The identification of exceptional skills in school-age autistic children: Prevalence, misconceptions and the alignment of informant perspectives.

Abstract

Although autism is commonly described in terms of deficits, many autistic individuals have been found to demonstrate exceptional skills. The shift to a strengths-based approach in the field of autism necessitates increased understanding of these skills. This study examined (1) rates of exceptional skills in autistic school-age children as reported by parents and teachers, (2) associations between exceptional skills, autism severity and intellectual disability and (3) correlations between parent and teacher reports of exceptional skills. Parents and teachers of 76 children attending autism-specific schools in Australia completed online questionnaires. Thereafter, 35 parents and teachers who identified their child as having one or more exceptional skills were interviewed by a clinical psychologist. Forty parents (53%) and 16 (21%) teachers reported that their child had at least one exceptional skill (agreement between the parent and teacher reports was low; κ = .03, p = .74). In comparison, clinical psychologist assessments identified 22 children (29%) as having at least one such skill. No statistically significant relationships were identified between exceptional skills, autism severity and intellectual disability. While different exceptional skills were identified, regardless of children's intellectual functioning or autism severity, parents and teachers varied substantially in their evaluations of these skills. Furthermore, the identified prevalence rates of exceptional skills did not always align with the rates identified in previous studies. The study findings highlight the need for definitional consensus on different types of exceptional skills, and the importance of multiple criteria/multi-instrument approaches in the identification of exceptional skills in autistic children.