Explore the properties of intelligence, intellectual disabilities, and giftedness

1. INTELLIGENCE
PROPERTIES OF INTELLIGENCE, INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES,
AND GIFTEDNESS

2. WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE?
• Intelligence is the ability to solve problems and to adapt
and learn from experience (Santrock, 2016).

3. INTELLIGENCE TESTS
The Stanford-Binet Tests
•Most widely used individual test of intelligence
• Developed by Alfred Bidet and Theohile Simon
• Many revisions were carried out by Lewis M. Terman
• Cognitive Ability and Intelligence are tested to determine
developmental or intellectual deficiencies for individuals from age
2 to adulthood
• Tests five factors through verbal and non-verbal responses
• Knowledge
• Quantitative Reasoning
• Visual-Spatial Processing
• Working Memory
• Fluid Reasoning

4. INTELLIGENCE TESTS (CONT.)
The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
• Designed to measure intelligence and cognitive ability in
adults and older adolescents
• Developed by David Wechsler
• In addition to providing an overall IQ score, the scale also
offers several composite scores, which determine areas an
individual is strong or weak
• Verbal Comprehension Index
• Working Memory Index
• Processing Speed Index
• Current editions also test intelligence for ages 6 to 16 and
ages 2 ½ years to 7 years 7 months

5. THEORIES OF MULTIPLE
INTELLIGENCE
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory
• Robert J. Sternberg theorized that intelligence comes in
many forms (Santrock, 2016)
• Analytical Intelligence: the ability to analyze, judge, evaluate,
compare, and contrast
• Creative Intelligence: the ability to create, design, invent,
originate, and imagine
• Practical Intelligence: the ability to use, apply, implement and put
ideas into place

6. THEORIES OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE
(CONT.)
Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
• Howard Gardner argued that people have multiple
intelligences and that IQ tests only measure a few
• He proposed eight types of intelligence (Santrock, 2016):
• Verbal: the ability to think in works and use language to express
meaning
• Mathematical: the ability to carry out mathematical operations
• Spatial: the ability to think three-dimensionally
• Bodily-kinesthetic: the ability to manipulate objects and be
physically adept
• Musical: A sensitivity to pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone
• Interpersonal: the ability to understand and effectively interact with
others
• Intrapersonal: the ability to understand oneself

7. THE INFLUENCE OF HEREDITY
• Genetics can influence a person’s intelligence
• Many researchers believe that a large number of gene each
play a small role in an individuals intellectual abilities,
however intelligence is a complex trait that is challenging to
define and measure (Callaway, 2014)
• Researches have often focused on the similarities and differences
in IQ within families that have twins
• Additionally, heritability has been used to distinguish the
portion of the variance in a population that is attributed to
genes
• Considers a specific group (population) rather than an individual

8. INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT
• Environmental experiences can also factor into a person’s
intelligence
• Early parental communication with children
• Educational/Schooling experience
• Research has showed early intervention that has contributed
to intelligence (Santrock, 2016):
• High-quality center based interventions improve a child’s
intelligence and school achievement
• The effects are strongest for poor children or children whose
parents have little education
• The positive benefits continue into adolescence, although the
effects are less than in early childhood/childhood
• Programs that are continued into elementary school have the most
sustained long-term effects

9. WHAT ARE INTELLECTUAL
DISABILITIES?
• “The most distinctive feature of an intellectual disability in
inadequate intellectual functioning,” (Santrock, 2016).
• The American Psychological Association defines someone
who has an intellectual disability as someone who is
“significant subaverage” or below the average. “The
generally accepted scientific definition of the term
“significant subaverage” is performance that is at least two
standard deviations below the average level for the
individual’s peers,” (Tasse, 2016).

