Characteristics+of+Gifted+Students+with+Disabilities

Home Behind the Mask: The Dilemma of Gifted Students with Disabilities **Who are gifted disabled children?** p
 * Gifted students with disabilities, also known as "twice exceptional" learners, have both 1. exceptional ability or potential AND 2. a disability.
 * According to the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), a "disability" can fit into the following categories:
 * Autism
 * Deaf-blindness
 * Deafness or hearing impairment
 * Developmental delay
 * Emotional disturbance (E/BD)
 * Intellectual disability
 * Multiple disabilities
 * Orthopedic impairment
 * Other health impairment
 * Specific learning disability (SLD)
 * Speech or language impairment
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Visual impairment including blindness
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The United States Department of Education estimates that there are approximately 360,000 twice-exceptional students in America's schools (NAGC, 2009).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The first national conference on handicapped gifted children was held in 1976 (Yewchuk & Biddy, 1989).

<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">**What is the dilemma?**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Gifted children with disabilities are frequently noticed only for their limiting characteristics, not for their gifts. Once a child has been labeled with a disability and special education programming focuses on the disabling condition, the specific intellectual, creative and artistic talents are obscured (Davis, Rimm, & Siegle, 2011).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">For example, teachers of 60,000 students with disabilities in New York (in 1981) were requested to nominate their children for a gifted program . Not a single nomination was received (Yewchuk & Biddy, 1989). In 1989, 91% of Texas school districts did not include any students with disabilities in their gifted programs.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Often, disabled gifted students do not receive special education services either (IEPs - Individualized Education Programs, special education classes, reading teachers) because their intellectual gifts compensate for their disability and they function fairly well in the regular classroom. As a result, the child misses out on special remediation with his/her academic weakness and does not learn how to compensate for his/her condition (nor develop his/her special talents).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Legal cases related to twice exceptional students usually favor the school districts (Davis, Rimm, & Siegle, 2011).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Social rejection is another troubling issue for twice exceptional students. Several studies have shown that students with disabilities are not accepted by their average peers.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Teachers' expectations for students are immediately lowered when a student receives a disability label. Students feel inadequate in response to these lowered expectations (Davis, Rimm, & Siegle, 2011).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Social rejection and teachers' lowered standards lead to a lowered self-concept for the child. Since poor self image is a primary characteristic of underachievement, these gifted disabled students frequently perform beneath their abilities (Davis, Rimm, & Siegle, 2011).

<span style="color: #800000; display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">**So, the DILEMMA of gifted students with disabilities centers around three main ideas: they are largely unidentified, schools lack special programs to serve their unique needs, and low self-worth compounds their academic and social problems. We must find a solution and get behind the mask!!**