Inconsistent academic performance info needed

[zippity]

I am trying to recall anything, a study(s), perhaps an OSEP letter, or even caselaw (9th circuit specifically) that pointed out inconsistent academic performance is a flag a student is having academic trouble and possibly related to a disorder.

Or anything that specifically discusses this type of performance is one the hallmarks of Dyslexia and/or ADHD and not a "motivational" problem.

I am delving into DD's grades, the assignments associated with each one and breaking it into help by private tutor and what was done independently.
As for grades, DD has "A"s and "F"s which are marked as incomplete because the school she attends doesn't give D's and F's. She is getting it averaged to a C in some classes an how an A in spite of the difficulties is beyond me. I guess it's like accounting, you can be very creative when it comes to how you do the numbers. She has the private tutor and those writing assignments get A's. It is up to me to provide enough evidence to a judge that this inconsistency is not a motivational problem but part of the criteria she was identified as having an educational impact and why she is identified.

I would like to align some of the breakdowns with something concrete to accompany this besides the study I have from Dee Alpert.

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Author: Myriam Abu Khalaf
Title: Brilliant learners "Exceptional learners with disabilities"
Area: Education
Country :
Profile:
Program: Master in Social and Human Studies- Education
Available for Download: Yes

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Twice ­Exceptional students
Gifted students with disabilities

Introduction

Gifted students with disabilities are at risk because their educational and social emotional
needs often go undetected. The resulting inconsistent academic performance can lead
educators to believe twice-exceptional students are not putting forth adequate effort.
Hidden disabilities may prevent students with advanced cognitive abilities from achieving their potential. The frustrations related to unidentified strengths and disabilities can result in behavioral plans become the focus to their interventions.
The behaviors are managed but the underlying disabilities are never addresses. School can become a very frustrating experience for struggling twice-exceptional students, their
teachers and parents.
A collaborative effort between classroom teachers, special educators, gifted educators and parents is needed to identify twice- exceptional students and implement strategies to
meet their diverse needs. It is essential that the disabilities are identified early so appropriate interventions can be provided at optimum times .Unfortunately, the struggles of many twice-exceptional students go unnoticed for many years resulting in learning gaps and undeveloped potentials.
Twice ­exceptional students will continue to be at risk until educators can learn about and understand the educational and social/emotional needs of twice-exceptional students.
Educators can implement strategies to develop their potential, to identify learning gaps and provide explicit instruction, to support the development of compensatory strategies, to foster their social /emotional development, and to enhance their capacity to cope with mixed abilities

The goals:
1- Recognize and nurture outstanding potential so that gifted students with disabilities may become all that they are capable of becoming
2- How these types of student can can be integrated in the society.

Description

The twice ­exceptional students are: students who are identifies as gifted and talented in
one or more areas of exceptionality (specific academics, general intellectual ability,
creativity, leadership, visual, spatial or performing arts).

Characteristics of Twice-Exceptional Children

The following list should be viewed as characteristics which are typical of many children who are gifted and who also have a disability, rather than characteristics which all such
children possess. These twice-exceptional children do not form a simple, homogeneous group; they are a highly diverse group of learners.
Indicators of Cognitive/Affective Strengths

· Have a wide range of interests that are not related to school topics or learning.
· Have a specific talent or consuming interest area for which they have an exceptional memory and knowledge.
· Are interested in the big picture rather than small details.
· Are extremely curious and questioning.
· Possess high levels of problem-solving and reasoning skills.
· Have penetrating insights.
· Are capable of setting up situations to their own advantage often as a coping method.
· Are extremely creative in their approach to tasks and as a technique to compensate for their disability.
· Have an unusual imagination.
· Are humorous often in bizarre ways.
· Have advanced ideas and opinions which they are uninhibited in expressing.
· Have a superior vocabulary.
· Have very high energy levels.

Indicators of Cognitive/Affective Problems

· Have discrepant verbal and performance abilities.
· Have deficient or extremely uneven academic skills, which cause them to lack academic initiative, appear academically unmotivated, avoid school tasks, and frequently fail to
complete assignments.
· Are extremely frustrated by school.
· Have auditory and/or visual processing problems which may cause them to respond slowly, to work slowly, and to appear to think slowly.
· Have problems with long-term and/or short-term memory.
· Have metrical difficulties exhibited by clumsiness, poor handwriting, or problems completing paper-and-pencil tasks.
· Lack organizational skills and study skills; often appearing to be extremely messy.
· Are unable to think in a linear fashion; have difficulty following directions.
· Are easily frustrated; give up quickly on tasks; are afraid to risk being wrong or making mistakes.
· Have difficulty explaining or expressing ideas, getting-to-the-point, and/or expressing feelings.
· Blame others for their problems while believing that their successes are only due to luck.
· Are distractible; unable to maintain attention for long periods of time.
· Are unable to control impulses.
· Have poor social skills; demonstrate antisocial behaviors.
· Are highly sensitive to criticism.

Analysis, discussion, actualization

Gifted students are a multidimensional process:

Gifted children means: those persons between the ages of five and twenty-one whose abilities, talents, and potential for accomplishment are so outstanding that they require
special provisions to meet their educational needs. Children under five, who quality, may also be served. Gifted students are capable of high performance in any or a combination
of these areas:
1- General intellectual ability
2- Specific academic aptitude
3- Creative, productive thinking
4- Leadership and human relation skills
5- Visual and performing arts.

Provide Equitable Access to Screening for Gifted Education Services
All children (at the district-designated assessment grade/s) participate in the screening process. It is more likely that exceptional abilities and evidence of potential achievement
in traditionally underserved children will be recognized.

Use Multiple Sources, Tools, and Criteria for a Body of Evidence
Multiple sources and tools allow children to reveal their exceptionalities or potential. A variety of assessment tools should be used to collect information on a student whose
background or talent area makes him/her unique from others.

1- Intellectual Ability
2- Achievement
3- Behavioral Characteristics
4- Demonstrated Performance

Seek to find underachieving learners who may be identified only through ability testing; likewise, seek to find underachieving learners who may not be identified through traditional testing but whose giftedness is obvious in focused and deliberate observations of performance on problem-solving tasks. Use a balanced approach to find underachieving students with both standardized test scores and behaviors/performances.
Collect data about learners who have documented learning needs in other areas; e.g., Special Education. Ensure that gifted education personnel understand the categories of disabilities and the specific Special Education designations that impact the learning process.

Students with disabilities

It is most important and relevant to student's educational success to provide the best research based instructional intervention and support possible, for some students, early
interventions will prevent the educational difficulties from becoming a disability.

1. Twice-exceptional students must have disability .identified students with disabilities exhibit a marked difference between ability and achievement and evidence of processing deficit.
2. In addition to the current process of using the "discrepancy formula" to determine the presence of a learning disability. IDEA reauthorization allows districts to use a process that determines if the child responds to scientific researches ­Based interventions.

Points to consider when identifying gifted students with disabilities:

1. Twice-exceptional students typically demonstrate outstanding performance in either the verbal IQ or performance IQ. If students have a significant discrepancy between Verbal IQ and performance IQ, the full scale IQ will not be a true indication of their ability.
2. Twice-exceptional students usually have higher scores on vocabulary, similarities, information, and comprehensive and lower scores on arithmetic's, digit span, coding, and sequencing.
3. Achievement discrepancies can exist between oral and written expression, basic reading skills and reading comprehension, mathematical reasoning and calculation...
4. Discrepancy between verbal and non verbal scores may be present on the Cognitive Abilities Test.
5. Students may be performing at grade level and be eligible for twice-exceptional programming because they have a discrepancy between ability and achievement.
6. Twice-exceptional students tend to struggle with executive functioning organization, memory, written output and sometimes reading decoding and math calculation.

Individual Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Twice-Exceptional Students
When Congress approved the Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in November of 2004, IDEA acknowledged the needs of twice- exceptional children for the first time. It added gifted and talented students who have
disabilities to the groups of students whose needs have priority in U.S. Department of Education grants to guide research, personnel preparation, and technical assistance.

The National Association for Gifted Children regarding specific learning disabilities on their web site. Below is the text regarding specific learning disabilities, which is the type of disability with the highest incidence in the twice-exceptional population? Although districts may, they are not required to accept a discrepancy between ability and performance in determining whether a student has a learning disability. The new law
would allow districts to use a process that determines if the child responds to scientific, research-based interventions. Currently in Colorado, several districts and the state have begun conversations about this, and guidelines are being developed and piloted.

5 IDEA EVALUATIONS, ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATIONS, IDIVIDUALIZED
EDUCATION
PROGRAMS
AND
EDUCATIONAL
PLACEMENTS.

Evaluation Procedures.-
* Specific Learning Disabilities.-
IN General when determining whether a child has a specific learning disability as defined, a local educational agency shall not be required to take into consideration whether a child has a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability in oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, basic reading skills, reading comprehension, mathematical calculation, or mathematical reasoning.
ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY.- In determining whether a child has a specific learning disability, a local educational agency may use a process that determines if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention as a part of the evaluation procedures.

Learning Disabilities in IDEA
Conduct of evaluation.- In conducting the evaluation, the local educational Agency shall - Use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional, developmental, and academic information, including information provided by the parent, that may assist in determining -
1. Whether the child is a child with a disability; and
2 the content of the child's individualized education program, including information related to enabling the child to be involved in and progress in the general curriculum, or for preschool children, to participate in appropriate activities; not use any single procedure, measure, or assessment as the sole criterion
For determining whether a child is a child with a disability or determining an appropriate educational program for the child.
Use technically sound instruments that may assess the relative contribution of cognitive and behavioral factors, in addition to physical or developmental factors.

Additional requirement.- Each local educational agency shall ensure that - tests and other evaluation materials used to assess a child under this section

1. Are selected and administered so as not to be discriminatory on a racial or cultural basis.
2. are provided and administered in the language and form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally, unless it is not feasible to so provide or administer
3. Are used for purposes for which the assessments or measures are valid and reliable.
4. Are administered by trained and knowledgeable personnel.
5. Are administered in accordance with any instructions provided by the producer of such tests.

The child is assessed in all areas of suspected disability; and assessment tools and strategies that provide relevant information that directly assists persons in determining the educational needs of the child are provided assessments of children with disabilities, including homeless children with disabilities, children with disabilities who are wards of the State, and children with disabilities in military families, who transfer from one school district another school district in the same academic year, are -
1. Coordinated with such children's prior and subsequent schools as necessary to ensure timely completion of full evaluations.
2. completed within time limits -
3. established for all students by Federal law or State plans
4. That computes the commencement of time from the date on which such children are first referred for assessments in any local educational agency.

SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY.-

A. IN GENERAL. - The term 'specific learning disability' means a disorder in 1 or 2 More of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which disorder may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations.
B. DISORDERS INCLUDED. - Such term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.
C. DISORDERS NOT INCLUDED.- Such term does not include a learning problem That is primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental Retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic Disadvantage. Although they are not included in this section of IDEA which is limited to Specific Learning Disabilities, many states, including Colorado, do include these other categories of disorders as factors when determining if a student is Twice-exceptional.

Six steps to Strategic Planning for Twice-Exceptional Students

1. Identify stakeholders. The first step in implementing change is to identify the stakeholders, those people who will be impacted by the change or will play a role in implementing change. Stakeholder groups for twice-exceptional education should include representatives from gifted education, special education, classroom teachers, administrators, counselors, students, and parents.
2. Organize a steering committee. The steering committee must include representative from each stakeholder group. Select members who are innovators and early adaptors. This group will guide the work in developing a plan and implementing change.
3. Build collaboration. A collaborative team effort is recommended to address the unique needs of twice-exceptional students. Work to develop a collaborative effort through training and discussions. Remember, each stakeholder group must have a voice and must become part of the collaboration

4. Determine Needs and Identify problems and/or issues. Identify the concerns of
each stakeholder group. What are the specific needs of twice-exceptional students
and what are the problems/issues that prevent these needs from being met?
5. Develop an action plan. Having a clear understanding of what you want to
accomplish unifies the commitment of the team. The action plan should include:
goals, strategies to achieve goals, anticipated resistance or obstacles you may
encounter, resources needs, and May a way to measure progress/success.
6. Implement and sustain change. To sustain change it must be integrated in to the
educational system. Determine how identification and programming can be
integrated into the system that already existed. Plan for extensive training and
written documentation to support successful implementation of the plan

Programming Strategies for Gifted Students with Disabilities

The needs of most twice-exceptional students can be met in the regular classroom through appropriate identification and an individualized approach. However, the classroom teacher must have support from both gifted educators and special educators to
Implement effective strategies. The best results are achieved when there is collaboration between the classroom teacher, gifted educator, special educator, parents, and the student.

Programming for twice-exceptional students must include strategies to:
· nurture the student's strengths and interests
· foster their social/emotional development
· enhance their capacity to cope with mixed abilities
· identify learning gaps and provide explicit instruction
· support the development of compensatory strategies

A Continuum of Services

The unique characteristics of individual students should determine the type and level of support services the student receives. Some twice-exceptional students will require more
intensive services than others. Because gifted and twice-exceptional students differ in a variety of ways, their needs require appropriate placement along several continuums:

A continuum of services is the variety of delivery and programming options available to gifted and talented students for meeting educational and affective needs.

A continuum of delivery of services refers to where twice-exceptional students receive services: general classroom, resource room, classroom cluster groups, interest groups,
magnet classrooms, and special schools for gifted students, vertical team groups, learning clusters for special interests or topics, mentorship's, or special education.

The continuum of learning refers to the content standards and benchmarks, K-12, that allow for continuous learning and/or acceleration based upon progress monitoring and student achievement in the content benchmarks.

A continuum of programming options refers to the curricular and affective opportunities provided through implementation of programming components (structure, content options, differentiated instruction, and affective guidance.)

Nurture Students' Strengths and Interests

Programming for gifted education seeks to nurture and develop the strengths and interests of students. All gifted students require balanced gifted programming over time. These
programming components for gifted education are based upon national standards, research, and best practices in gifted education. Implementing these strategies will improve students' motivation, develop confidence, and support student achievement.
These are the recommended programming components to nurture gifted potential in twice-exceptional students:

Strength/Interest Accommodation
1- Differentiated Instruction
2- Affective Guidance & Counseling
3- Acceleration
4- Content Extension
5- Higher Order Thinking Skills

Acceleration
Acceleration is the appropriate movement of a student and/or curriculum by pace or place to match learning opportunities with student strengths, readiness, and needs.