10. COMMON TYPES OF INTELLECTUAL
DISABILITIES
• Down Syndrome
• Fragile X Syndrome
• Prader-Willi Syndrome
• Fetal Alcohol Disorder
• Developmental Delay
(Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities)

11. HISTORY OF INTELLECTUAL
DISABILITIES
• Tests did not always exist to be able to assess whether or
not an individual had an intellectual disability
• Instead, people with intellectual disabilities were identified by
their lack of development or understanding in various areas
of life compared to others within their age group
• Psychologists decided tests were needed due to the
extreme differences between those labeled with intellectual
disabilities

12. DETERMINING INTELLECTUAL
DISABILITIES
•Individuals with an IQ of 70 or below before they
are 18 are generally classified as having an
intellectual disability, (Santrock, 2016).
•Most often, you can tell if an individual has an
intellectual disability during their early childhood
years.
•Millions of Americans are within the IQ ranges of
having an intellectual disability

13. DEFINING DEGREES OF INTELLECTUAL
DISABILITIES
• Most school systems use scales like the ones below, to
determine the level of an individual's intellectual disability based
on IQ scores, (Santrock, 2016).
• Mild: 55-70
• Moderate: 40-54
• Severe: 25-39
• Profound: < 25
• Another way of defining the extent of one’s intellectual disability
is by gauging the level of support they need, (Santrock, 2016).
• Internment: support is only sometimes needed and can sometimes
be only for certain tasks or specific, condensed periods of time
• Limited: more often needed than internment support but still can
be classified as “as needed”
• Extensive: usually daily assistance is needed but 24/7 supervision
and support is not needed
• Pervasive: intense, constant, and wide-spread support and
assistance

14. GIFTEDNESS
• People who are gifted have high intelligence or superior
talent of some kind
• An IQ of 130 is often used as the low threshold for
giftedness
• There is no relation between giftedness and a mental
disorder found in research
• Research supports the conclusion that gifted people tend to
be more mature, to have fewer emotional problems than
others, and to grow up in a positive family climate
• Individuals who are gifted recall that they had signs of high
ability in a specific area at a very young age

15. CHARACTERISTICS OF
GIFTEDNESS
• Precocity
• Gifted children are precocious. They begin to master an area
earlier than their peers. Learning in their domain is more
effortless for them than for ordinary children. In most cases,
these gifted children are precocious because they have an
inborn high ability.
• Marching to their own drummer
• Gifted children learn in a qualitatively different way from ordinary
children. They need minimal help from adults to learn. In many
cases, they resist explicit instruction. They also often make
discoveries on their own and solve problems in unique ways
• A passion to master
• Gifted children are driven to understand the domain in which they
have high ability. They display an intense, obsessive interest and
an ability to focus. They do not need to pushed by their parents.

16. DOMAIN SPECIFIC GIFTEDNESS
• Individuals who are highly gifted are typically not gifted in
many domains
• An example of domain specific giftedness is Bill Gates
• Bill Gates commented that you have to be careful when you are
good at something and resist the urge to think that you will be
good at everything.
• Gates says this because he has been so successful at software
development that people expect him to be brilliant in other
domains where he is far from genius

17. EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WHO ARE
GIFTED
• Under challenged, gifted children can become disruptive,
skip classes, and lose interest in achieving
• They can become passive and apathetic toward school
• It is crucial for teachers to challenge children who are gifted
to establish high expectations

18. REFERENCES
• Callaway, E. (2014). Smart genes prove elusive. Nature News. Retrieved from
http://www.nature.com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/news/smart-genes-prove-elusive-
1.15858
• Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDDs): Condition Information. (n.d.).
Retrieved February 9, 2018, from
https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/idds/conditioninfo/default
• Santrock, J.W. (2016). A Topical Approach to Life Span Development (8th Ed.). New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
• Tasse, M. J., (2016). Spotlight on Disability Newsletter, September 2016 Defining
intellectual disability: Finally we all agree... almost. Retrieved February, 9, from
http://www.apa.org/pi/disability/resources/publications/newsletter/2016/09/intellectua
l-disability.aspx