Twice Gifted

Learning Disabled/Gifted
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We're learning more and more about children who don't fit the mold," says Mary Ruth Coleman of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina. However, even so, she observes, the education system is "not designed to address the needs of the child who is gifted and has disabilities."

Who are they?

Gifted children with learning disabilities are known as "twice exceptional". Some characteristics to look for when attempting to identify these children are as follows: evidence of an outstanding talent or ability, a discrepancy between expected and actual achievement and evidence of a processing deficit. They also may have trouble getting along with peers and show evidence of low self-esteem (Brody & Mills, 1997). It is also important to note that learning disabilities are life long impairments.  There is no known way to "cure" them.  

Many eminent individuals throughout history have shown evidence of a learning disability in conjunction with giftedness. Albert Einstein was four years old before he was able to talk and seven before he could read. Thomas Edison was told by his teachers that he was stupid and Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade (Wright, 1997).

One main issue that needs to be addressed when dealing with these children is that of self efficacy.  According to Bandura (1982), self efficacy is the perception that a person can organize and carry out some action.  These judgments in turn influence thoughts and behaviors.  Non-gifted students with learning disabilities may gain a healthy sense of self-efficacy from remedial, structured learning broken down into manageable tasks in order to insure success.  However, this is approach will most likely not work with the twice exceptional student.  Bandura asserted that self-efficacy is gained from those accomplishments that the individuals respects and perceives as a challenge.  In essence, gifted learning disabled students do not benefit from remediation because the task at hand is not perceived as challenging enough.  Many times parents and teachers tend to be so focused on "curing" the disability that they dismiss the strengths and extraordinary talents of the student.


Did you know.... Thomas Edison was a prolific inventor, obtaining 1,093 patents by the age of 21. He also had difficulty in school and most likely had dyslexia.

Did you know...Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientific minds of our time had trouble with simple math calculations.

Did you know...Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse, recipient of 32 personal Academy Awards for his animated features and founder of the Disney Empire struggled with a learning disability.

Learning Strategies:
 
  • Intensive use of appropriate technologies can work wonders with this population, Coleman observes. Computers with spell check, audio tapes, books on tapes, calculators, and other technological tools can all provide excellent support and compensate for deficits, allowing children to work from their strengths.
  • Include tutorial support as well as remediation. "It's critical to teach gifted children with disabilities study skills, teach them learning strategies, and tutor them in time management," Coleman says.
  • "Find a mentor," Little suggests. "If you call your local Chamber of Commerce, they'll give you a list of members in the community willing to help," many with a particular area of expertise that you can match to a child's interests.
  • Provide counseling support. "All twice-exceptional children experience themselves as different and have a slightly different take on the world," Coleman observes. "Help them cope with their differences and their frustrations."
  • Honor their strengths. "Find some way to honor the child's strengths, because it's their disabilities that are likely to get the most attention - indeed, that's legally mandated," Coleman says. "The disabilities side is like a magnet. It pulls everything in."
  • Use flexible groupings, curriculum compacting, and tiered assignments. For elementary level children and up through middle school, don't be afraid of ability grouping - just keep it flexible, Little says. If you group children by strengths according to the subject matter, gifted children with disabilities can be in, say, an advance science group and remedial reading at the same time.
  • With curriculum compacting, pretesting allows a gifted child who's mastered content to accelerate out of it and move to more challenging work, Little notes. Similarly, while more work for the educator, tiered assignments, where children address the same work at different difficulty levels, can help.
  • Teach meta-skills and self management. Help gifted children help themselves, Coleman advises. Teach them how to cope with the difficulties they may face, lead them through problem solving sessions. "They can draw on their cognitive strengths to help themselves, but the skills need to be taught," she emphasizes.

Taken from "Imagine Teaching Robin Williams--Twice Exceptional Children in your school" by Carolyn Cosmos for CEC. For full article:

http://www.cec.sped.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=5823


Did you know...Leonardo Da Vinci was fascinated with levers and gears--so much so that they were at the heart of nearly all his inventions--from the crane to the helicopter.  It is also believed that he struggled with dyslexia. 

For further reading on learning disabilities and giftedness:
 
 

Site Last Updated 11/03/09