· Single Subject Acceleration: The delivery of curriculum by either moving the child into a higher grade level or providing higher grade-level curriculum in age-based classrooms.
· Concurrent Enrollment: Attending classes in more than one grade or building. (E.g. A middle school student attends a class at the high school).
· Post-Secondary Options: High school students are allowed to spend part of their day attending classes at a local college or university and receive both high school and college credit.
· Rocky Mountain Talent Search: Students take the SAT or ACT in middle school and can qualify for advanced level courses at universities throughout the country.
· Correspondence/Distance Learning: Courses taken within or outside regular school time for personal interest or credit.
· Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate: Students take AP or IB high school courses and take a test to qualify for college credit.
· Independent Study: Students pursue an area of interest in-depth or required curriculum at a pace that meets their individual needs.

Content Extension

Content Extension is providing greater depth or breadth to the educational experiences through enhanced curriculum or academic programs and competitions. Content Extension
should be a systematic plan for extending students' learning in the following ways:

· Opportunity for real-life research and independent study
· Academic programs and competitions
· Mentors

Higher-Order Thinking Skills

Curriculum for twice-exceptional students should challenge their thinking and problem-solving skills. The Socratic questioning method helps students formulate questions and think through problems. Twice-exceptional students often struggle with executive processes. They have a difficult time organizing, prioritizing, and generalizing information. Teachers can help by modeling and teaching met cognitive skills. Use think
aloud to help students develop their thinking language.

Higher-Order Thinking Skills include:

· Analytical Thinking Skills--various cognitive processes that deepen understanding of knowledge and skills.
· Critical Thinking Skills--various thinking skills that are used to analyze and evaluate in order to respond to an argument or position.
· Executive Processes--various cognitive skills involved in organizing, synthesizing, generalizing, or applying knowledge.
· Creative Thinking Skills--various cognitive skills that are involved in creative production.
· Creative Problem Solving--Provides an excellent structure for helping twice exceptional students learn how to creatively solve problems.

Social/Emotional Support

Twice-exceptional students need a nurturing environment that supports the development of the students' potential. An encouraging approach is recommended over implementing
measures from a punitive perspective.

Teachers provide a nurturing environment when:

· They value individual differences and learning styles;
· The development of student's potential is encouraged;
· Students' readiness, interests, and learning profile shape instruction;
· Excellence is defined by individual growth;
· Flexible grouping is used for instruction;
· Students are assessed in multiple ways;
· Instruction includes activities for multiple intelligences.

Social/Emotional Issues

Making friends can be difficult for twice-exceptional students. They may need help developing peer relationships and opportunities to work with peers of similar abilities and
interests. Friendship groups help twice-exceptional students learn how to make and keep friends.

Twice-exceptional students can be very self-critical and this can lead to dysfunctional perfectionism. Counseling is needed to address their unique needs and should be available on an as-needed basis.

Developing an awareness of their strengths and challenges is beneficial for twice exceptional students. Role playing can help students learn how to become a self-advocate and how to ask for help when it is needed.

Lack of organizational, time management, and study skills can have a negative impact on the emotional well-being and school performance of twice-exceptional students. They need explicit instruction to develop those skills and specialized intervention services related to challenge areas.

Learning how to set personal goals and how to develop sequential steps or a series of short-term goals to achieve long-term goals can be beneficial for twice-exceptional learners. Career and college guidance is essential for these students.

Steps to Create an Individual Plan

The focus of the individual plan must be to develop the student's strengths. Success in the strength areas promotes the development of a strong self-concept and self-efficacy.
Instruction that builds on the student's interests can motivate them to persevere when learning challenges cause them to struggle in school. Appropriate assessments must be used to identify hidden disabilities and learning gaps. Twice-exceptional students need explicit instruction in their specific deficit areas. Teaching students compensatory strategies helps them learn strategies they can use independently to be successful.

Identify Students' Strengths, Interests, and Challenges.

Select Specific Strategies Based on Student Needs.

· Strength/Interest-Based Accommodations
· Accommodation to Access Learning
· Explicit Instruction for Compensatory Strategies
· Explicit Instruction for Intervention/Remediation

Complete the Twice-Exceptional Strategies Plan.

Educational Planning for a Continuum of Abilities

Strength/Interest-Based Accommodations

These are instructional strategies that provide a stimulating educational environment emphasizing high-level abstract thinking, creativity, and a problem-solving approach.
They build on intrinsic motivation and promote active inquiry, experimentation, and discussion. Emphasis is placed on students' readiness, interests, and learning profiles.
Teachers shape instruction with multi-option assignments that enable students to use their strengths to demonstrate their knowledge. Examples: Pre-testing and compacting the
curriculum to eliminate unnecessary drill; orbital studies related to some facet of the curriculum that allow students to investigate a topic in greater depth and become the class expert.

Accommodations to Access Learning
These are instructional and/or behavioral strategies that, when implemented, provide students with access to the curriculum. Accommodations do not change the content of the curriculum being taught. Rather, they change how the content is presented and/or how a student demonstrates mastery. Examples: Shortened assignments, providing copies of notes during a lecture, providing extra time, and teacher-read directions.

Explicit Instruction: Compensatory Strategies
These are skills taught to students that, when implemented by the student, will allow them to complete tasks independently. The goal is to teach a student compensatory learning strategies so they will learn to initiate the strategies independently in order to be successful in the learning environment. Examples: Use of spell checker, re-read aloud when editing written work, color-coding for organization, etc.

Explicit Instruction: Intervention/Remediation
Utilize recommended assessments to identify learning gaps and then provide explicit instruction/remediation in the specific deficit area(s). Examples: Identifying phonological core deficits and providing explicit instruction in segmenting and blending speech
sounds.

Parenting gifted students with disabilities

1. Create a home environment that nurtures your child's strengths and interests.
2. Build a working relationship with your child's school and keep the lines of communication open between home and school.
3. If your child is depressed dislikes schools, underachieves or develops behaviors problems communicate your child's problems and needs to the scrolls.
4. Work in partnership with the school to identify your child's learning and/or social emotional problems
5. Collaborate with the school to develop a suitable educational plan for your child that addresses his/her needs.
6. Help your child learn skills needed to be successfully in schools. Assist with homework and projects, but do not assume responsibility
7. Remember that the role of the parents change as the child reaches different ages.
8. equate successes with effort not ability and view mistakes as a values step in learning
9. Help your child learn how to become a self ­advocate.
10. Encourage your child to develop the skills necessary to become independent life-long learners.
11. Advocate for your child, but don't overprotect him/her. Hold your child accountable for his/her behavior and achievement

Parent Advocacy
1. Build a working partnership with your child's school
2. work with the school's staff to improve educational opportunities for all students
3. support the positive efforts of teachers and school staff to meet the individual educational needs of students
4. participate on school committees like the school's accountability committee and school enrichment or activity committees
5. Volunteer your time to assist with the activities or help in the classroom media center, computer lab, etc...


When Children Experience Problems in School
1. Know the child.
· What are his/her special interests, strengths, and struggles?
· How does the child interact with peers, older children, younger children?
· How does the child feel about trying new things or making mistakes?
2. Clarify the issues and try to get a sense of the real problems by discussing them thoroughly with the child.
3. Schedule a meeting with the classroom teacher.
· Approach the teacher with care and sensitivity.
· Plan the meeting and topics to discuss.
4. during the conference:
· Keep the conversation a positive learning exchange.
· Start with positive comments about the school and the teacher. Thank the teacher
For ..............
· Communicate expectations and share specific examples of the child's work, feelings,strengths, struggles, interests, and after-school activities.
· Listen carefully to what the teacher has to say.
· Express willingness to help resolve the problem and work collaboratively toward a positive solution.
· Decide together what the child, you, and the teacher will do.
· Determine a reasonable timeline and establish when the effort will begin and when Progress will be evaluated.
5. after the conference:
· Keep the lines of communication open.
· Schedule a follow-up meeting to assess progress.
6. If the child continues to struggle, ask that he/she be referred to the school's student Study team. This team will develop a plan to meet individual educational needs and recommend specific intervention strategies. If problems persist, the student study
Team will refer the child to special education for assessment.

Conclusion

Twice exceptional-students are difficult to identify because they possess the characteristics of gifted students and the characteristics of students with disabilities.
Gifted characteristics may mask disabilities or disabilities may mask gifted potential. The strength, the disabilities or both may not be identified.

When gifted students begin to struggle in school, their identification for gifted services is sometimes questioned. Just because students have disabilities does not mean they are not
gifted. Many eminent people have struggled in school and later gone on to make substantial contributions to society. Not achieving commensurate with ability should raise a red flag that there is the possibility a disability may be impacting learning.

Disabilities in gifted students can go unnoticed for years and valuable windows for effective interventions are missed. It is important to identify the disability as early as possible to prevent the development of behavioral and social/emotional issues.
Students identified with a disability should be screened at the district-designated assessment grade/s to provide equitable access to gifted education services for all students.

Strengths and disabilities may risk mask each other and the student may appear to have average ability. However, inconsistent performance may indicate the presence of gifted
potential and disabilities. It is important to focus on developing potential and providing strategies to help students when they struggle. Research-bases strategies for twice-exceptional students can be implemented before formal identification is achieved.Continue to look for indicators of gifted behaviors that suggest a disability

The Twice exceptional student's strengths are:

· Superior vocabulary
· Highly creative
· Resourceful
· Curious
· Imaginative
· questioning
· Problem-solving ability
· Sophisticated sense of humor
· Wide range of interests
· advanced ideas and Opinions
· Special talent or consuming interest

Their challenges:

· Easily frustrated
. Stubborn
· Manipulative
· Opinionated
· Argumentative
· written expression
· Highly sensitive to criticism
· Inconsistent academic Performance
· Lack of organization And study skills
· Difficulty with social Interactions

Programming

In a collaborative effort between the classroom teacher, gifted educator and special educators, appropriate strategies will be implemented to:
· Nurture the student's potential
· support their development of compensatory strategies
· identify their learning gaps and provide explicit instruction
· foster their social and emotional development
· enhance their capacity to cope with mixed abilities.

Personnel experience and suggestions

In the school where I teach, I have two cases of twice exceptional students, one boy and one girl. The boy has a problem in his eyes and the girl has some how a problem in
understanding the people around her.

Most of the time while I am explaining the lesson I am really surprise from the questions that they asked me, so polite so brilliant so organized and sometimes very sociable.
In their eyes there is a special light which I feel it but I can not explain more.

These students need a special treatment, they love to be responsible. Those selves they feel different and some of the teacher are not enough educated in this point so they treat
them like stupid and they are surprised from their notes in language and calculation

What I want to say is being different from the others its an advantage, it if the difference we start ask question, we start to collect information, we make many researches to arrive
to the answers of the reality.

Being different is not a mistake, its is important for us to know how to deal with differences.
To be different is how to continue living and to change life to the best in this world.


References

1- Baum, S.M. & Owen, S.V. (2004). To Be Gifted & Learning Disabled: Strategies for
Helping Bright Students with disabilities.
2- Baum, S.M., Olenchak, F.R. & Owen, S.V. (1998). Gifted Students with Attention
Deficits: Fact and/or Fiction?
3- Bees, C. (1998). The GOLD Program: A Program for Gifted Learning Disabled
Adolescents. Roeper Review, 21

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Twice-Exceptional Students
Gifted Students with Disabilities
An Introductory Resource Book
Colorado Department of Education
201 East Colfax Avenue
Denver, Colorado 80203-1799
Advanced by Design
REACH-Out and Nurture Exceptional Abilities
Page 2
Page 3

Colorado Department of Education
201 E. Colfax Avenue
Denver, Colorado 80203
William J. Moloney
Commissioner of Education
State of Colorado
Colorado State Board of Education
PAMELA JO SUCKLA
Chairman
JARED POLIS
Vice-Chairman
RANDY DEHOFF
EVIE HUDAK
PEGGY LITTLETON
KAREN MIDDLETON
D. RICO MUNN
CLAIR ORR
Page 4
The Colorado Department of Education does not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, color, religion, sex, national
origin, or age, in access to, employment in, or provision of any of CDE’s programs, benefits, or activities.
The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries regarding this policy:
Please contact either:
Patrick Chapman
Wendi Kispert
Colorado Department of Education
Colorado Department of Education
1560 Broadway, Suite 1450
201 East Colfax Avenue
Denver, CO 80202
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: [phone]
Phone: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Page 5
Table of Contents
Introduction
Mission and Definition
Twice-Exceptional Students - Strengths and Challenges
Characteristics
Identification
IDEA and Twice-Exceptional Students
Strategic Planning
Programming
Creating an Individual Student Plan
Instructional Strategies
Parenting Twice-Exceptional Children
Case Studies
Recommendations for Case Studies
Annotated Bibliography
Resources on the World Wide Web
Page 6
Page 7
Contributors
The Colorado Department of Education’s Twice-Exceptional
Students Gifted Students with Disabilities Introductory
Resource Book is the result of a cooperative effort between
Special and Gifted Educators.
Tanni Anthony
Margarita Bianco
Barb Bieber
Jeannette Cornier
Daphne Pereles
Jacquelin Medina
Adena Miller
Sheryl Muir
Kathy Thurman
Beverly Trail
Advanced by Design
REACH-Out and Nurture Exceptional Abilities
Page 8
Introduction
Gifted students with disabilities are at-risk because their educational and social/emotional needs often go undetected. The resulting inconsistent academic performance can lead educators to believe twice-exceptional students are not putting forth adequate effort. Hidden disabilities may prevent students with
advanced cognitive abilities from achieving their potential. The frustrations related to unidentified strengths and disabilities can result in behavioral and social/emotional issues. For some twice-exceptional students, behavior plans become the focus of their interventions. The behaviors are managed, but the underlying disabilities are never addressed. School can become a very frustrating experience for struggling twice-exceptional students, their teachers, and parents.
A collaborative effort between classroom teachers, special educators, gifted educators, and parents is needed to identify twice-exceptional students and implement strategies to meet their diverse needs. It is essential that the disabilities are identified early so appropriate interventions can be provided at
optimum times. Unfortunately, the struggles of many twice-exceptional students go unnoticed for many years, resulting in learning gaps and undeveloped potentials.
Twice-exceptional students will continue to be at-risk until educators can learn about and understand the educational and social/emotional needs of twice-exceptional students. Educators can implement strategies to develop their potential, to identify learning gaps and provide explicit instruction, to support the
development of compensatory strategies, to foster their social/emotional development, and to enhance their capacity to cope with mixed abilities.
It is the intent of this resource book to provide the framework to identify twice-exceptional students and select appropriate strategies so gifted students with disabilities can achieve their full potential.
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Recognize and nurture outstanding potential so that gifted students with disabilities may become all that they are capable of becoming.
Colorado Definition
Twice-exceptional students are:
1. Students who are identified as gifted and talented in one or more areas of exceptionality (specific academics, general intellectual ability, creativity, leadership, visual, spatial, or performing arts); and also identified with:
2. A disability defined by Federal/State eligibility criteria: perceptual communicative disability (learning disability), significant
identifiable emotional disability, physical disabilities, sensory
disabilities, autism, or ADHD. The disability qualifies the student for an individual education plan (IEP) or a 504 Plan.
Mission
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• superior vocabulary
• highly creative
• resourceful
• curious
• imaginative
• questioning
• problem-solving ability
• sophisticated sense of humor
• wide range of interests
• advanced ideas and opinions
• special talent or consuming interest
• easily frustrated
• stubborn
• manipulative
• opinionated
• argumentative
• written expression
• highly sensitive to criticism
• inconsistent academic performance
• lack of organization and study skills
• difficulty with social interactions

