by Dean Traylor

Created on: July 27, 2010   Last Updated: July 28, 2010

Josh had an Intelligent Quotient (IQ) of 110; yet, he was failing all his classes. Despite his ability as a gifted student, he was unable to deal with emotional issues that hindered his school work. Later, he was diagnosed as a student with an emotional disorder.

Another student, John, had a similar IQ. He was doing better than Jake; however, memory processing disorders caused by a traumatic brain injury as a child led to incomplete or sloppy assignments, missing homework, and terrible test scores.

These two students have something in common; both were labeled gifted students despite having disabilities that affected their ability to learn or do work at the same pace or level as their non-disabled peers. Also, they are atypical of a student with a learning disability. They’re considered genius due to their IQ, yet they’re also considered to be struggling or at-risk students.

This problem is not uncommon throughout the public and private schools of the United States. Gifted students are often overlooked as potentially having a learning disability. And, a sizable group of these highly intelligent students are not performing in a mainstream setting or at the same level as their peers. Some well-meaning educators and parents have blamed “boredom” or “not being challenged” as a reason for these students’ poor performances. In truth, the problem that exists among these students may go farther than that. And for those gifted students with a learning disability, special education services can help them.

There’s a little known fact about gifted students and special education students: they once fell under the same designation. Special Education, at one time in the United States, incorporated students from a wide spectrum of cognitive abilities.

On one side of the spectrum, gifted students with IQ above 100 were accommodated with advance level courses. On the other end are those with IQs at or below 60: students with developmental, intellectual disabilities who were often excluded from the rest of the school population in heavily modified life or basic skill courses. In between were the students with mild/moderate disabilities who were accommodated or had their lessons modified in either a general education classroom or a special day class for part or most of the day.

The designation of gifted students as being part of the special education spectrum, didn’t sit well with the parents of these highly intelligent students.

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>