A major portion of their school day is spent on learning how to develop life skills that
can help them circumvent the effects of their disability. Unfortunately, this approach to learning may preclude the
recognition and development of cognitive abilities. Therefore, there may be a significant discrepancy between a disabled
child's academic potential and their actual performance (Willard-Holt, 1997). Since these children have disabilities
that may not allow them to manifest gifted behaviors in typical ways, it is difficult to identify them. For example,
children who have hearing impairments may not respond to oral directions, and they may also lack the vocabulary that reflects
the complexity of their thoughts. Children who have visual impairments, although their vocabulary may be quite advanced,
may not understand the full meaning of the words they use (e.g., color words).
Whitmore and Maker (1985) listed four major obstacles to identification in this population
of students: stereotypic expectations (e.g., impaired communication, inability to actively investigate their environment,
gifted children are supposed to "look bright"), incomplete information about the child and no opportunity to evidence superior
mental abilities.
Barbara Clark (1997) offers some simple strategies for classroom teachers in dealing with
students whoa re physically disabled and gifted. Some of these strategies can be used at home by parents as well.
|
Actively seek gifted students among those who
are disabled |
|
Learn to read the student's symbol system accurately |
|
Provide many different types of learning experiences
through different modalities |
|
Modify instruction as needed, but no more than
necessary |
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Hold high expectations for these students |
|
Check for understanding of the student's messages |
|
|
Make them an active
part of the class |
|
Facilitate social interactions
first and then allow classmates to take over |
|
Encourage cooperation
in learning tasks and change partners often |
|
Individualize pace and
choice of learning activities |
|
Allow time for communication
of messages from students |
Helping these children to reach their full potential is truly a team effort. The skills
of the regular classroom teacher, the special education and gifted teachers, the parents, the counselor, the administrator
and the researcher are all needed if these students are to fully actualize their potential abilities.
This excerpt was taken from the article, A Closer Look at Gifted Children with Disabilities by Cindy Little in the Summer 2001 issue of Gifted
Child Today Magazine.
Theoretical Physicist Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest scientific minds of our
times, suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). If you would like to learn more about his life and theories,
I encourage you to visit his website at: http://www.hawking.org.uk/about/aindex.html
New!!
Following are links to adaptive technology for visually impaired individuals. There is
some amazing stuff out there!
http://www.enhancedvision.com provides portable viewing glasses that magnify text and images, hand held digital magnifiers,
and desktop video magnifiers.
http://www.optelec.com provides portable video magnifiers that "stand up" to allow users to write letters and take notes.
http://www.visioncue.com makes the Magnilink CCTV for use with a laptop computer in lecture halls. This
portable, adjustable camera can be used for close up reading of textbooks as well as distance reading of screens and
boards at the front of the room. It is also capable of taking screen shots for later viewing on the laptop.
http://www.humanware.com is the creator of ZoomText magnification software that enables users to magnify anything on a
computer screen. It also includes a screen reader that reads text aloud.