Strengths: Challenges:
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• Anger
•Self-criticism
•Crying

Characteristics of Twice-Exceptional Children
The following list should be viewed as characteristics which are typical of many children who are gifted and who also have a disability, rather than characteristics which all such children possess. These twice-exceptional children do not form a simple, homogeneous group; they are a highly diverse group of learners.
Indicators of Cognitive/Affective Strengths
• Have a wide range of interests that are not related to school topics or learning.
• Have a specific talent or consuming interest area for which they have an exceptional memory and knowledge.
• Are interested in the “big picture” rather than small details.
• Are extremely curious and questioning.
• Possess high levels of problem-solving and reasoning skills.
• Have penetrating insights.
• Are capable of setting up situations to their own advantage often as a coping method.
• Are extremely creative in their approach to tasks and as a technique to compensate for their disability.
• Have an unusual imagination.
• Are humorous often in “bizarre” ways.
• Have advanced ideas and opinions which they are uninhibited in expressing.
• Have a superior vocabulary.
• Have very high energy levels.
• Have discrepant verbal and performance abilities.
• Have deficient or extremely uneven academic skills which causes them to lack academic initiative,
appear academically unmotivated, avoid school tasks, and frequently fail to complete assignments.
• Are extremely frustrated by school.
• Have auditory and/or visual processing problems which may cause them to respond slowly, to work
slowly, and to appear to think slowly.
• Have problems with long-term and/or short-term memory.
• Have motorical difficulties exhibited by clumsiness, poor handwriting, or problems completing
paper-and-pencil tasks.
• Lack organizational skills and study skills; often appearing to be extremely “messy.”
• Are unable to think in a linear fashion; have difficulty following directions.
• Are easily frustrated; give up quickly on tasks; are afraid to risk being wrong or making mistakes.
• Have difficulty explaining or expressing ideas, “getting-to-the-point,” and/or expressing feelings.
• Blame others for their problems while believing that their successes are only due to “luck.”
• Are distractable; unable to maintain attention for long periods of time.
• Are unable to control impulses.
• Have poor social skills; demonstrate antisocial behaviors.
• Are highly sensitive to criticism.

Indicators of Cognitive/Affective Problems
Indicators of Low Self-Esteem
One of the most common characteristics of these children is low self-esteem. They frequently “disguise”
this low self-esteem through the use of any or all of the following behaviors:
•Withdrawal
• Daydreaming and fantasy
•Apathetic behaviors
•Disruptive behaviors
•Clowning behaviors
•Denial of problems

Elizabeth Nielsen, 1994
University of New Mexico
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Distinguishing Characteristics of Gifted Students with Factors
Traditional Characteristics
Characteristics of Culturally/Linguistically Diverse Gifted Students
Characteristics of Low Socio-Economic Gifted Students
Characteristics of Gifted Students with Disabilities Ability to learn basic skills quickly an easily and retain information with less repetition may require more repetition or hands-on experiences
at an introductory level.
Lack of opportunities and access to school-readiness materials may delay acquisition of basic skills
Often struggles to learn basic skills due to cognitive processing difficultie s; needs to learn compensatory strategies in order to acquire basic skills and information
High verbal ability
May havehigh verbal ability innative language; may rapidly acquire English language skills if they possess academic skills in their home language
Lack of oppopportunities may delay the dvelopment of verbal skills.
High verbal ability but extreme difficulity in written language area;
mayuse language in inappropriate ways and at inappropriate times
Early reading ability
May demonstrate strong story telling ability and ability to read
environmental print in home language
Lack of access to reading materials may delay acquisition of reading skills
Frequently has readingproblems due to cognitive processing deficits
Keen powers of observation
May display high levels of visual memory or auditory memory skills
Strong observational skills which are often use do “survive on the
streets”
Strong observation skills but often has deficits in memory skills
Strong critical thinking, problem - solving and decision-making skills
Strong critical thinking in primary language; often solves problems
in creative ways ; particularly interested in solving “real-world” problems
Excels in brainstorming and solving "real-world” problems; strong
critical thinking ability;
rapid decision-making skills
Excels in solving “real-world” problems; outstanding critical
thinking and decision-making skills; often independently develops compensatory skills
Long attention span – persistent, intense concentration

Persistent in areas of interest usually unrelated to school
Frequently has attention deficit problems but may concentrate
for long periods in areas of interest
Basic Skills
Verbal Skills
Reading
Ability
Observation Skills
Problem Solving
Persistence

Albuquerque Public School Gifted Task Force; developed by E. Nielsen(1999).

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Traditional Characteristics
Characteristics of Culturally/Linguistically Diverse Gifted Stude
nts Characteristics of Low Socio-Economic Gifted Students
Characteristics of Gifted Students with Disabilities
Questioning attitude
Some culturally diverse children are raised not to question auth
ority
Questioning attitude which may at times be demonstrated in a
confronting orchallenging way
Strong questioning attitude; mayappear disrespectful when
questioning information, facts, etc. presented byteacher
Creative in the generation of thoughts, ideas,actions; innovative
Often displays richness of imagery in ideas, art, music, primary language, etc.; can improvise with commonplace objects
Strong creative abilities
Unusual imagination; frequently generates original and at times
rather “bizarre” ideas
Takes risks
Degree of risk taking may depend upon the familiarityof the situation based on different cultural experiences
Takes risks often without consideration of consequences
Often unwilling to take risks withregard to academics; takes
risks innon-school areas without consideration of consequences
Unusual, often highly developed sense of humor
Humor may be displayed through unique use of language and
responses
May use humor to become “classclown,” to deal with stressful
situations, and to avoid trouble
Humor maybe used to divert attention from school failure; may
use humor to make fun of peers or to avoid trouble
May mature at different rates than age peers
Accepts responsibilities in the home normally reserved for older children
Often mature earlier than age peers since they must accept responsibilities in the home which are normally reserved for older
children or even adults; inexperience may make them appear socially immature
Sometimes appear immature since they may use anger, crying, withdrawal, etc. to express feelings and to deal with difficulties
Sense of independence
May be culturally socialized to work in groups rather than independently
Circumstances often have forced the student to become extremely independent and self-sufficient
Requires frequent teacher support and feedback in deficit areas;
highly independent in other areas; often appears to be extremely stubborn and inflexible
Distinguishing Characteristics of Gifted Students with Factors
Curiosity
Creativity
RiskTaking
Humor
Maturity
Independence
Albuquerque Public School Gifted Task Force; developed by
E. Nielsen (1999)

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Traditional
Characteristics
Characteristics of
Culturally/Linguistically Diverse Gifted Students
Characteristics ofLow Socio-Economic Gifted Students
Characteristics of Gifted Students with Disabilities

Sensitive
May be sensitive particularly to racialor cultural issues
Maybe critical of self and others including teachers; can understand and express concern about the feelings of others even while engaging in anti-social behavior
Sensitive regarding disability area(s);
highly critical of self and others including teachers; can express
concern about the feelings of others even while engaging in
anti-social behavior
May not be accepted by other children and may feel isolated
May be perceived as a loner due to racial/cultural isolation and/or inability to speak English; entertains self easily using imagination in games and ingenious play
Economic circumstances as well as his/her giftedness may isolate the student from more financially secure peers
May be perceived as a loner since they do not fit typical model for
either a gifted or a learning disabled student; sometimes has difficulty being accepted bypeers due to poor social skills
Exhibits leadership ability
May be a leader in the community but not in the school setting;
demonstrates “street-wise” behavior
May be a leader among the more non-traditional students; demonstrates strong “street-wise”behavior; often excels in
brainstorming and problemsolving around social issues
Often leaders among the more non-traditional students; demonstrate strong “street-wise” behavior; the disability may interfere with ability to exercise leadership skills
Wide range of interests
Interests may include individual culturally related activities
Wide range of interests that are often unrelated to topics/subjects addressed in school
Wide range of interests but is handicapped in pursuing them due
to process/learning problems
Very focused interests, i.e., a passion about a certain topic to
theexclusion of others -- usually not related to school subjects
Distinguishing Characteristics of Gifted Students with Factors
Emotionality
Social Skills
Leadership
Broad Interests
Focused Interests
Albuquerque Public School Gifted Task Force; developed by E.Nielsen (1999)
Sources:
New Mexico State Dept. of Ed. (1994)
Technical Assistance Document - Gifted Education; Fox, L.,Brody, I.,& Tobin,D. (1983).
Learning Disabled Gifted Children;
Torrance,E.P., Goff, K., Neil,B.(1998)
Multicultural Men to ring of the Gifted and Talented;
Van Tassel-Baska, J., Patton, J.,& Prillaman, D. (1991).
Gifted Youth At Risk.

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Identification
Twice-exceptional students are difficult to identify because they possess the characteristics of gifted students and the characteristics of students with disabilities. Gifted characteristics may mask disabilities or disabilities may mask gifted potential. Either the strengths, the disabilities, or both may not be
identified. To be considered twice-exceptional, the student must be identified for gifted education and special education services or have a 504 plan.
Research indicates that 2-5 percent of the gifted population will havedisabilities and 2-5 percent of students with disabilities will be gifted (Dix & Schafer, 1996; Whitmore, 1980; & Maker, 1977).

Gifted Identification
When gifted students begin to struggle in school, their identification for gifted services is sometimes questioned. Just because students have disabilities does not mean they are not gifted. Many eminent people have struggled in school and later gone on to make substantial contributions to society. Not
achieving commensurate with ability should raise a red flag that there is the possibility a disability may be impacting learning. Disabilities in gifted students can go unnoticed for years and valuable windows for effective interventions are missed. It is important to identify the disability as early as possible to
prevent the development of behavioral and social/emotional issues.

Identification of Disability
Students identified with a disability should be screened at the district-designated assessment grade/s to provide equitable access to gifted education services for all students. Scores in the 95th percentile or higher on achievement tests (ITBS, CSAP, Woodcock Johnson), tests of intellectual ability (WISC and CogAT), observations of exceptional behaviors or motivation (Bertie Kingore Inventory), or demonstrated performance (juried
performances) create the body of evidence used to identify gifted students (see page 15).
Students Who Have Inconsistent Academic Performance
Strengths and disabilities may mask each other and the student may appear to have average ability. However, inconsistent performance may indicate the presence of gifted potential and disabilities. It is important to focus on developing potential and providing strategies to help students when they struggle. Research-based strategies for twice-exceptional students can be
implemented before formal identification is achieved. Continue to look for indicators of gifted behaviors or behaviors that suggest a disability.


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Student’s strengths and weaknesses mask each other.
Identification
Twice-exceptional students are difficult to identify because their
strengths and weaknesses may mask each other, creating a unique learner profile atypical of a gifted student or a student with disabilities.
Student is identified as gifted using district procedures and an advanced learning plan is written
.
Student behavior or performance suggests the possibility of a disability.
The classroom teacher initiates a referral to school’s study team.
Student behavior or performance suggests gifted traits. Special educator and classroom teacher initiate a GT referral
with GT liaison /GT resource consultant.
Student is identified as gifted using district procedures and an advanced learning plan is written.
Student is identified with a disability using district procedures and an IEP or 504 is written.
Student is identified with a disability using district procedures and an IEP or 504 is written.
Programming
In a collaborative effort between the classroom teacher, gifted educator and special educators, appropriate strategies will be implemented to:
• nurture the student’s potential
• support their development of compensatory strategies
• identify their learning gaps and provide explicit instruction
• foster their social and emotional development
• enhance their capacity to cope with mixed abilities.
⇒
The GT learning plan becomes part of the IEP with review for both occurring simultaneously.
⇒
An Addendum for Twice-Exceptional is completed by classroom teacher and GT resource teacher annually and is attached to the GT learning plan.
⇒
Identified student receives a check for twice-exceptional on the GT profile form and is tracked through the GT database.
+

Identification and Programming
for Twice-Exceptional Students
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Identifying Gifted Students in Colorado
is a Multidimensional Process
Recognize and nurture outstanding potential so that gifted students may become all that they are capable of becoming.
Define the Gifted and Talented Learner
The Colorado definition for Gifted and Talented Students references the Rules for the Administration of the Exceptional Children’s Educational Act (I CCR 301-8, Section 2220-R-8.01 et seq.)
Mission
Gifted children means those persons between the ages of five and twenty-one whose abilities, talents, and potential for
accomplishment are so outstanding that they require special
provisions to meet their educational needs. Children under five
who qualify may also be served. Gifted students are capable of
high performance in any or a combination of these areas:
General intellectual ability
Specific academic aptitude
Creative, productive thinking
Leadership and human relations skills
Visual and performing arts

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Provide Equitable Access to Screening
For Gifted Education Services
All children (at the district-designated assessment grade/s) participate in the
screening process. It is more likely that exceptional abilities and evidence of
potential achievement in traditionally underserved children will be recognized.
Use Multiple Sources, Tools, and Criteria for a
Body of Evidence
Multiple sources and tools allow children to reveal their exceptionalities or
potential. A variety of assessment tools should be used to collect information
on a student whose background or talent area makes him/her unique from
others.
Intellectual Ability
Achievement
Behavioral Characteristics
Demonstrated Performance
Seek to find underachieving learners who may be identified only through ability
testing; likewise, seek to find underachieving learners who may not be
identified through traditional testing but whose giftedness is obvious in focused
and deliberate observations of performance on problem-solving tasks. Use a
balanced approach to find underachieving students with both standardized test
scores and behaviors/performances.
Collect data about learners who have documented learning needs in other
areas; e.g., Special Education, ELA, or 504. Ensure that gifted education
personnel understand the categories of disabilities and the specific Special
Education designations that impact the learning process.

