.

As you might expect based on our discussion of intelligence, there are also different types and areas of intelligence and giftedness. Some children excel in math or science, while others are skilled in automobile repair or carpentry, or in music or art, or in sports or leadership, and so on. There is a lively debate among scholars about whether it is appropriate or beneficial to label some children as “gifted and talented” in school and to provide them with accelerated special classes and other programs that are not available to everyone. Although doing so may help gifted kids (Colangelo & Assouline, 2009), it may also isolate them from their peers and make such provisions unavailable to those who are not classified as “gifted.” Testing for high IQ or for disabilities needs to be critically looked at so that the good that these tests were created for are not used for undesirable purposes.⁴³

How do we know so much about what children learn in schools? In the next section, we’ll examine the various types of tests and the subjects being tested.

Testing in Schools

Children's academic performance is often assessed using standardized tests. Those tests include, but are not limited to, achievement and aptitude tests.

Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): Standardized tests are used to measure academic performance. Image by Marine Corps Base Hawaii is in the public domain.

Achievement tests are used to measure what a child has already learned. Achievement tests are often used as measures of teaching effectiveness within a school setting and as a method to make schools that receive tax dollars (such as public schools, charter schools, and private schools that receive vouchers) accountable to the government for their performance.

Aptitude tests are designed to measure a student’s ability to learn or to determine if a person has potential in a particular program. These are often used at the beginning of a course of study or as part of college entrance requirements. The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) are perhaps the most familiar aptitude tests to students in grades six and above. Learning test-taking skills and preparing for SATs has become part of the training that some students in these grades receive as part of their pre-college preparation. Other aptitude tests include the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test), the LSAT (Law School Admission Test), and the GRE (Graduate Record Examination). Intelligence tests are also a form of aptitude test, which is designed to measure a person’s ability to learn.⁴⁵

What Happened to No Child Left Behind?

In 2001, President Bush signed into effect Public Law 107-110, better known as the No Child Left Behind Act, mandating that schools administer achievement tests to students and publish those results so that parents have an idea of their children's performance. Additionally, the government would have information on the gaps in educational achievement between children from various social classes, racial, and ethnic groups.

Schools that showed significant gaps in these levels of performance were mandated to work toward narrowing these gaps. Educators criticized the policy for focusing too heavily on testing as the sole indicator of student performance. Target goals were considered unrealistic and set by the federal government rather than individual states. Because these requirements became increasingly unworkable for schools, changes to the law were requested.

Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\): The No Child Left Behind Act was signed into effect in 2001. Image is in the public domain.

Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\): The Every Student Succeeds Act was signed into effect in 2015. Image is in the public domain.

On December 12, 2015, President Obama signed into law the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This law is state-driven and focuses on expanding educational opportunities and improving student outcomes, including high school graduation rates, dropout rates, and college attendance.⁴⁸

References, Contributors and Attributions

41. Introduction to Psychology - Measures of Intelligence references Psychology by OpenStax CNX, licensed under CC BY 4.0

43. Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

45. Sociology: Brief Edition – Agents of Socialization by Steven E. Barkan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

48. Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014a). Facts about Down syndrome. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/birthdefects/downsyndrome.html

Colangelo, N., & Assouline, S. G. (2009). Acceleration: Meeting the academic and social needs of gifted students. In C. M. Callahan & H. L. Hertberg-Davis (Eds.), Fundamentals of gifted education: Considering multiple perspectives (pp. 179–191). Routledge.

Greenspan, S., Loughlin, G., & Black, R. S. (2001). Credulity and gullibility in people with developmental disorders: A framework for research. Mental Retardation, 39(2), 105–112. https://doi.org/10.1352/0047-6765(2001)039<0105:CAGIPW>2.0.CO;2