THE RESOURCE GROUP FOR GIFTED AND LEARNING DISABLED

March-April 1997 Volume 1 Bulletin 4

"We are a group of parents and educators striving to raise the awareness of the general population to this special group of individuals. We will contine to share whatever knowledge we discover and advocate for the Gifted and Learning Disabled in a non-adversarial manner."

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A message from the editor:

This is the second review in our series. The first dealt with listing characteristics for identifying a Gifted/LD person. This bulletin's article presents in readable format descriptions that we have found helpful in our personal understanding. It provides a great introduction to those people who work with these children directly.

REVIEW

Ellston, Tammy (1993), "Gifted and Learing Disabled---A Paradox?" Gifted Child Today, Vol 17, No 1, pgs 17-19.

In this article, Tammy Ellston presents information in a non-technical format. Ms. Ellston gives three examples of children in a way that personalizes gifted/ld. These children are not "real", but after reading about them you may feel that you recognize them as a students that you know.

If you are seeking something to share with an educator, administrator, or a parent that can give them a clear definition of a child who is not performing well at school academically, and exhibits characteristics of gifted/ld, here it is. It describes three categories of gifted/Ld children by giving students for you to consider: "Jonathan", "Andrea", and "Robert". It takes the many combinations of characteristics that may exist in these people and portrays them as students. For example:

• Jonathan...
• Was first identified and placed in a "gifted" program at school.
• Was sucessful in his first year, kept up in the second year, but he found it difficult to keep pace, and no one knew exactly what the problem was.

• Andrea...
• Showed signs of being bright in preschool, but it was difficult for her to learn how to read and write.
• In the regular third grade remediation was tried, but not very successful. She is being considered for a learning disability class.
• Her parents only see her failures and don't recognize her achievements in art. It is overshawdowed by her problems.

• Robert...
• Does not like school and must work hard for "average" grades.
• Is being "turned off" academically and prefers alternate ways to express himself. In this case, he is doing this via a video project.

"These weaknesses are large enough to hinder the progress expected of a bright child, but too small to be identified in a screening procedure for learning disabilities." (pg 18) Having said this, the article continues to stress that there is no one clear picture of these children. I express this by saying they are not cookie cutter children. It is a complex situation. This is why the article explains that this population may need their own programs. "It is important to identify them (and early on), because, if not, they almost always will have a negative emotional response." (pg 18)

Ms. Ellston then gives some examples of famous people in the past, who today, might be identified gifted/ld. Then she goes onto to suggest ways to identify children now and suggestions to the parents' role in all of this process in three general ways:

1. Being alert to the behaviors in their children, potentially both gifted and learning disabilities.
2. Giving a lot of support and encouragement while seeking indicators of deeper problems.
3. Working with the school to assure that the needs of the child is being met. And where the school is unfamiliar with this population, educating those people who work with your child in a way that will make it a team approach.
She then goes onto to cite on what her and suggestions are based and give an extensive reference list at the end of the article (pg 19).


The journal, Gifted Child Today, and others are available at most schools of education. Ours is from the UVA's Curry School of Education Library located on the third floor of Ruffner Hall located on the UVA grounds off Emmet Street. The Education Library also has a website.


Editor's addition: The summer of 1997 we were generously given permission to reprint this article on our website by the editor of GTC at Prufrock Publications when we could not find it on the internet.





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