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INTELLECTUAL ABILITY
95th percentile and above on norm-referenced standardized cognitive testsor subtests.
Examples: WISC
Cognitive Abilities Test
Nonverbal Analogies Test
Body of Evidence
(BOE)

ACHIEVEMENT
95th percentile and above on norm-referenced or criterion-
referenced standardized tests.
Advanced on a standards-based test.
Examples: ITBS, Terra Nova, CSAP

BEHAVIORS/CHARACTERISTICS
Observation of behaviors or motivation with outstanding or exceptional factors.
Examples: Bertie Kingore Inventory Gifted Evaluation Scale

DEMONSTRATED PERFORMANCE
Distinguished level of performance.
Examples: Juried performance
Advanced portfolio
For additional information about the importance of using a Body of Evidence, please see the Colorado Department of Education publication—Gifted Education Guidelines and Resources, Volume I: Identification and refer to Component 3.
The appendix offers examples of instruments in each of the BOE (Body of Evidence) categories.
Body of Evidence

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Identifying Students with Disabilities In Colorado
It is most important and relevant to students’ educational success to provide the best research-based instructional interventions and support possible. For some students, early
interventions will prevent the educational difficulties from becoming a disability.
• Twice-exceptional students must have a disability as defined by IDEA. Identified students with disabilities exhibit a marked difference between ability and achievement and evidence of a processing deficit.
• In addition to the current process of using the “discrepancy formula” to determine the presence of a learning disability, IDEA reauthorization allows districts to use a process that determines if the child responds to scientific research-based interventions.
Points to Consider When Identifying Gifted Students with
Disabilities:
• Twice-exceptional students typically demonstrate outstanding performance in either the verbal IQ or performance IQ on the WISC. If students have a significant discrepancy between Verbal IQ and Performance IQ on the WISC, the full scale IQ will not be a true indication of their ability.
• Closely examine the scatter of the WISC subtests. Twice-exceptional students usually have higher scores on vocabulary, similarities, information, and comprehension and lower scores on arithmetic, digit span, coding, and sequencing.
• Discrepancy between verbal and non-verbal scores may be present on the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT).
• Achievement discrepancies can exist between oral and written expression, basic reading skills and reading comprehension, mathematical reasoning and calculation.
• Students may be performing at grade level and be eligible for twice-exceptional programming because they have a discrepancy between ability and achievement.
• Twice-exceptional students tend to struggle with executive functioning, organization, memory, written output, and sometimes reading decoding and math calculation.

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IDEA and Twice-Exceptional Students
When Congress approved the Reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in November of 2004, IDEA acknowledged the needs of twice-exceptional children for the first time. It added gifted and talented students who have disabilities to the groups of students whose needs have priority in U.S. Department of Education grants to guide research, personnel preparation, and technical assistance.
The National Association for Gifted Children posted the section of H.R. 1350 (the reauthorization of IDEA) regarding specific learning disabilities on their web site. Below is the text regarding specific learning disabilities, which is the type of disability with the
highest incidence in the twice-exceptional population. Although districts may, they are not required to accept a discrepancy between ability and performance in determining whether
a student has a learning disability. The new law would allow districts to use a process that determines if the child responds to scientific, research-based interventions. Currently in Colorado, several districts and the state have begun conversations about this, and guidelines are being developed and piloted.
IDEA—SEC. 614. EVALUATIONS, ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATIONS,
INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAMS, AND EDUCATIONAL
PLACEMENTS.
a. Evaluation Procedures.-
6. Specific Learning Disabilities.-
A. IN GENERAL.- Notwithstanding section 607(b), when determining whether a child has a specific learning disability as defined in section 602(29), a local educational agency shall not be required to take into consideration whether a child has a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability
in oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, basic reading skill, reading comprehension, mathematical calculation, or mathematical reasoning.
B. ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY.- In determining whether a child has a specific learning disability, a local educational agency may use a process that determines if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention as a part of the evaluation procedures described in paragraphs (2) and (3).
Source: National Association for Gifted Children, 2004.

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Learning Disabilities in IDEA
NAGC also cites Paragraphs 2 & 3 of Section 614, as well as the definition of specific learning disability - Section 602 (29) as follows: Sec. 614
2. CONDUCT OF EVALUATION.- In conducting the evaluation, the local educational agency shall - A. use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional, developmental, and academic information, including information
provided by the parent, that may assist in determining -
i. whether the child is a child with a disability; and
ii the content of the child's individualized education program, including information related to enabling the child to be involved in and progress in the general curriculum, or for preschool children, to participate in appropriate activities; B. not use any single procedure, measure, or assessment as the sole criterion
for determining whether a child is a child with a disability or determining an appropriate educational program for the child; and
C. use technically sound instruments that may assess the relative contribution of cognitive and behavioral factors, in addition to physical or developmental factors.
3. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.- Each local educational agency shall ensure that -
A. tests and other evaluation materials used to assess a child under this section
i. are selected and administered so as not to be discriminatory on a racial or cultural basis;
ii. are provided and administered in the language and form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally, unless it is not feasible to so provide or administer;
iii. are used for purposes for which the assessments or measures are valid and reliable;
iv. are administered by trained and knowledgeable personnel; and
v. are administered in accordance with any instructions provided by the producer of such tests.
B. the child is assessed in all areas of suspected disability; and
C. assessment tools and strategies that provide relevant information that directly assists persons in determining the educational needs of the child are provided.
Source: National Association for Gifted Children, 2004.

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Learning Disabilities in IDEA
D. assessments of children with disabilities, including homeless children with disabilities, children with disabilities who are wards of the State, and children with disabilities in military families, who transfer from one school district to another school district in the same academic year, are -
i. coordinated with such children's prior and subsequent schools as necessary to ensure timely completion of full evaluations; and
ii. completed within time limits -
I. established for all students by Federal law or State plans; and
II. that computes the commencement of time from the date on which such children are first referred for assessments in any local
educational agency.
SEC. 602. DEFINITIONS.
29. SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY.-
A. IN GENERAL.- The term 'specific learning disability' means a disorder in 1 or 2 more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which disorder may manifest itself in the imperfect
ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations.
B. DISORDERS INCLUDED.- Such term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.
C. DISORDERS NOT INCLUDED.- Such term does not include a learning problem that is primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic
disadvantage. *
* Although they are not included in this section of IDEA which is limited to Specific Learning Disabilities, many states, including Colorado, do include these other categories of disorders as
factors when determining if a student is Twice-exceptional.
Source: National Association for Gifted Children,2004.

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Six Steps to Strategic Planning for Twice-Exceptional Students
1. Identify Stakeholders
The first step in implementing change is to identify the stakeholders, those people who will be impacted by the change or will play a role in implementing change. Stakeholder groups
for twice-exceptional education should include representatives from gifted education, special education (special education teachers, school psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, speech/language pathologists), classroom teachers, administrators, counselors, students, and parents.
2. Organize a Steering Committee
The steering committee must include representatives from each stakeholder group. Select members who are innovators and early adaptors. This group will guide the work in developing a plan and implementing change.
3. Build a Collaboration
A collaborative team effort is recommended to address the unique needs of twice-exceptional students. Work to develop a collaborative effort through training and discussions. Remember, each stakeholder group must have a voice and must become part
of the collaboration.
4. Determine Needs and Identify Problems/Issues
Identify the concerns of each stakeholder group. What are the specific needs of twice-exceptional students and what are the problems/issues that prevent these needs from being met? A needs-assessment survey completed by representatives of each stakeholder group is a good way to identify specific needs, problems, and issues.
5. Develop an Action Plan
Having a clear understanding of what you want to accomplish unifies the commitment of the team. The action plan should include: goals, strategies to achieve goals, anticipated
resistance or obstacles you may encounter, resources needed, and a way to measure progress/success.
6. Implement and Sustain Change
To sustain change it must be integrated into the educational system. Determine how identification and programming can be integrated into the system that already exists. Plan for extensive training and written documentation to support successful implementation of the plan.

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Programming Strategies
for Gifted Students with Disabilities
The needs of most twice-exceptional students can be met in the
regular classroom through appropriate identification and an
individualized approach. However, the classroom teacher must have support from both gifted educators and special educators to
implement effective strategies. The best results are achieved when there is a collaboration between the classroom teacher, gifted educator, special educator, parents, and the student.
Programming for twice-exceptional students must include strategies to:
• nurture the student’s strengths and interests
•foster their social/emotional development
•enhance their capacity to cope with mixed abilities
•identify learning gaps and provide explicit instruction
•support the development of compensatory strategies

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A Continuum of Services
The unique characteristics of individual students should determine the type and level of support services the student receives. Some twice-exceptional students will require more intensive services than others.
Because gifted and twice-exceptional students differ in a variety of ways, their needs require appropriate placement along several
continuums:
A continuum of services is the variety of delivery and programming options available to gifted and talented students for meeting educational and affective needs.
A continuum of delivery of services refers to “where” twice-exceptional students receive services: general classroom, resource room, classroom cluster groups, interest groups, magnet classrooms, special schools for gifted students, vertical team groups, learning clusters for special interests or topics, mentorships, or special education.
The continuum of learning refers to the content standards and benchmarks, K-12, that allow for continuous learning and/or acceleration based upon progress monitoring and student achievement in the content benchmarks.
A continuum of programming options refers to the curricular and affective opportunities provided through implementation of programming components (structure, content options, differentiated instruction, and affective guidance.)

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Nurture Students’ Strengths and Interests
Programming for gifted education seeks to nurture and develop the strengths and interests of students. All gifted students require balanced gifted programming over time. These programming components for gifted education are based upon
national standards, research, and best practices in gifted education. Implementing these strategies will improve students’ motivation, develop confidence, and support student achievement.
These are the recommended programming components to nurture gifted potential in twice-exceptional students:
Strength/Interest
Accommodation
Differentiated
Instruction
Affective Guidance & Counseling
Acceleration
Content
Extension
Higher Order
Thinking Skills

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Acceleration
Acceleration is the appropriate movement of a student and/or curriculum by pace or place to match learning opportunities with student strengths, readiness, and needs.
•Single Subject Acceleration: The delivery of curriculum by either moving the child into a higher grade level or providing higher grade-level curriculum in age-based classrooms.
•Concurrent Enrollment: Attending classes in more than one grade or building. (e.g. A middle school student attends a class at the high school).
•Post-Secondary Options: High school students are allowed to spend part of their day attending classes at a local college or university and receive both high school and college credit.
•Rocky Mountain Talent Search: Students take the SAT or ACT in middle school and can qualify for advanced level courses at universities throughout the country.
•Correspondence/Distance Learning: Courses taken within or outside regular school time for personal interest or credit.
•Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate: Students take AP or IB high school courses and take a test to qualify for college credit.
•Independent Study: Students pursue an area of interest in-depth or required curriculum at a pace that meets their individual needs.

Advanced by Design
REACH-Out and Nurture Exceptional Abilities

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Strategy
Description of Strategy
Why Appropriate for 2X Students
Flexible Skills
Grouping
Students are matched to skills work by virtue of readiness, not with the assumption that all need the same spelling task, computation drill, writing assignment, etc.
Movement among groups is common, based on readiness on a given skill and growth in that skill.
• Exempts students from basic skills work in areas
where they demonstrate a high level of performance
(100% is not required).
• Can allow a chance for independent work at the
student’s own pace.
Compacting
A 3-step process that (1) assesses what a student knows
about material to be studied and what the student still
needs to master, (2) plans for learning what is not known
and excuses student from what is known, and (3) plans
for freed-up time to spend in enriched or accelerated
study.
• Eliminates boredom from unnecessary drill and
practice.
• Satisfies student’s desire to learn more about a topic
than school often allows.
• Encourages independence.
Most Difficult
First
Students can demonstrate mastery of a concept by
completing the five most difficult problems with 85%
accuracy. Students who can demonstrate mastery do
not need to practice anymore.
• Honors student’s mastery of a concept.
• Eliminates unnecessary drill and practice.
• Reduces homework load of students who can demonstrate mastery.
Orbital Study
Independent investigations, generally of three to six
weeks. They orbit, or revolve, around some facet of the
curriculum. Students select their own topics for orbital,
and they work with guidance and coaching from the
teacher to develop more expertise on the topic and the
process of becoming an independent investigator.
• Allows students to develop expertise on a topic and
work with complex ideas.
• Builds on student interest and enables students to use
their preferred learning style.
• Teachers and students establish criteria for success
Independent Projects, Group Investigations Process through which student and teacher identify problems or topics of interest to the student. Both student and teacher plan a method of investigating the problem or topic and identifying the type of product the student will develop. The product should address the
problem and demonstrate the student’s ability to apply skills and knowledge to the problem or topic.
• Builds on student interest and encourages
independence.
• Teacher provides guidance and structure to supplement student capacity to plan.
• Uses preset timelines to zap procrastination and logs
to document the process involved.
• Teachers and students establish criteria for success.
Problem-Based
Learning
The student is placed in the active role of solving
problems as a professional would.
• Utilizes varied learning strengths, allows use of a
range of resources, and provides a good opportunity
for balancing student choice with teacher coaching.
Agendas
A personalized list of tasks that a particular student must
complete in a specified time.
• Teacher moves among individual students, coaching
and monitoring their understanding and progress.
Learning Centers, Interest Centers
Centers are flexible enough to address variable learning
needs. Interest centers are designed to motivate student
exploration of a topic. Learning centers are a collection
of activities designed to teach, reinforce, or extend a
skill/concept.
• Materials and activities address a wide range of
reading levels, learning profiles, and student
interests.
• Activities vary from simple to complex, concrete to
abstract, structured to open-ended.
Choice Boards, Tic-Tac-Toe
RAFT
Students make a work selection from a certain row or
column. Teachers can target work toward student needs
while giving students choice.
• Well suited to dealing with readiness, interests, and
learning style preferences among students.
Portfolios
A collection of student work that can be a powerful way
of reflecting on student growth over time.
• Portfolios are motivating because of emphasis on
student choice and focus on readiness, interests, and
learning profile.
Assessment
Assessment is ongoing and diagnostic. It provides the
teacher with day-to-day data on students’ readiness,
interests, and their learning profile. Assessment has
more to do with helping students grow than with
cataloging their mistakes.
• Assessment is used to formally record student growth.
• Varied means of assessment is used so that all students can fully display their skill and understanding.

