Helping Gifted Students with Learning Disability
Not all gifted children automatically flourish at school; for some, academic activities seem to be a source of frustration or boredom, even as those same children will happily apply considerable effort to demanding activities outside of school, exhibiting a great deal of creative potential.
While many parents and educators are quick to assume a behavioral issue when presented with the above scenario, in reality, many of these children inhabit a strange paradox: While they are assuredly gifted, they are also suffering from one or more learning disabilities which make academic learning difficult for them. These children often called “twice exceptional”.
Frequently, these children go undiagnosed for years as it is presumed that giftedness and learning disabilities exist at opposite ends of the cognitive spectrum; indeed, in some areas, funding regulations make it so that it is only possible to be identified and assisted with either learning disabilities or giftedness—never both. Similarly, under-performing in one area may be enough to exclude a child from being classified as gifted (regardless of his or her other talents), and not under-performing enough to sink below grade level often precludes a child from being diagnosed as learning disabled.
This, of course, does not resonate with what we now know about the human brain and the ways in which it learns, though experts are still not in exact agreement about how to define giftedness, learning disabilities, and the interactions between them. It is becoming increasingly obvious that children may be very bright while still having difficulty with a specific issue, and that very bright children sometimes chronically struggle to stay at their current grade level. In either instance, these children all too frequently slip through the cracks and do not receive the help they need in order to reach their full potential.
Identifying Children Who are Both Gifted and Learning Disabled
Children who are both gifted and learning disabled usually fall into one of three groups: 1) Those with subtle learning disabilities who are formally identified as gifted, 2) “Average” achievers whose normal level of achievement hides their learning disabilities, and 3) Those who have an identified learning disability and who are also gifted.
Group One: Those with subtle learning disabilities who are formally identified as gifted.
These children have been formally recognized as gifted owing to their high levels of achievement and/or high IQ scores. However, as they grow older and the work given to them at school becomes more complex and challenging, discrepancies between their level of intelligence and their academic performance begin to become evident. For example, these children may read or speak brilliantly, while struggling to spell or hand-write at an age-appropriate level. They may perform incredibly well on tests, yet seem to struggle a great deal when it comes to organizing large projects or completing homework assignments properly and on time.
By middle school, many of these children are continually being told that they need to “try harder”, even though they are actually trying to the best of their ability; inevitably, frustration, resentment, and apathy often develop as a result.
If a child seems willing to learn yet is having difficulty regardless, he or she likely needs to be shown how to learn the required skills, and is already perfectly—and painfully—aware that they are indeed necessary. Such children should be carefully screened for the presence of subtle learning disabilities as soon as these discrepancies present themselves, lest their self-esteem and willingness to learn suffer needlessly. Through the development of specialized learning strategies (upon diagnosis), these children can often improve their academic performance; moreover, they will understand why they have the difficulties they do, and will therefore not be so likely to blame and judge themselves for their learning issues.
Group Two: “Average” achievers whose normal level of achievement hides their learning disabilities.
Children in group two often go unnoticed for either their giftedness or their learning disabilities. All the while, they are struggling valiantly to remain at grade level, using their advanced intellect to compensate for the difficulties their learning disabilities present. With these children, the path to hell is truly paved with good intentions: As their giftedness masks their disabilities and vice versa, they run a very real risk of never getting the help they need, not the recognition they deserve.
To identify these children, educators will often need to remain vigilant for exceptional talents that emerge only in specific situations, or when encouraged by a particularly attentive teacher (usually one who uses a creative approach to learning).
If neither giftedness nor learning disability was formally identified, we may recommend cognitive profile assessment as a first step in understanding child’s learning issues.
Group Three: Those who have an identified learning disability and who are also gifted.
These children, while bright, often struggle profoundly at school, hence being recognized as learning disabled. These children are in very real danger of missing out on their gifts entirely because all the attention is being placed on what is “wrong” with them, rather than trying to uncover their talents. If talents are identified at all, they are often used merely as a tool to mitigate the child’s weakness.
The key to identifying these children often lies in assessing how they flourish at home; the presence of high-level interests outside of the academic environment often signifies that giftedness may also be present.
Unfortunately, these children often suffer from poor self-esteem as their high level of sensitivity (which typically accompanies giftedness) makes them acutely aware of their academic shortcomings. If this sense of inadequacy is not addressed through the recognition of their giftedness and appropriate encouragement to reach their full potential, these children often end up becoming disruptive at school—acting out, daydreaming, or frequently moving off task as an expression of their feelings of frustration.
Helping Children Who are Both Gifted and Learning Disabled
While the needs of the children in the three groups outlined above will vary somewhat, the guidelines below provide a general overview of the core strategies that educators can use to help these children reach their full potential:
1. Place attention on developing the child’s gift. Traditionally, when working with learning disabled children, the focus has been centered around mitigating the negative effects of his or her learning disability so that he or she might come up to grade level. However, when working with a child who is both gifted and learning disabled, it’s vital to work on developing his or her gifts as well—and to make sure that he or she receives adequate positive attention for them. Tap into the child’s strengths, passions, and interests (creating activities which highlight them while circumventing weaknesses) and you will keep the child motivated to achieve within an academic setting.
2. Create an environment wherein it is acceptable to be different. All children need to feel valued for who they are—no matter how far from the “standard” their various abilities fall. Emphasize that success in the real world relies on the mastery of a number of skills, not just the verbal skills which form the basis of most school curricula, and try to create at least some unique assignments which are specially tailored to the individual child’s skills. (If students see standard assignments continually being made easier for them, they soon begin to believe that their own skills are less valuable, and become discouraged.) Likewise, try to treat all skills as equally valuable—there is no reason that, for example, a video production that is well done should be considered of less merit than an essay on the same topic.
3. Help children to compensate for their weaknesses rather than expecting mastery of skills they inherently lack. Do not expect learning disabled children to one day magically attain those skills which are negatively impacted by their learning disabilities; for instance, if a child is a poor speller, chances are very good that he or she will always be below average when it comes to spelling, and this should be treated as acceptable. Educators should help these children to find ways to work around their deficits, rather than trying to force a correction of them. If a child cannot read well, for example, rather than making him or her practice reading above all other skills until he or she “masters” it, help that child to instead find alternate ways to research information (such as by watching videos). Similarly, if the child cannot organize tasks properly, provide detailed outlines; if his or her verbal skills are poor, allow assignments to be written instead, and so on. Teachers should also make use of available technology in order to facilitate the learning of students who are both learning disabled and gifted; modern technology provides diverse tools which will allow these children to better work around their difficulties.
4. Promote self-awareness. As students mature and begin to become more autonomous in their learning, they will need to understand—in detail—what their strengths and weaknesses are in order to begin to develop their own learning strategies. To encourage such awareness, have the students communicate their frustrations and concerns in one-on-one sessions and discuss tools for coping. Additionally, providing these children with mentors who are both gifted and learning disabled will help to model self-aware strategies for optimal lifelong learning.
With the right encouragement, students who are both learning disabled and gifted can become some of society’s most unique and original thinkers; therefore, by helping these children flourish today, educators will be creating the problem-solvers of tomorrow. As history has proven time and time again, diverse thinking styles lead to new and often revolutionary ideas—ideas which can reshape our world for the better.
