Custom essays on Gifted students with a learning disability

Other learners that are not identified or serviced properly nationwide are gifted learners with a learning disability. Gifted/learning disabled students are students with high intellect (superior intellectual ability) who have low performance in a specific academic area such as math, reading or written expression. This is not due to the absence of educational opportunity or a health problem (McCoach, 2001).
McCoach describes three types of gifted/learning disabled students. The first student does well in elementary school when the learning disabilities are less distinct and they still participate in gifted programs. As the work progresses within that student’s disability, he/she may begin to experience learning difficulties which leads to underachievement. These students are not normally identified as learning disabled due to the high achievement in elementary school. The second type is described as learning disabled but also gifted. Since such students have severe learning disabilities, they are seldom identified as gifted. The third type is the student that is not identified as either gifted or disabled. This student’s disabilities hide their gifts and the gifts conceal their disability, creating a smokescreen which is referred to as “masking” within the definition of gifted/learning disabled students (McCoach, 2001).
“Masking refers to the principle that many gifted students with learning disabilities have patterns of strengths and weaknesses that make them appear to have average abilities and achievement” (McCoach,2001). So therefore, these students do not get identified as gifted or learning disabled. Some advocates believe that intelligence scores will be lower for these students, “thereby hindering their identification as either gifted or learning disabled” (McCoach, 2001). McCoach goes on to quote Waldren and Saphire (1990): “the primary problem with the use of intelligence test to identify gifted students with LD is that the disability may lower their IQ score so dramatically that the students do not qualify for inclusion in the school district’s criteria for gifted, even though they demonstrate strong abilities in some areas.”
2.3. Twice-exceptional students
“The term twice-exceptional is used to describe students who are gifted and identified with a disability” (Baum & Owen, 2003). There has been extensive research identifying twice exceptional students. Identification is a problem due to a misdiagnosis of the student (Webb, et al., 2005). The challenge is still the under representation of students with disabilities in gifted programs. The question is not whether these students exist but how to serve them when they need two sets of services (Rizza & Morrison, 2007).
There is evidence to show that there is a large amount of students who are gifted with behavioral disabilities (Baum & Olenchak, 2002, Neihart, 2000). One example of “twice exceptional” would be a student identified as gifted with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This particular disorder when combined with giftedness is difficult to diagnose due to the many similarities between ADHD and gifted characteristics. The difficulty differentiating between characteristics of giftedness and those of ADHD, and recognizing when they coexist, can easily lead to inaccurate identification. Gifted and ADHD children often exhibit similar behaviors: hyperactivity, disruptive behavior, challenges to authority, and social/emotional development (Leroux & Levitt-Perlman, 2000). Leroux & Levitt-Perlman referenced Clark (1992) regarding hyperactivity, which can occur in both gifted children and children with ADHD and is often the first characteristic a diagnostician will see. However, hyperactivity may manifest itself in different ways. The gifted child may show focused energy, whereas the child with ADHD is largely unfocused (Leroux & Levitt-Perlman, 2000).
In addition, both gifted children and children with ADHD may challenge authority. The challenging authority characteristic in gifted children compared to children with ADHD may be exhibited differently. According to Clark, gifted children are curious and want to ask questions, this is part of their nature. “The challenge from ADHD children has been observed to be more hostile and aggressive in manner”. Even though both types of children can disrupt the daily school environment, the causes are different (Clark, 2008).
The disruptive behavior is presented in both gifted and ADHD children. For the gifted child, disruptive behavior is associated with boredom in response to unchallenging activities, curriculum, and learning style. Disruptive behavior in the ADHD child is the “result of any or all of the ADHD core symptoms: inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity” (Clark, 2008). The ADHD child can easily become distracted by outside environment and/or stimuli, or even by own thoughts. ADHD students have weak organizational skills which makes staying on task a challenge. Too strict of an environment can lead to a disruption in the classroom as well. “In the gifted/ADHD child the frustrations of impulsivity, inattention, and hyperactivity, combined with under stimulation can lead to oppositional behaviors” (Leroux & Levitt-Perlman, 2000).
When the social/emotional development aspects are considered, there are similarities for both gifted and ADHD children as well. The gifted student might interact maturely with adults but be less competent with his peers, unable to read the social cues that tell him his behavior is not within social norms for children his age. The gifted child’s intellectual and/or creative ability is more advanced than the emotional level, along with the sense of self (being different than other students), which can cause social isolation. The ADHD child shows immaturity and does not pick up on social clues, leading to rejection from peers. Both of these can cause emotional outbursts and inappropriate behaviors (Leroux & Levitt-Perlman, 2000). Clark references Mendaglio when stating that “when the two of these are combined in one child, there is a heightened sense of of alienation, sensitivity, and overreaction ( Clark, 2008).