Differentiated Instructional Strategies
Adapted from The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners by Caron Ann Tomlinson

Page 30

Differentiated Curriculum Meets the Needs of Twice-Exceptional Learners
Curriculum Component
Build on Strengths
Adaptations for 2X Learner Needs
Content:
What students should know, understand, and be able to do as a result of the study.
• Focus on broad–based issues, themes, or problems.
• Pretest to find out what a student knows and eliminate unnecessary drill and practice.
• Student readiness, interest, and learning profiles hape instruction.
•Guide students in making interest based learning choices.
• Explore the topic in greater depth; issues and problems should be complex and multi-faceted.
• Combined ideas or skills being taught with those previously learned.
• Key concepts, ideas, and skills the teacher wants students to learn remain constant.

The way student access this information is varied in response
to student's readiness, interest, and learning profile

• Use multiple texts and supplementary print resource materials to accommodate students’ ‘reading level.

• Use varied computer programs, audio/video recording, high-
lighted print materials, and digests of key ideas.
• Provide support mechanisms such as notetaking organizers to
help students organize information.

• Time allocation varies according to student needs.

Process:
Activities designed to help students make sense of the content.

• Teacher facilitates student's skills at becoming more self-reliant
learners

• Encourage students to develop independent learning skills

• Respectful (engaging, high level) tasks for all learners.

• Focus on key concepts, principles/generalizations, and skills
versus coverage.
• Tasks should be based on readiness, interests and learning profiles of students.

• Encourage creativity and skills of fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboralation.

• Encourage students to make sense of an idea in a preferred
way of learning (multiple-intelligence assignments).
• Match the complexity of the task with the student's level of
understanding.

• Give choices abou tfacets of topic to specialize and help link
a personal interest to sense - making goal.

• Vary the amount of teacher/peer support or scaffolding.

• Provide graphic organisers to help students synthesize information.

• Teach investigation and research skills.

• Promote cognition and metacognition.

Product:
The vehicles through which students demonstrate and extend what they have learned.

• Product assignments should cause students to rethink, apply,
and expand on key concepts and principles.

•Multi-option assignments are used allowing students to use their strengths to demonstrate their knowledge.

• Use products as a way to help students connect what they are
learning to the real world.

• Set clear standards of high expectations.

• Encourage self-evaluation based on agreed upon criteria.
•Use formative (inprocess) and summative (end of process)
evaluation by peers, self, and teachers to promote growth
and success.
• Excellence is defined by student growth: continually model and talk about what constitutes personal excellence.
• Support the use of varied modes of expression, materials, and
technologies.
• Balance clear directions that support success,
with freedom of choice that supports individuality of interest and learning profile.
• Provide templates or organizers to guide student's work.
• Help students break down projects into manageable steps and
develop a timeline. Stress planning, check dates, and logs so students use all the time allocated.
• Help build passion for the ideas being pursued.
• Product assignments should necessitate and support creativity.
Help students develop skills needed to create authentic products.
Adapted from The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners by Carol Ann Tomlinson.

Page 31

Content Extension
Content Extension is providing greater depth or breadth to the educationalexperiences through enhanced curriculum or academic programs and competitions. Content Extension should be a systematic plan for extending students’ learning in the following ways:
• Oportunity for real-life research and independent study
• Academic programs and competitions ⇒ Math Olympiad
⇒ Future Problem-Solving ⇒ Destination Imagination ⇒ Junior Great Books ⇒ JASON Project
• Mentors
These programming models provide beneficial opportunities for twice- exceptional students:
• Autonomous Learner Model for Optimizing Ability, developed by
George Betts and Jolene Kercher, has five dimensions to develop
students’ potential: ⇒ Orientation ⇒ Individual Development ⇒ Enrichment ⇒ Seminars ⇒
In-Depth Study
• Renzulli’s Enrichment Triad has three levels of enrichment:
⇒ Type 1 Enrichment—General Exploratory Experiences
⇒ Type 2 Enrichment—Cognitive and Affective Development ⇒ Type 3 Enrichment—Individual and Small Group Investigations

Page 32

Higher-Order Thinking Skills
Curriculum for twice-exceptional students should challenge their thinking and problem-solving skills. The Socratic questioning method helps students formulate questions and think through problems. Twice-exceptional students often struggle with executive processes. They have a difficult time organizing, prioritizing, and generalizing information.
Teachers can help by modeling and teaching metacognitive skills. Use “think aloud” to help students develop their thinking language.
Higher-Order Thinking Skills include:
• Analytical Thinking Skills—Various cognitive processes that deepen understanding of knowledge and skills.
• Critical Thinking Skills—Various thinking skills that are used to analyze and evaluate in order to respond to an argument or position.
• Executive Processes—Various cognitive skills involved in organizing, synthesizing, generalizing, or applying knowledge.
• Creative Thinking Skills—Various cognitive skills that are involved in creative production.
• Creative Problem Solving—Provides an excellent structure for helping twice exceptional students learn how to creatively solve problems.

Page 33

Social/Emotional Support
Twice-exceptional students need a nurturing environment that supports the development of the students’ potential. An encouraging approach is recommended over implementing measures from a punitive perspective.
Teachers provide a nurturing environment when:
• they value individual differences and learning styles;
• the development of student’s potential is encouraged;
• students’ readiness, interests, and learning profile shape instruction;
• excellence is defined by individual growth;
• flexible grouping is used for instruction;
• students are assessed in multiple ways;
• instruction includes activities for multiple intelligences.
Social/Emotional Issues
Making friends can be difficult for twice-exceptional students. They may need help developing peer relationships and opportunities to work with peers of similar abilities and interests. Friendship groups help twice-exceptional students learn how to make and keep friends.
Twice-exceptional students can be very self-critical and this can lead to dysfunctional perfectionism. Counseling is needed to address their unique needs and should be available on an as-needed basis.
Developing an awareness of their strengths and challenges is beneficial for twice-exceptional students. Role playing can help students learn how to become a self-advocate and how to ask for help when it is needed.
Lack of organizational, time management, and study skills can have a negative impact on the emotional well-being and school performance of twice-exceptional students. They need explicit instruction to develop those skills and specialized intervention services related to challenge areas.
Learning how to set personal goals and how to develop sequential steps or a series of short-term goals to achieve long-term goals can be beneficial for twice-exceptional learners. Career and college guidance is essential for these students.

Page 34
Steps to Create an Individual Plan
The focus of the individual plan must be to develop the student’s strengths.
Success in the strength areas promotes the development of a strong self-concept and self-efficacy. Instruction that builds on the student’s interests can motivate them to persevere when learning challenges cause them to struggle in school. Appropriate assessments must be used to identify hidden disabilities and learning gaps. Twice-exceptional students need explicit
instruction in their specific deficit areas. Teaching students compensatory strategies helps them learn strategies they can use independently to be successful.
Identify Students’ Strengths, Interests, and Challenges.
Use the template on the next page and identify the strengths with a (s), the interests with an (i), and challenge areas with a (c). Place a check in the columns to the right to identify specific areas where strength/interest-based strategies will be implemented to develop the student’s potential. Select
accommodations that will help the student access learning, and identify areas where explicit instruction will be provided to teach compensatory strategies.
Select Specific Strategies Based on Student Needs.
• Strength/Interest-Based Accommodations
• Accommodation to Access Learning
•Explicit Instruction for Compensatory Strategies
•Explicit Instruction for Intervention/Remediation
Complete the Twice-Exceptional Strategies Plan.

Page 35
Educational Planning for a Continuum of Abilities
S - Student Strength
C - Student Challenges
I - Student Interest
Strength/Interest-Based
Accommodations
Accommodations: to Access Learning Explicit Instruction:
Compensatory Strategies Explicit Instruction:
Intervention/Remediation
Cognitive Processing/General Intellectual Ability
___ Visual Processing
___ Auditory Processing
___ Sequential/Rational Processing
___ Conceptual Holistic Processing
___ Processing Speed
___ Attention
___ Memory
___ Executive Functioning
___ Organization
Specific Academic
___ Reading
___ Reading Fluency
___ Writing
___ Writing Fluency
___ Math
___ Math Fluency
___ Science
___ Social Studies
Creativity
___ Creative Thinking
___ Creative Productivity
___ Creative Problem Solving
___ Risk Taking
Visual, Spatial, Performing Arts
___ Visual
___ Spatial
___ Musical/Rhythmic
___ Bodily/Kinesthetic
Physical/Psychomotor
___ Sensory Integration
___ Hearing
___ Vision
___ ADD
___ ADHD
___ Bodily/Kinesthetic
___ Athletics
Interpersonal/Leadership
___ Communicating
___ Understanding Others
___ Peer Relations
___ Self Advocacy
Intrapersonal/Social/Emotional
___ Understanding Self
___ Introspection/Reflection
___ Perfectionism
___ Coping
___ Resili

[sld123]

www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=KywP6G2TN1sZhLvTqLyBb3h2fn710mZpwwGb3Z3vypmTnHZTJtVv!-1638301787!787127029?docId=26024536

[sld123]

www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/oah/SEHO_Decisions/2006090461-2006100331.pdf

[zippity]

Thanks SLD.
Didn't Shaywitz, Moats or Torgesen have some study they did or pointed to?

[cobyseven]

zippity:

this is what you are looking for:

www.ncrld.org

Start on this page. I was JUST reading these again. good one by Torgensen at the beginning. Lots discuss what we know AND what we DON'T know.


www.nrcld.org/resources/ldsummit/

[zippity]

Thanks, for www.ncld.org/
Keep em coming, and thanks for acting like my research assistants. I want to provide these as part of my concerns but darn it's hard for a parent to educate their kid while they are responding to a DP. It's coming along though. I was spinning at first over my dissection of grades with the assignments, the correlation between who assisted and so on. Now it's happening
On top of it I had to make DD forgo the tutors help to do some unassisted work and she shut down. She has mustered some, some the teacher tried but I can't tell her that what she provides is not "special instruction" and so she is flustered at the attempt. Maybe in court she will admit, "the kid can not get what she needs in the gen ed classroom in spite of what my boss says!"

Stepped up therapy for DD because on top of this she is depressed over turning older. She wanted to stay 13. OMG, and my mom thought I was sensitive! I hope she has a happy 40th when that rolls around having gone through this! (and please don't say it is court because that is done when she is at school) She literally has been depressed over leaving 8th grade. She is going kicking and screaming into High School.

[cobyseven]

Directly from page 5 of this paper:

SLD generally is described as a disability category that includes individuals with severe underachievement in academic areas due to a neurological delay or dysfunction. This underachievement is not due to mental retardation, sensory impairments, or environmental influences such as lack of educational opportunity or poor instruction. In general, a consensus in the field is that the following are the primary features of SLD:

1. Unexpected low achievement relative to aptitude or ability.
2. Deficits and uneven profiles in specific perceptual or cognitive processes.
3. Evidence of within-student, presumably underlying, neurological conditions (IDEA 1997)

www.nrcld.org/resource_kit/tools/SLDOverview2007.pdf


There is much further discussion in these papers of the research that backs what we know, what we don't know, and a discussion of various methods of identifying SLD, performance of SLD students versus other types of students (e.g. low IQ), etc. etc.

Is this what you are looking to find? If not, be more specific and I will search some more. This link really has some great condensed versions of .gov definitions of identifying and responding to SLD.

[cobyseven]

'By the way, this link is NOT ncld.org .... it's NRCLD....a .gov site that researches SLD and provides information regarding SLD identification and using RTI.

Lots of great stuff here.

[dhfl143]

Cobyseven --

Good thing you pointed out that it wasn't NCLD. I didn't pay enough attention to the address and I can see myself a few months from now scouring the NCLD web site -- convinced that I'd seen it there

[healthy11]

Zippity, while this doesn't help your research, I really think my son has been reluctant to leave high school and teen years behind. He was a "late bloomer" and finally developed some friendships there, and that's why I think he decided to attend a college that's only an hour from where we live. Some of his good friends are a year or two younger, so he kept coming home from college every weekend to "hang out" with them. He went back to his high school's Prom again this year as an escort to one of the girls. He's hanging out with one of the guys tonight.
Trust me, if that's one of your daughter's fears, you can reassure her that she'll still be able to keep in touch with most of her existing friends, too, even after she's in high school.

[zippity]

my bad. When I clicked on link it was broken. I thought it was a typo. Must have been my computer. The attorney has the identification covered. I am looking for something to back up what I have been told and read somewhere. I clearly remember one school psych in the beginning waxing on about how inconsistent DD was as so stupidly she just couldn't explain it which meant she tried not to identify. A year later reading it was a hallmark of Dyslexia and later ADHD it made me so mad at her gall to dismiss the peaks and valleys.
I want to be prepared to speak on what I know as fact not just "mommy" intuition next week. What I am building is a bit different than last time, then again I am not the one having to prove my case. I just remember how speaking as I did, on what I did and by deferring to experts, made certain positions indisputable and moot taking the wind out of the SD position.

"2. Deficits and uneven profiles in specific perceptual or cognitive processes."
"Indicators of Cognitive/Affective Problems" has a great deal of descriptors. I am looking for a point to the research that this came from.
Again thanks!
Healthy, Cute smileys. DD is going into high school and as far as she knows, it's the same school, very small. I don't discuss the case or the possibility we may ask for private school to make us go away. She knows we are being sued but it is somewhere in the background. She is not even aware of our date next week just that she had a birthday and didn't want to get older. Tutor thinks she feels like she is living a lie and will be unable to do the work required so she is shutting down. Forget Senioritus, it's end of yearitus. Not wanting to grow up.

Then DS came to me, concerned about feeling disconnected among his peers. Sounded like a low level depression. We talked for quite a while. He needs to talk with a professional to figure out if it's normal adolescent pangs that everyone is more grounded or happier with life than you are or part of the "Asperger" tendencies he has. He is well liked but admits feeling quirky and not tolerant of others. When it rains it pours ay?

Will be asking for fairy dust next week. Hubby is headed out of town. Just the way it worked out. Grasping for the mondo bottle of B vitamins.

[cobyseven]

I still say you can built on it from Torgensens paper included in the link I gave you. This is a paper that builds on intrinsic cognitive processing as a definition for LD. Look specifically at the section that defines ways in which psychological processes can cause individual differences in performance. It also points to studies by Wolf & Bower and by Paula Tallal. If you don't find what you need, follow the research links at the end.


www.nrcld.org/resources/ldsummit/torgesen.pdf

[sld123]

ERIC Identifier: ED321484
Publication Date: 1990-00-00
Author: Baum, Susan
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Handicapped and Gifted Children Reston VA.
Gifted but Learning Disabled: A Puzzling Paradox. ERIC Digest #E479.

