by Mayflor Markusic

Created on: February 24, 2009   Last Updated: February 25, 2009

Einstein, who developed the brilliant theory of relativity, never learned to speak until he was four years old. Edison, one of America's greatest inventors, was written off by his elementary teachers as uneducable. And von Braun, who led the development of rockets, failed his 9th grade algebra. Spotting the highly gifted child is not an easy task. Fortunately, improvements in the field of special education led to greater knowledge about the characteristics of gifted children. In general, gifted children demonstrate higher acumen, sharper intuition, and incredible creativity. But what happens when a gifted child also suffers from a learning disability? Spotting gifted children is tough enough. Would spotting a gifted child with learning disabilities be possible at all?

Gifted children usually learn faster, have longer attention spans, have more extensive vocabularies, have vivid imaginations, and are highly resourceful. Ordinary gifted children (although it is anomalous to call gifted children as ordinary) can be easily identified because their characteristics show in their animated interactions with teachers and classmates, in the higher quality of their projects, and in the near perfect scores of their tests. But gifted children with learning disabilities usually appear as average students. They are classified as having dual exceptionalities. They used their giftedness to compensate for their learning disabilities. As a result, the disability is hidden and the giftedness is undiscovered. Is it possible at all to help these gifted children develop to their fullest potential while accommodating their learning disabilities?

The teacher needs to look beyond the school grades to spot a gifted child who also has a learning disability. A gifted child with learning disabilities will have his own unique characteristics. For example, he may still posses extensive vocabularies but could not finish assigned tasks. He may have superior acumen in abstract and logical reasoning but could not deal with simple sequencial activities. If the teacher suspects giftedness in a child whose school performance is average, the teacher should probe beyond the apparent intellectual capacities of the child.

One proven way is to obtain the individual scores of the subtests of intelligence tests. The overall composite score may reflect an average intelligence but the scores of subtests will tell a different story. If there are significant discrepancies among the scores of the subtests, the child may have dual exceptionalities. To verify the giftedness of a child with learning disabilities, the child can be placed temporarily in a giftedness program. If the teacher observes that the child can cope with his peers, especially in tasks that involve higher mental skills, then it is time to customize a unique individualized educational plan for this child.

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