Today's solo episode is about a topic that I've thought about for a long time, so I'm happy to bring it to you. We will discuss getting an assessment as a gifted or twice-exceptional adult, so I hope you find it helpful for me to share my thoughts and tips.

Show Highlights:

• Considerations that are universal to all assessment types:
  • If you think you are gifted, you probably are.
  • Make sure the person doing the evaluation has experience with giftedness and twice-exceptionality.
  • Realize that every assessment will have limitations and strengths, and every evaluator will have personal biases.
• Five types of assessments:
  • Diagnostic assessment
    • This will be done with a trained professional who can give a diagnosis. Always look for someone with experience with giftedness and neurodiversity, and ask what tools they use.
  • Psychometric assessment
    • This evaluation can give valuable information about your strengths and weaknesses, and it's very standardized for comparison to others. It has limitations, like false lows and big gaps in highs and lows.
  • Qualitative assessment
    • This evaluation looks beyond just the numbers with things like observations, records, interviews, etc. It gives very useful information.
  • Self-assessment
    • The challenge in this evaluation is that there is a lot of information to take in.
  • Multimodal assessment
    • This kind of evaluation can be any combination of the other four types; it uses a variety of tools all together.
  • Helpful books: (See Resources for more information.) The Power of Difference, The Dyslexic Advantage, The Gifted Adult, and Your Rainforest Mind

Resources:

Connect with me: Aurora Remember

Find out our upcoming group call on Overexcitability with Chris Wells: Embracing Intensity

Check out the following resources:

Cognitive Processing Inventory at LDinfo

Gifted Adult Checklist at Gifted Development

Paula Prober's Giftedness Checklist from Your Rainforest Mind

Books:

The Power of Different by Gail Saltz, M.D.

The Dyslexic Advantage by Brock and Fernette Eide

The Gifted Adult by Mary-Elaine Jacobsen

Your Rainforest Mind by Paula Prober