How can a child learn and not learn at the same time? Why do some students apply little or no effort to school tasks while they commit considerable time and effort to demanding, creative activities outside of school? These behaviors are typical of some students who are simultaneously gifted and learning disabled. For many people, however, the terms learning disabilities and giftedness are at opposite ends of a learning continuum. In some states, because of funding regulations, a student may be identified and assisted with either learning disabilities or giftedness, but not both.

Uneasiness in accepting this seeming contradiction in terms stems primarily from faulty and incomplete understandings. This is not surprising, because the "experts" in each of these disciplines have difficulty reaching agreement. Some still believe that giftedness is equated with outstanding achievement across all subject areas. Thus, a student who is an expert on bugs at age 8 may automatically be excluded from consideration for a program for gifted students because he cannot read, though he can name and classify a hundred species of insects. Many educators view below-grade-level achievement as a prerequisite to a diagnosis of a learning disability. Thus, an extremely bright student who is struggling to stay on grade level, may slip through the cracks of available services because he or she is not failing.
WHO ARE THE LEARNING DISABLED/GIFTED?
Recent advances in both fields have alerted professionals to the possibility that both sets of behavior can exist simultaneously (Baum and Owen, 1988; Fox, Brody, and Tobin, 1983; Whitmore and Maker, 1985). Children who are both gifted and learning disabled exhibit remarkable talents or strengths in some areas and disabling weaknesses in others. They can be grouped into three categories: (1)identified gifted students who have subtle learning disabilities, (2) unidentified students whose gifts and disabilities may be masked by average achievement, and (3) identified learning disabled students who are also gifted.

IDENTIFIED GIFTED STUDENTS WHO HAVE SUBTLE LEARNING DISABILITIES. This group is easily identified as gifted because of high achievement or high IQ scores. As they grow older, discrepancies widen between expected and actual performance. These students may impress teachers with their verbal abilities, while their spelling or handwriting contradicts the image. At times, they may be forgetful, sloppy and disorganized. In middle school or junior high, where there are more long-term written assignments and a heavier emphasis on comprehensive, independent reading, some bright students find it increasingly difficult to achieve. Concerned adults are convinced that if these students would only try harder, they could succeed.

While increased effort may be required for these students, the real issue is that they simply do not know how! Because they may be on grade level and are considered gifted, they are likely to be overlooked for screening procedures necessary to identify a subtle learning disability. Identification of a subtle disability would help students understand why they are experiencing academic difficulties. More important, professionals could offer learning strategies and compensation techniques to help them deal with their duality of learning behaviors.

A word of caution is necessary at this point. A learning disability is not the only cause of a discrepancy between potential and achievement. There are a number of other reasons why bright children may be underachieving. Perhaps expectations are unrealistic. Excelling in science, for example, is no assurance that high-level performance will be shown in other academic areas. Motivation, interest, and specific aptitudes influence the amount of energy students are willing to apply to a given task. Social or emotional problems can interfere with achievement. Grades and school are simply unimportant to some students. Some youngsters have not learned how to study because, during primary grades, school was easy and success required minimal effort.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENTS. The second group of youngsters in which this combination of learning behaviors may be found are those who are not noticed at all. These students are struggling to stay at grade level. Their superior intellectual ability is working overtime to help compensate for weaknesses caused by an undiagnosed learning disability. In essence, their gift masks the disability and the disability masks the gift. These students are often difficult to find because they do not flag the need for attention by exceptional behavior. Their hidden talents and abilities may merge in specific content areas or may be stimulated by a classroom teacher who uses a creative approach to learning. The disability is frequently discovered in college or adulthood when the student happens to read about dyslexia or hears peers describe their learning difficulties.
IDENTIFIED LEARNING DISABLED STUDENTS WHO ARE ALSO GIFTED.
These bright children, discovered within the population of students who are identified as learning disabled, are often failing miserably in school. They are first noticed because of what they cannot do, rather than because of the talent they are demonstrating. This group of students is most at risk because of the implicit message that accompanies the LD categorization that there is something wrong with the student that must be fixed before anything else can happen. Parents and teachers alike become totally focused on the problem. Little attention, if any, is paid to the student's strengths and interests, other than to use them to remediate weaknesses.

Interestingly, these children often have high-level interests at home. They may build fantastic structures with plastic bricks or start a local campaign to save the whales. The creative abilities, intellectual strength and passion they bring to their hobbies are clear indicators of their potential for giftedness (Renzulli, 1978). Because these students are bright and sensitive, they are more acutely aware of their difficulty in learning. Furthermore, they tend to generalize their feelings of academic failure to an overall sense of inadequacy. Over time, these pessimistic feelings over-shadow any positive feelings connected with what they accomplish on their own at home. Research has shown that this group of students is often rated by teachers as most disruptive at school. They are frequently found to be off task; they may act out, daydream, or complain of headaches and stomachaches; and they are easily frustrated and use their creative abilities to avoid tasks (Baum and Owen, 1988; Whitmore, 1980). Since school does not offer these bright youngsters much opportunity to polish and use their gifts, such results are not surprising.
CURRICULAR NEEDS
Although each of these subgroups has unique problems, they all require an environment that will nurture their gifts, attend to the learning disability and provide the emotional support to deal with their inconsistent abilities. Four general guidelines can assist professionals in developing programs that will meet the needs of these students.

FOCUS ATTENTION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GIFT. Remediation of basic skills historically has been the single focus of efforts to serve students once they have been classified as learning disabled. Few opportunities exist for bright students with learning disabilities to demonstrate gifted behaviors. Research has shown that a focus on weaknesses at the expense of developing gifts can result in poor self esteem, a lack of motivation, depression and stress (Baum, 1984; Whitmore & Maker, 1985). In addition to offering remediation, focused attention on the development of strengths, interests, and superior intellectual capacities is necessary. These students need a stimulating educational environment which will enable them to fully develop their talents and abilities. Enrichment activities should be designed to circumvent problematic weaknesses and to highlight abstract thinking and creative production.

Over the last 6 years, the state of Connecticut has funded a variety of special programs for gifted students who have learning disabilities. All the programs have emphasized the development of gifts and talents of these students. The results of the projects showed dramatic improvement in student self-esteem, motivation, and productive learning behaviors. Improved achievement in basic skills for many students has been an unexpected bonus (Baum, 1988). In fact, according to Whitmore and Maker (1985), more gains are seen when intervention focuses on the gift rather than the disability.
PROVIDE A NURTURING ENVIRONMENT THAT VALUES INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.
According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (1962),

individuals must feel that they belong and are valued in order to reach their potential or self-actualize. How valued can a student feel if the curriculum must be continually modified, or assignments watered down, to enable the student to achieve success? Currently, only certain abilities are rewarded by schools, primarily those that involve strong verbal proficiency. Indeed, according to Howard Gardner (1983), schools spend much of their time teaching students the skills they would need to become college professors. Success in the real world depends on skills or knowledge in other areas besides reading and writing.

A nurturing environment--one that shows concern for developing student potential--values and respects individual differences. Students are rewarded for what they do well. Options are offered for both acquiring information and communicating what is learned. The philosophy fosters and supports interdependence; students work in cooperative groups to achieve goals. Many types of intelligence are acknowledged; A well-produced video production about life in the Amazon is as valued as the well written essay on the same topic. In such an environment no child will feel like a second class citizen, and the gifted students with learning disabilities can excel.

ENCOURAGE COMPENSATION STRATEGIES. Learning disabilities tend to be somewhat permanent. A poor speller will always need to check for errors in spelling before submitting a final draft. Students who have difficulty memorizing mathematics may need to use a calculator to assure accuracy. Thus, simply remediating weaknesses may not be appropriate or sufficient for the gifted learning disabled student. Remediation will make the learner somewhat more proficient, but probably not excellent, in areas of weakness. For instance, students who have difficulty with handwriting will ultimately fare much better if allowed to use a computer to record their ideas on paper than they will after years of remediation in handwriting. The following list outlines suggestions for providing compensation techniques to help students cope with weaknesses typical of learning disabled students:

1. Find sources of information that are appropriate for students who may have difficulty reading. Some examples are visitations, interviews, photographs, pictorial histories, films, lectures, or experimentation. Remember, these children do not want the curriculum to be less challenging or demanding. Rather, they need alternative ways to receive the information.

2. Provide advanced organizers to help students receive and communicate information. Students who have difficulty organizing and managing time also benefit from receiving outlines of class lectures, study guides, and a syllabus of topics to be covered. Teach students who have difficulty transferring ideas to a sequential format on paper to use brainstorming and webbing to generate outlines and organize written work. Provide management plans in which tasks are listed sequentially with target dates for completion. Finally, provide a structure or visual format to guide the finished product. A sketch of an essay or science project board will enable these students to produce a well-organized product.

3. Use technology to promote productivity. Technology has provided efficient means to organize and access information, increase accuracy in mathematics and spelling, and enhance the visual quality of the finished product. In short, it allows students with learning disabilities to hand in work of which they can feel proud. Preventing these students from using word processing programs to complete all written assignments is like prohibiting blind children from using texts printed in braille!

4. Offer a variety of options for communication of ideas. Writing is not the only way to communicate; all learning can be expressed and applied in a variety of modes. Slides, models, speeches, mime, murals, and film productions are examples. Remember, however, to offer these options to all children. Alternate modes should be the rule rather than the exception.

5. Help students who have problems in short-term memory develop strategies for remembering. The use of mnemonics, especially those created by students themselves, is one effective strategy to enhance memory. Visualization techniques have also proved to be effective. Resources are listed at the end of this digest.

ENCOURAGE AWARENESS OF INDIVIDUAL STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES. It is imperative that students who are gifted and learning disabled understand their abilities, strengths, and weaknesses so that they can make intelligent choices about their future. If a goal that is important to such a student will require extensive reading, and, if reading is a weak area, the student will have to acknowledge the role of effort and the need for assistance to achieve success."Rap" sessions, in which these students can discuss their frustrations and learn how to cope with their strange mix of abilities and disabilities, are helpful. Mentoring experiences with adults who are gifted and learning disabled will lend validity to the belief that such individuals can succeed.
CONCLUSION
In the final analysis, students who are both gifted and learning disabled must learn how to be their own advocates. They must ultimately choose careers that will accentuate their strengths. In doing so they will meet others who think, feel, and create as they do.

One such student, after years of feeling different and struggling to succeed, was finally able to make appropriate decisions about what he truly needed in his life. He was an outstanding amateur photographer who loved music. He had also started several "businesses" during his teenage years. In his junior year at college he became depressed and realized that he was totally dissatisfied with his coursework, peers, and instructors. He wondered whether he should quit school. After all, he was barely earning C's in his courses. His advisor suggested that he might like to create his own major, perhaps in the business of art. That was the turning point in this young man's life. For the first time since primary grades, he began to earn A's in his courses. He related that he finally felt worthwhile. "You know," he said, "finally I'm with people who think like me and have my interests and values. I am found!"
REFERENCES
Baum, S. (1984). "Meeting the needs of learning disabled gifted children." ROEPER REVIEW, 7, 16-19.

Baum, S. (1988). "An enrichment program for gifted learning disabled students." GIFTED CHILD QUARTERLY, 32, 226-230.

Baum, S. & Owen, S. (1988). "High Ability/Learning Disabled Students: How are they different?" GIFTED CHILD QUARTERLY, 32, 321-326.

Fox, L. H., Brody, L. & Tobin, D. (Eds.) (1983). LEARNING

DISABLED GIFTED CHILDREN: IDENTIFICATION AND PROGRAMMING.

Baltimore, MD: Allyn & Bacon.

Gardner, H. (1983). FRAMES OF MIND: THE THEORY OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES. New York: Basic Books, Inc.

Maslow, A. (1962). TOWARD A PSYCHOLOGY OF BEING. Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand.

Renzulli, J. (1978). "What makes giftedness: Reexamining a definition." PHI DELTA KAPPAN, 60, 180-184.

Whitmore, J. (1980). GIFTEDNESS, CONFLICT, AND UNDER ACHIEVEMENT. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Whitmore, J. & Maker, J. (1985). INTELLECTUAL GIFTEDNESS AMONG DISABLED PERSONS. Rockville, MD: Aspen Press.

RESOURCES

WEBBING AND MIND-MAPPING.

Heimlich, J. E. & Pittleman, S. D. (1986). SEMANTIC MAPPING: CLASSROOM APPLICATIONS. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Large, C. (1987). THE CLUSTERING APPROACH TO BETTER ESSAY WRITING. Monroe, NY: Trillium Press.

Rico, G. L. (1983). WRITING THE NATURAL WAY. Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher.

VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE MEMORY.

Write to Trillium Press, P. O. Box 209, Monroe NY 10950 for information on the following materials:

Bagley, M. T. USING IMAGERY TO DEVELOP MEMORY.

Bagley, M. T. USING IMAGERY IN CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING.

Bagley, M. T. & Hess, K. K. TWO HUNDRED WAYS OF USING IMAGERY IN THE CLASSROOM.

Hess, K. K. ENHANCING WRITING THROUGH IMAGERY.

USING TECHNOLOGY

Summa, D. & Kelly, S. (1989). "What's new in software? Computer software for gifted education." READING, WRITING, AND LEARNING DISABILITIES, 5, 293-296.

ADDITIONAL READING

Armstrong, T. (1987). IN THEIR OWN WAY: DISCOVERING AND ENCOURAGING YOUR CHILD'S PERSONAL LEARNING STYLE. Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher. Distributed by St. Martin's Press. A former teacher and learning disabilities specialist describes learning differences and provides suggestions.

Cannon, T., & Cordell, A. (1985, November). "Gifted kids can't always spell." ACADEMIC THERAPY, 21, 143-152. Briefly discusses characteristics of the gifted learning disabled child, possible patterns on tests, and strategies for instruction.

Daniels, P. (1983). TEACHING THE GIFTED/LEARNING DISABLED CHILD. Rockville, MD: Aspen. Designed for educators and often technical.

Fox, L., Brody, L., & Tobin, D. (Eds.). (1983). LEARNING DISABLED GIFTED CHILDREN: IDENTIFICATION AND PROGRAMMING. Austin, TX: Pro Ed. The most comprehensive study available, containing a variety of experts' opinions.

"Getting learning disabled students ready for college" (n.d.). Washington, DC: American Council on Education, HEATH Resource Center. A useful fact sheet and checklist.

"How to choose a college: Guide for the student with a disability" (n.d.). Washington, DC: American Council on Education, HEATH Resource Center.

Prihoda, J., Bieber, T., Kay, C., Kerkstra, P., & Ratclif, J.(Eds.). (1989). "Community colleges and students with disabilities." Washington, DC: American Council on Education, HEATH Resource Center. Lists services and programs for disabled students at more than 650 U.S. community, technical, and junior colleges.

