Gifted LD

What is gifted LD?

Most people think of gifted and learning disabled as mutually exclusive. This is not always the case however. A gifted LD student is one who has highly developed abilities in some areas, but struggles at school because of a processing difficulty.

Signs that a child is gifted and learning disabled include:

	-   Large discrepancies between the child's intelligence outside of a classroom environment, and skills during class.
	-   Quality of oral work often far exceeds that of written work
	-   Highly developed ability in at least one area such as music, art, electronics...
	-   Difficulties with specific facts and details, but ability grasp the concepts of a lesson quite easily
	-    Poor motivation to do homework
	-    Difficulty applying strategies to solve problems
	-    Low self-esteem due to teachers and parents misinterpreting their learning disabilities
	-    High levels of curiosity, often questioning rules, customs and traditions
	-    Begins many projects but only finishes a few
	-    Low tolerance for tasks which seem irrelevant

Unfortunately, gifted LD is often left undiagnosed because their "giftedness" masks their disabilities, or their disabilities mask their "giftedness".

What are the different types of gifted LD?

Susan Baum identified three categories of children who are gifted and learning disabled:

	Identified gifted students who have subtle learning disabilities
	Unidentified students whose gifts and disabilities may be masked by average achievement
	Identified learning disabled students who are also gifted.

Students who belong in the first category are easily identified with an IQ test. Their reading and writing abilities seem to directly contradict their excellent verbal abilities.

Unidentified students whose gifts and disabilities are masked by underachievement are usually struggling in grade school. They have an extremely difficult time because their gift masks their disability and their disability masks their gift. These children usually aren't even aware of their disability until college or early adulthood.

Identified LD students who are also gifted tend to have the worst time at school. They are usually failing miserably because parents and teachers place emphasis on remedial methods for their disability instead of nurturing their gifts and talents. These students tend to become trouble makers in class because they feel that their academic failure makes them a failure as a person.

While these three categories are quite different, they all illustrate how important it is for parents and teachers to know and understand their children. An early diagnosis can prevent years of frustration and heartache.

How does being gifted and learning disabled affect a child?

Life during and after school hours can become difficult when children try to conceal their learning problems by acting unmotivated, lazy or careless. When the child admits their difficulties and is willing to take the steps required to overcome them, life becomes much easier.

Most LD students are great "thinkers", but have problems with specific details. This causes a tendency to want to skip all the planning, and just jump to the finished product. For example, a gifted LD student might be able to play a musical instrument at a high level by ear, but will struggle with reading individual notes. Difficulties like these unfortunately, often lead to the child just giving up instead of taking the extra time to come up with strategies which will help the child.

Emotionally, gifted students tend to feel things at a much deeper level. They have a large global consciousness and are quite sensitive. This also means that they become quite frustrated with each swing from feeling "brilliant" to "stupid". This leads to feelings of frustration and sometimes causes them to feel the need to overcompensate for their disabilities. This results in obnoxious behaviour when they try to make sure that everyone is aware of their talents.

What can be done to help children who are gifted and learning disabled?

Special education services are usually not required for gifted LD children. In most cases, once their problem areas have been identified, they are able to come up with their own learning strategies to help themselves overcome their difficulty. They usually cope well in a normal class environment.

However, to further facilitate learning for a gifted LD child, a few techniques could be employed in the classroom. Alternative ways to receive information help gifted LD students considerably. These could include mediums such as photographs, movies, interviews, day trips, and so on. Teachers should also provide students with syllabus and lecture outlines, study guides and key concepts or ideas which are going to be covered throughout the year or semester. Requirements should be presented to the student in a visual manner, for example, drawing the way in which an essay should be structured. Teachers should also try being more open minded about the way in which student work is submitted. Encouraging students to move away from the old fashioned pencil and paper to things such as slide presentations, plays, speeches, 3D models or even film productions helps to maximise their creative talents while not compromising academically. Technology is also a dually advantageous, powerful tool which should be employed. It not only helps students academically to organise information and check spelling, but it also boosts students' self-confidence as they do not have to go through all the frustration associated with trying to write, spell, and so on. Teachers could also try adding extra weight to tasks which effectively compensate for the child's disability.

Sessions where children are encouraged to talk about their abilities and disabilities and how they are dealing with them can be extremely useful. This helps students to communicate how they are feeling, and also encourages them to bond with others who are working through similar situations. In a similar manner, bringing successful gifted LD adults into the classroom can provide students with role models, and also verify the fact that their unique mixture of abilities and disabilities does not interfere with their potential.

Parents can also help their children by making sure they are lavish with praise, and accept and love both their child's strengths and weakness unconditionally. Comparisons with other children will only be detrimental as each child is different anyway, and the paradoxes associated with being gifted and learning disabled at the same time only compound these differences. A stimulating and enriching home environment is vital. Mealtime discussions about topics of interests and educational holidays can help the child immensely. Parents should also involve their child in making decisions about his/her life, and lines of communication which are always open are absolutely imperative.

Finally, just by taking an active role in our child's or student's life, we can make sure that they are loved, accepted and nurtured according to their unique needs and abilities. At the end of the day, isn't that what we're all here for?