Theory and Research in the Study of Childhood Exceptionalities

Abstract

The purposes of this chapter are to: highlight issues related to defining and conceptualizing childhood exceptionalities; discuss the need to consider childhood exceptionalities in a multidimensional framework; and describe some of the theories of exceptionality influential in guiding previous work.The author also presents a developmental psychopathology framework as an appropriate macroparadigm for guiding current work; illustrates the need for problem-focused models of exceptionality by providing representative examples of two such models, one for social aggression and another for social withdrawal; provides a selective overview of research strategies that have been used to study childhood exceptionalities; and suggests future directions for theory and research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)(chapter)