Rosner, S. (1985, May/June). "Special twice: Guidelines for developing programs for gifted children with specific learning disabilities." G/C/T, 38, 55-58. A very basic overview.

Scheiber, B., & Talpers, J. (1987). UNLOCKING POTENTIAL. Bethesda, MD: Adler and Adler. Offers advice on everything from diagnosis and vocational assessments to specific college programs designed to accommodate students with learning disabilities and provide them with study skills.

Silver, L. (1984). THE MISUNDERSTOOD CHILD: A GUIDE FOR PARENTS OF LEARNING DISABLED CHILDREN. New York: McGraw-Hill. An easy-to-read basic and informative book with a focus on children with learning disabilities, yet relevant to children who are gifted and learning disabled.

Vail, P. (1987). SMART KIDS WITH SCHOOL PROBLEMS. New York: E.P. Dutton. Emphasizes the traits of gifted students and the learning styles that set students who are gifted and learning disabled apart.

Whitmore, J. (1982, January). "Recognizing and developing hidden giftedness." THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL JOURNAL, 82, 274-283. Explores myths about GT children that hinder the identification of children who are gifted and learning disabled.

Whitmore, J., & Maker, C.J. (1985). INTELLECTUAL GIFTEDNESS AMONG DISABLED PERSONS. Rockville, MD: Aspen. One chapter is devoted to children who are specifically gifted and learning disabled, with excellent case studies.

Wolf, J., & Gygi, J. (1981). "Learning disabled and gifted: Success or failure?" JOURNAL FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE GIFTED, 4, 204. Provides well-stated definitions of the qualities of students who are gifted and learning disabled, with ideas about identification and programming.

Note. Reprinted by permission of the publisher Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation, published by Heldref, 4000 Albemarle St. N.W., Washington, D. C. 20016, from PREVENTING SCHOOL FAILURE, (Fall 1989), 34 (1)11-14. Derived from TO BE GIFTED AND LEARNING DISABLED...FROM DEFINITIONS TO PRACTICAL INTERVENTION STRATEGIES, by S. Baum published by Creative Lear

The additional Readings section is from S. Berger (1989), COLLEGE PLANNING FOR GIFTED STUDENTS. Reston, VA: The ERIC Clearinghouse on Handicapped and Gifted Children/The Council for Exceptional Children.

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Underachievement and Learning Disabilities in Children Who Are Gifted
Introduction:
Children who are classified as gifted are, by definition, highly intelligent individuals who fall at the upper end of the distribution of mental ability. Yet giftedness is not a guarantee of academic success. Consider that The National Commission on Excellence in Education (1983) reported that one half of gifted students do not achieve academically at a level that is commensurate with their ability. Surprisingly, between ten and twenty percent of high school dropouts test within the gifted range (Lajoie and Shore, 1981; Whitmore, 1980). Perhaps the most startling statistic in this regard is that 40 percent of those who graduate within the top 5% of their high school classes do not complete college. A number of famous historical figures who were clearly very intelligent (and who probably who have qualified as gifted) struggled considerably in school; these individuals later became highly successful in fields ranging from politics (Woodrow Wilson and Nelson Rockefeller) to science (Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison) to the arts (Auguste Rodin and Cher). There are many possible reasons for this lack of academic success among some of the gifted population. Environmental factors (both within the school and at home), emotional and affective issues, motivational difficulties, and other factors all can contribute to a lack of academic success in students whom would, by virtue of their high level of mental ability, be expected to be high achievers. Another important factor that can result in underachievement academically, and the one that I will be discussing in this article, is the presence of learning disabilities. It comes as a surprise to many people to hear that learning disabilities are as prevalent in the gifted population as in the general population, yet there is nothing in the definition of learning disabilities (or in their diagnosis) to preclude the gifted from this category. Rather, this misconception that gifted children cannot have learning disabilities is, I believe, rooted in the erroneous belief that learning disabilities are in some way restricted to those children who are less bright than average. In fact (as I will expand upon later), children with learning disabilities are by definition of at least average mental ability. Their problem is one of lowered achievement, not lowered ability. In this article I will discuss various definitions of learning disabilities, the diagnostic process, various manifestations of learning disabilities across the school-age range, and appropriate interventions for children with learning disabilities. I will also briefly discuss Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) which, while not a learning disability, often co-occurs with learning disabilities and also frequently manifests itself in ways that are quite similar to learning disabilities. While some of what I will say is characteristic of all children with learning disabilities, I will also attempt to highlight some issues that are particularly relevant to children within the gifted population who have learning disabilities.

The Definition of Learning Disabilities:
The term learning disabilities was first coined in 1963 by Samuel Kirk, but many other terms that were used prior to this time to describe children with learning problems that are now termed learning disabilities. Formulating a single definition of learning disabilities that is acceptable to all professionals in the field has proven difficult. As a result, several definitions are commonly utilized; these differ to some degree but generally have the same essential characteristics. The most commonly used definition first appeared in Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Federal Register, 1977). It was also a part of Public Law 101-476, the 1990 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and is also a component of the 1997 Amendments to IDEA, Public Law 105-17. It reads as follows: The term "specific learning disability" means those children who have a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological process involved in understanding or using language, spoken or written, which disorder may manifest itself in imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or perform mathematical computations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia and developmental aphasia. The term does not include a learning problem which is primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor handicaps, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage (PL 105-17: Federal Register, 1997). This definition of learning disabilities (and associated features of the Federal law that contains it) is important for several reasons. First, it was designed to provide an operational definition of learning disabilities that can be used by professionals to diagnose learning disabilities in a consistent, reliable manner. Second, other aspects of the law provided legal safeguards to assure that children with learning disabilities were provided with appropriate accommodations to remediate their disabilities. Third, it provided a system of checks and balances under which parents of children with learning disabilities could appeal any decisions made about the services that their children would (or would not) receive. I will not go into a detailed discussion of all aspects of Federal Law as it relates to children with learning disabilities, but I do want to elaborate upon the basic components of the definition provided above. There are multiple dimensions to the definition, each of which must be considered in determining whether a child should be diagnosed with learning disabilities. The following major concepts are essential parts of IDEA 1997: --The child must have a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes. These processes refer to cognitive abilities, among them memory (auditory and visual), perception (auditory and visual), intersensory integration (for example visual-auditory intersensory integration, the ability to associate a letter or letters with its appropriate sound(s)), attention, and motor skills, among many others. --The child must have difficulty in learning, manifesting itself in oral language (receptive or expressive), reading, writing, and/or mathematics. That is, their achievement is less than would be expected given their ability. --The learning problem is not attributable to being primarily due to other causes such as visual or auditory impairment, severe motor handicaps, low mental ability, emotional disturbance, or disadvantage due to economic situation, environment, or culture. In other words, there is no other logical explanation for the child's learning difficulties. --A significant discrepancy exists between the child's potential for learning (ability) and his or her actual achievement. That is, underachievement is evident. Be aware that different states and individual school districts differ in the size of the discrepancy that is needed for "significance". Also there are different methods for calculating a discrepancy that go beyond the scope of this article. Note that this definition excludes from the diagnosis of learning disabled many children who are not achieving at a level that is commensurate with their ability: those who possess low levels of mental ability and who would therefore not be expected to achieve at age- or grade-appropriate levels; those who have other problems that are adversely impacting learning (e.g., vision impairment, depression or anxiety, cerebral palsy, and those who have not had an adequate opportunity to learn, among others); and those whose discrepancy between ability and achievement is not large enough to be considered significant in the clinical sense. Also, there must be some explanation as to why the child is underachieving; this is obtained by establishing a connection between the area of underachievement (e.g., mathematics) and a psychological process known to underlie mathematical competency (e.g., auditory memory). This definition, or one quite similar to it, is used by the vast majority of school systems in the United States to qualify children for learning disability services. Consider this example of the implications of the diagnosis for gifted children. A boy, Lucas, with an intelligence quotient (IQ) of 140 (at the 99th percentile for his age) would be expected to achieve at a level that is commensurate with that ability (i.e., that is, at or near the 99th percentile). Let's say that Lucas is not achieving at this level in an area (reading). For the sake of this example, assume that Lucas' achievement on several reading decoding (word recognition) measures places him in the middle of the average range (i.e., a standard score of 100, corresponding to the 50th percentile). Despite the fact that Lucas is decoding at a grade appropriate level, by virtually any definition of a learning disability he is underachieving due to the significant mismatch between his ability and his achievement in reading. This points out an essential (and to many people, very confusing) feature of learning disabilities: among bright children, achievement at a level that is below grade level is not required for a diagnosis of learning disabilities to apply. In fact, if we were to change Lucas' decoding standard score to 110 (corresponding to the 75th percentile), he would still qualify for the diagnosis even though his decoding skills are above those of 75 per cent of his same-grade peers. This type of scenario occurs very often with gifted underachievers, and confusion about it almost certainly results in them often not receiving the diagnosis and associated appropriate services to which they are legally entitled. Thus, it is often the case that parents need to aggressively pursue testing for the gifted child, since teachers and school administrators frequently may believe that there is no need for an evaluation to be conducted (because the child is performing at grade level). In extreme cases, it may be necessary to seek the assistance of a special education advocate or attorney in order to convince a school district of the need for beginning the diagnostic process. Because evidence indicates that early intervention results in the best long-term prognosis, it is important to attempt to determine whether services are warranted when the child is as young as possible.

The Evaluation Process:
Once a child is determined to qualify for testing, the evaluation process can begin. It is often a time consuming and labor intensive process. If the evaluation is being conducted by the child's school, often the first step in the process is a screening--the administration of a battery of tests that determine whether there appears to be a need for a more complete diagnostic evaluation to be conducted. Typically a screening requires no more than three to four hours of total testing time, and provides an estimate of the child's ability along with measures of the child's achievement in the relevant areas. If the decision to continue with a complete diagnostic evaluation is made, and additional five or more hours of testing will generally be conducted. These tests typically will provide a more precise measure of the child's ability, more achievement measures, and a much more detailed look at the processes underlying learning. Observations of the child's behavior during testing, an examination of his or her use of strategies in problem solving situations, and the child's attentional capacity are also important components of the diagnostic process. Furthermore, one or both parents will typically be interviewed to provide a detailed birth, medical, developmental, social, and academic history of the child. An interview with the child's classroom teacher and observation of the child in the classroom environment may also be included in the assessment process. The evaluation process can often take weeks or even months to complete when conducted within the school setting. Frequently a child will be tested only for brief periods at a time (e.g., a class period), meaning that a large number of testing sessions are needed to complete the process. Despite the fact that Federal law guarantees each child the right to a timely evaluation to determine whether there is a need for services, it is often the case (especially with gifted children, since their difficulties may be masked by their brightness) that school personnel are reluctant to initiate the process. In this event, parents may need to step in and advocate as strongly as they can for an evaluation. A reminder to a school psychologist that Federal law is on the child's side in these matters may be necessary in order to get the assessment process started. Still, it may be the case that the district does not agree to conduct an evaluation; in this case, a parent's only remaining option may be to seek a private evaluation (at the parent's expense). Private evaluations are essentially the same as those conducted within the school setting, except that they can usually be completed in a more timely manner due to fewer scheduling issues. A number of different types of professionals conduct learning disabilities evaluations, including learning disabilities specialists, school psychologists, and clinical psychologists. These individuals may work in private practice, or in a university or hospital clinic setting. Be advised that because of the time-intensive nature, private evaluations are expensive; in the Chicago area, for example, the cost ranges from about $1000 to well over $2000. Insurance may pay for all or part of the cost of an evaluation; it is best to check with the company before beginning the process because different insurers have varying requirements for co-payment.

Types of Learning Disabilities:
Learning disabilities affect anywhere from four to seven percent of school-age children (in 1995-1996, 5.5% of a school children in the United States received learning disabilities services (U.S. Department of Education, 1998)) and can manifest themselves in many different ways. Moreover, the ways in which a learning disability affects a child often change as the child progresses through school. This is in part due to the maturing child changing in the ways they process information and in part due to the changing demands of the school curriculum. The most common type of learning disability results in underachievement in reading (typically decoding), which also frequently results in written language difficulties (especially in spelling). Other children experience significant underachievement only in areas requiring mathematical calculation. Still others experience a combination of reading, writing, and mathematics difficulties. For some children, difficulties in oral language (receptive and or expressive) underlie their learning disability, while some children have intact oral language skills. A relatively new category of learning disability, nonverbal learning disabilities, is being increasingly diagnosed. Children with nonverbal learning disabilities experience difficulties in areas such as motor skills, visual-spatial orientation, social relationships, organization, and aspects of mathematics, while they are often quite strong in areas requiring verbal abilities. Gifted children with learning disabilities often experience difficulties that are qualitatively different than those experienced by their non-gifted learning disabled peers. By virtue of their high level of mental ability, they are often able to perform surprisingly well on tasks that allow them to utilize this strength. For example, a gifted child who is experiencing significant difficulties in decoding while reading may actually be capable of comprehending what is read deceptively well, since he or she is able to utilize strong conceptualization and reasoning skills and a rich fund of general knowledge to make sense out of the material. Unless this child is asked to read aloud, it might not even be apparent that there is a problem in the area of decoding. As another example, a gifted child with significant difficulties in arithmetic computation might possess good underlying mathematical concepts (e.g., a solid understanding of place value) and might also be able to apply this conceptual understanding to a variety of "everyday" mathematical activities such as time and money concepts, reading charts, tables and figures, and utilizing good estimation skills. Given that there is a large emphasis on computational skills (especially in the early grades), these areas of strength may go largely unrecognized. Often a learning disability is not "pure", in the sense that it can be neatly categorized as belonging to a particular category or subtype. Rather, frequently the manifestations of a child's learning disability include those typically seen in two or more subtypes. For example, many children experience underachievement in reading, written language, and mathematics. Furthermore, in a number of cases, children with learning disabilities also meet the criteria for additional, co-morbid, conditions. For example, affective difficulties (e.g., depression), anxiety, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, among others, are commonly diagnosed in children with learning disabilities.

