Revisiting Identification Thresholds of Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) in Gifted Children (GC). A Comparison of Three Groups: Twice-Exceptional (TE) Children, GC Without SLD and Non-GC With SLD

Abstract

This study investigates assessment of Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) in Twice-Exceptional (TE) children, gifted children (GC) who also present SLD, in oral and written language domains. Applying the standard threshold for identification (< 7th percentile) to GC often results in the assessment and identification of SLD in the TE population, thereby limiting access to appropriate support. The objective was to determine which language tests effectively identify SLD in TE children and establish optimal threshold values. The prospective study included 301 children 7–16 years, divided into three groups: GC without SLD (n = 71), TE children (n = 114), and non-gifted children with SLD (n = 116). Language test performances were compared across groups, and Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analyses were employed to optimize test sensitivity and specificity in the TE group. TE children performed better than the SLD group but worse than GC without disorders. At standard thresholds, text reading and spelling tests showed the highest sensitivity, which significantly improved when CART-derived decision thresholds (62nd and 38th percentiles) were applied, while maintaining satisfactory specificity. Results indicate that standard thresholds lead to under-identification of SLD in GC, and that adjusted thresholds enhance identification accuracy. These findings should generalize to similarly complex languages, such as English.