What Are Appropriate Services, and What Can Parents Do to Assure that Their Children Receive Them:
There are many potential services that can be provided for children with learning disabilities. For most children with a diagnosis of learning disabilities, in-school services are provided one or more times per week. These services may be offered in a one-on-one manner in the child's classroom or in a resource room, or they may be administered in a small group setting. Typically in a small group setting the children are matched as closely as possible in terms of grade level and the nature of the disability. In more serious cases, the child may be placed in a self-contained classroom with other children who are all experiencing some type of learning or behavior problem. These self-contained special education classrooms are generally becoming less common as school districts increasingly attempt to provide services in the regular classroom (a process known as 'inclusion' or 'mainstreaming'). Some children also receive remedial services from trained learning disabilities professionals during after-school hours. In some instances, these after-school services are provided in lieu of interventions within the school setting. Some parents (and children) prefer the after-school remediation, feeling that it may reduce the possible stigma that can accompany leaving the child's regular classroom for special services. (My own observations suggest that this fear is often unwarranted, and that most children experience minimal trauma as a result of leaving the classroom. Keep in mind that most classrooms have at least a few children who require special education services of some type). There are also activities that are remedial in nature that can be provided within the home environment. Among this type of treatment are a variety of computer software programs that aim to strengthen deficient processes underlying learning and thus enhance academic achievement. A variety of other materials are also available, although generally I advise against a parent trying to serve as a primary provider of an intervention. Successful professionals in the field have typically have had substantial post-graduate training, and it is unrealistic for a parent to expect to be able to provide the same quality of treatment that a professional can. Additionally, I have witnessed too many instances where the parent-child relationship was seriously eroded because of stressors introduced as a result of one or both parents trying to play the role of remediator as well as mother or father. Be advised that LD services are generally required for an extended period of time. It is generally unrealistic to expect significant improvement in achievement to occur as a result of a few weeks or months of intervention, no matter how appropriate and intensive this intervention might be. Although high intelligence generally is associated with a better prognosis for children with learning disabilities, the remedial process is still a time-consuming process. Typically diagnostic re-evaluations are conducted every two to three years to assess the change that has occurred and possibly identify new areas of remedial emphasis for the future. Communication is an important aspect of the remedial process. Those individuals who are working with the child (i.e., the classroom teacher, LD specialist within the school, private practitioner, and so on) should be in communication with each other on a regular basis to guarantee that the services being provided are appropriate and not overlapping to a significant degree. Parents should be assertive in stating their expectations regarding services. Keep in mind, special education services are costly and school districts are typically not eager to provide such services. Those parents who attend school staffings, maintain regular contact with school personnel, and indicate that they will be seeking the services to which they are entitled by law typically are more successful in receiving the appropriate interventions for their children. As I mentioned previously, it behooves parents to be aware of the rights that are guaranteed them under Federal law. In meeting with parents during conferences, I always stress the role of parental education. By that I mean that parents should take it upon themselves to learn as much as they can about the disabilities that their child possesses. While it is not realistic to become an expert in the field, there are many books, videotapes, and other materials available that are oriented towards increasing parents? understanding of learning disabilities and what can be done to appropriately service children with learning disabilities. Today, most national bookstore chains have entire sections devoted to special education in general and learning disabilities in particular, Many of these materials are oriented towards laypersons who lack professional training in the field. Additionally, professional organizations such as the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) and the International Dyslexia Society (IDA) offer publications and hold national and regional meetings, with much of the content aimed at the parents of children with learning disabilities. There is also an organization, Parents of Gifted and Talented Learning-Disabled Children (301-986-1422), that is specifically oriented to provide information to parents of children who are "doubly exceptional". The Internet also can be a valuable source of information for many parents, although my personal experience has been that there is also considerable misinformation disseminated via the various forums that the Internet provides. In other words, let the consumer beware when "surfing the web".

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder:
Approximately one-quarter to one-third of all children with learning disabilities also qualify for the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Additionally, ADHD manifests itself in ways that are often difficult to distinguish from learning disabilities. As a result, most evaluations for learning disabilities will also include at least a consideration that ADHD is a viable diagnosis as well. ADHD manifests itself in several ways; the behaviors most commonly associated with ADHD include inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Under the current conceptualization of the disorder, some children display primarily hyperactive and impulsive symptoms, while others show mostly difficulties in focusing and maintaining attention. Still others with ADHD display a combination of hyperactive/impulsive and inattentive behaviors. ADHD does not in and of itself result in academic underachievement. However, like a learning disability, ADHD often results in children performing at a level that is below that at which they are capable. One of the hallmarks of the disorder is inconsistency in performance; that is, a child with ADHD may be able to perform at a high level on a particular task on one day, yet show a much poorer level of performance on an essentially identical task shortly thereafter. As a result of this inconsistent performance, many children with ADHD are erroneously labeled as unmotivated, lazy or uncaring. Like children with learning disabilities, many children with ADHD possess a number of strengths; as with children with learning disabilities, these strengths often go unrecognized and/or underappreciated. Moreover, many of the characteristics of children with ADHD are compatible with giftedness: these children are often energetic, creative, and excel at tasks requiring divergent thinking. In fact, there have been suggestions that the high energy level and high intensity characteristic of gifted children may at times result in them be inappropriately diagnosed with ADHD, while their giftedness remains unrecognized. Furthermore, the ways in which ADHD manifests itself change as a child grows older. Typically, overactive and impulsive behaviors decrease in frequency with age, while organizational and time management problems and difficulties related to social interactions (especially with peers) become more prominent. Unlike with learning disabilities, a medical intervention for ADHD is effective in many cases. The most commonly used treatment, stimulant medication, is effective in reducing symptoms in a large majority of children who take it. Increasingly, other pharmacological treatments, including tricyclic antidepressants and antihypertensives, are being prescribed to children who either do nor respond to psychostimulants or who have adverse side effects (most commonly insomnia and decreased appetite) to them. There are also a variety of psychologically based treatments for ADHD as well. Substantial evidence exists to support the idea that the combination of a pharmacological and a psychological intervention provides greater symptom reduction than either type of treatment alone. Among common psychologically oriented treatments are behavior modification and metacognitive training. Behavior modification requires the establishment of a reward system (a 'token economy') to reinforce desired behaviors (which could range from 'getting homework done in a timely manner' to 'not interrupting conversations' to 'getting ready for school in the morning without reminders or assistance'). A well planned token economy is often necessary because children with ADHD have been found to be less sensitive than their non-ADHD peers to the typical reinforcement contingencies that are a part of everyday living. Rather, children with ADHD require reinforcement that is more powerful, more frequent, and more linked in time to the desired behavior than do their non-ADHD peers. While many parents feel that establishing a token economy in the home (or school) must be a fairly simple manner, my experience has shown quite clearly that they benefit greatly from the guidance of a trained professional (e.g., a psychologist or social worker) in establishing, adjusting, and maintaining such a plan. Metacognitive training is an intervention that focuses on getting the child to think about and analyze his or her behavior, with the goal of becoming capable of recognizing problematic situations and dealing with them in an appropriate manner. Metacognitive training is particularly well suited to children who are gifted, since success rates are best with those who are highly intelligent and possess good verbal skills. Again, there are professionals who specialize exclusively in this type of intervention.

Summary:
As I have described, children who are gifted are as likely to have learning disabilities or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder as any other children. Due to some of the characteristics of gifted children (most notably their high levels of intelligence), however, gifted children often are not identified as LD or ADHD as accurately or as early in their lives as their non-gifted peers. Early diagnosis and intervention is important in reducing the difficulties that gifted children with co-occurring learning disabilities and/or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder experience in their academic, emotional, and social lives. Parents of children who are gifted need to be aware of the criteria for inclusion for LD or ADHD and may often be required to strongly advocate for their children so that they may receive the appropriate special education services to which they are entitled under Federal law.


References:

Federal Register (1977). Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office.

Federal Register (1997). Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office.

Lajoie, S.P., & Shore, B. M. (1981). Three myths? The over-representation of the gifted among drop-outs, delinquents and suicides. Gifted Child Quarterly, 25, 138-141.

National Commission on Excellence in Education (1983). A nation at risk: The imperative for educational reform. Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office.

U. S. Department of Education. (1998) To assure the free appropriate public education of all children with disabilities. Twentieth Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Washington, D. C.:U. S. Government Printing Office.

Whitmore, J. R. (1980) Giftedness, conflict and underachievement. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.


by Steven G. Zecker, Ph.D

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Aaron, P.G., Joshi, R.M., Palmer, H., et al. (2002). Separating genuine cases of reading disability from reading deficits caused by predominantly inattentive ADHD behavior. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 35, 425-435.

These authors tested a diagnostic procedure using intra-individual differences seen in the performance of at-risk learners on tasks related to reading, that vary in their sensitivity to sustained attention required for successful performance. The authors hypothesized that children with inconsistent attention would perform more poorly on tests that require sustained attention such as listening comprehension than on tests that are more tolerant of inattention such as reading comprehension. They hypothesized that these differences would not be seen in the test scores of children with only reading disability because their performance is determined more by the difficulty level of the reading tests than by the degree of sensitivity of the task to attention. The authors collected data from thirty-nine children at risk for reading disability as identified by classroom teachers. A battery of diagnostic tests were administered. Seventeen children met the Inattentive criteria for ADHD. Sixteen met the criteria for reading disability and six met the criteria for both. The data supported the authors' hypotheses, including a finding that in spite of average reading comprehension, the listening comprehension scores of the Inattentive group with ADHD fell close to the below average range.

Adams, J. W., & Snowling, M.J. (2001). Executive function and reading impairments in children reported by their teachers as hyperactive. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 19, 293-306.

Twenty-one 8 to 11 year olds were identified by teachers as hyperactive. In comparison to a control group, significant group differences were found on literacy measures, tasks of inhibition and executive function, but not verbal working memory measures. The authors report that their results are consistent with the hypothesis that children with hyperactivity have difficulty with behavioral inhibition. The authors propose their data supports that the core cognitive deficit in executive function associated with hyperactivity in children is independent of the phonological deficits associated with reading impairment.

Biederman, J., Mick, E., Faraone, S.V., Braaten, E., et al. (2002). Influence of gender on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children referred to a psychiatric clinic. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 36-42.

It has been suggested anecdotally and from a research basis that males are over-represented in referral for ADHD and SLD in both clinic referred and community samples. It is possible the differences in the phenotypic expression ADHD and/or severity of symptoms between males and females may be responsible for this discrepancy. In a large group of clinically referred children, these authors predicted that females would demonstrate less disruptive behavior, higher presentation of inattentive type diagnosis (ADHD-IN) and less SLD than males. However, the authors also hypothesized that when compared to same-sex controls, the impact of ADHD was predicted to be the same across gender. The authors examined 140 clinic referred females and 140 males with ADHD as well as two gender specific control groups. Structured interviews and parent reports were utilized. Within the ADHD population, girls were 2.2 times more likely to be diagnosed as ADHD-IN as boys. Girls with ADHD exhibited less disruptive behavior and less incidence of SLD than boys. However, a lack of gender by ADHD interaction in these areas indicates that the differences can be attributed to the lower overall base rate of disruptive behavior and SLD in girls. The only significant interaction concerned substance use with ADHD presenting as a more significant risk factor in girls than boys. The authors conclude that ADHD increases the risk of negative outcome and behavioral problems regardless of gender. However, the lower rate of SLD, disruptive behavior and social dysfunction for girls with ADHD versus boys may cause their impairments to be less noticeable, contributing to under-referral.

Bonafina, M.A., Newcorn, J.H., McKay, K.E., et al. (2000). ADHD and reading disabilities: A cluster analytic approach for distinguishing subgroups. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 33, 297-307.

These authors utilized a cluster analysis study of 54 children with ADHD. Children were divided based upon full scale I.Q. and reading disability into four distinct subgroups in which cognitive, behavioral and neurochemical functioning were compared. Group one possessed average full scale I.Q. and reading skills; group two possessed average full scale I.Q. but impairment in reading; group three possessed high full scale I.Q. and reading scores and group four had low scores in both of those areas. The groups had different patterns of cognitive, behavioral and neurochemical functioning as determined by discrepancies in verbal-performance I.Q., academic achievement scores, parent aggression ratings and a measure of the neurotransmitter noradrenaline. All four groups appeared consistent with a diagnosis of ADHD in that the children were rated as highly inattentive and hyperactive by their parents and teachers. They did not differ significantly on any rating of ADHD symptoms. Group one appears to represent ADHD in a pure form. In contrast group two resembled characteristics of the reading disabled group. These children tended to have less behavioral disturbance than the other groups. From a cognitive perspective, children in group three demonstrated some similarities to children referred to as experiencing a non-verbal learning disability. However, their arithmetic and performance I.Q. scores were in the normal range. Finally, group four, despite a profile similar to that of group two with regards to I.Q. academic achievement discrepancy but was considerably lower functioning overall.

Cutting, L.E., Koth, C.W., Mahone, M., & Denckla, M.B. (2003). Evidence for unexpected weaknesses in learning in children with ADHD without reading disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36, 259-269.

These authors examined the mechanisms underlying verbal learning in children with and without ADHD, none of whom had reading disabilities. Children with ADHD were compared to typically developing children on a verbal learning test. Children with ADHD initially learned the same number of words as controls but demonstrated weaknesses recalling words after delay, suggesting they were less efficient learners. Regardless of ADHD status, males and females performed differently. Males used semantic clustering less frequently and recalled fewer words from the middle region of the list than females. Females also outperformed males in terms of overall performance despite lower verbal I.Q. scores.

1. The symptom problems of ADHD cause impairment in achievement differently than SLD, even when certain outcome measures such as reading grade level appear similar for both diagnostic groups.
2. The executive function deficits children with ADHD experience leads them to be inconsistent and inefficient learners, a pattern very different from those with SLD.
3. ADHD and SLD are separate but related phenomena. The primary neuropsychological impairments and executive process problems are different for these two conditions yet are not completely independent.
4. Additional neuropsychological phenomena such as traditionally measured I.Q. may also play a role in determining differences in the presentation and academic achievement of children with ADHD and SLD.
5. The differences observed in SLD and ADHD between genders is likely not an artifact of measurement but rather reflects true differences between the genders.

Experienced educators often attest to the dramatically increased level of impairment children with combinations of ADHD and SLD experience in school relative to either condition alone. There is clearly a need to continue researching the relationship between these two conditions. In particular it will be important to develop researched demonstrated methods of assessment and treatment for children with combined ADHD and SLD. As the school year begins, I urge educators, mental health professionals and even parents to consider the significant challenges children with combined ADHD and SLD experience, not only in school but in all important areas of their lives.

[wimom]

Zip, my dd is 11 and today is "graduating" 5th grade and on her way to middle school next year. She dosn't want to go. Wants to stay at the elementry -- a tiny class she knows, all the teachers she knows, she has said she dosn't want to grow up. She wants to stay a little girl, (ok this is said right after she says she has a "boyfriend") but really with all the LD issues, the school struggles, social struggles, anxiety, depression (all treated) The push to be more mature is hard for her -- she still wants to play with her dolls, and pretend play.