Special Populations

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Gifted Students with Disabilities
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Characteristics of Gifted Students with Different Disabilities

Gifted Students with Visual Impairment

1. Fast rate of learning
2. Superior memory
3. Superior verbal communication skills and vocabulary advanced problem-solving skills
4. Creative production or thought that may progress more slowly than sighted students in some academic areas
5. Ease in learning Braille
6. Great persistence
7. Motivation to know
8. Sometimes slower rate of cognitive development than sighted students
9. excellent ability to concentrate

(Whitmore & Maker, 1985)

Gifted Students with Physical Disabilities

1. Development of compensatory skills
2. Creativity in finding alternate ways of communicating and accomplishing tasks
3. Impressive store of knowledge
4. Advanced academic skills
5. Superior memory
6. Exceptional problem-solving skills
7. Rapid grasp of ideas
8. Ability to set and strive for long-term goals
9. Greater maturity than age mates
10. Good sense of humor
11. Persistence, patience
12. Motivation to achieve
13. Curiosity, insight
14. Self-criticism and perfectionism
15. Cognitive development that may not be based on direct experience
16. Possible difficulty with abstractions
17. Possible limited achievement due to pace of work

(Cline, 1999; Whitmore & Maker, 1985; Willard-Holt, 1994)

Gifted Students with Hearing Impairments

1. Development of speech-reading skills without instruction
2. Early reading ability
3. Excellent memory
4. Ability to function in the regular school setting
5. Rapid grasp of ideas
6. High reasoning ability
7. Superior performance in school
8. Wide range of interests
9. Nontraditional ways of getting information
10. Use of problem-solving skills in everyday situations
11. Possibly on grade level
12. Delays in concept attainment
13. Self starters
14. Good sense of humor
15. Enjoyment of manipulating environment
16. Intuition
17. Ingenuity in solving problems
18. Symbolic language abilities (different symbol system)

(Cline, 1999; Whitmore & Maker, 1985)

Gifted Students with Learning Disabilities

1. High abstract reasoning ability
2. Good mathematical reasoning ability
3. Keen visual memory, spatial skills
4. Advanced vocabulary
5. Sophisticated sense of humor
6. Imaginative and creative
7. Insightful
8. Exceptional ability in geometry, science, arts, music
9. Good problem-finding and -solving skills
10. Difficulty with memorization, computation, phonics, and/or spelling
11. Distractibility and/or disorganization
12. Supersensitivity
13. Perfectionism
14. Grasp of metaphors, analogies, satire
15. Comprehension of complex systems
16. Unreasonable self expectations
17. Often, failure to complete assignments
18. Difficulties with sequential tasks
19. Wide variety of interests

(Baum, Owen, & Dixon, 1991; Silverman, 1989)

Giftedness and ADHD: Research indicates that in many cases, a child is diagnosed with ADHD when in fact the child is gifted and reacting to an inappropriate curriculum (Webb & Latimer, 1993). The key to distinguishing between the two is the pervasiveness of the "acting out" behaviors. If the acting out is specific to certain situations, the child's behavior is more likely related to giftedness; whereas, if the behavior is consistent across all situations, the child's behavior is more likely related to ADHD. It is also possible for a child to be BOTH gifted and ADHD.

Gifted Students with ADHD

1. Poorly sustained attention
2. Diminished persistence on tasks not having immediate consequences
3. Often shift from one uncompleted activity to another
4. Impulsivity, poor delay of gratification
5. Impaired adherence to commands to regulate or inhibit behavior in social contexts
6. More active, restless than other children
7. Often talk excessively
8. Often interrupt or intrude on others (e.g., butt into games)
9. Difficulty adhering to rules and regulations
10. Often lose things necessary for tasks or activities at home or school
11. May appear inattentive to details
12. Highly sensitive to criticism
13. Problem behaviors exist in all settings, but in some are more severe
14. Variability in task performance and time used to accomplish tasks.

(Barkley, 1990; Cline, 1999; Webb & Latimer, 1993)

Questions to Ask in Differentiating between Giftedness and ADHD

1. Could the behaviors be responses to inappropriate placement, insufficient challenge, or lack of intellectual peers?
2. Is the child able to concentrate when interested in the activity?
3. Have any curricular modifications been made in an attempt to change inappropriate behaviors?
4. Has the child been interviewed? What are his/her feelings about the behaviors?
5. Does the child feel out of control? Do the parents perceive the child as being out of control?
6. Do the behaviors occur at certain times of the day, during certain activities, with certain teachers or in certain environments?

General Strategies

1. Be aware of the powerful role of language; reduce communication limitations and develop alternative modes for thinking and communicating.
2. Emphasize high-level abstract thinking, creativity, and a problem-solving approach.
3. Have great expectations: these children often become successful as adults in fields requiring advanced education.
4. Provide for individual pacing in areas of giftedness and disability.
5. Provide challenging activities at an advanced level.
6. Promote active inquiry, experimentation, and discussion.
7. Promote self-direction.
8. Offer options that enable students to use strengths and preferred ways of learning.
9. Use intellectual strengths to develop coping strategies.
10. Assist in strengthening the student's self concept.
11. Discuss disabilities/capabilities and their implications with the class.
12. Expect participation in all activities; strive for normal peer interactions.
13. Facilitate acceptance; model and demand respect for all.
14. Candidly answer peers' questions.
15. Treat a child with a disability the same way a child without a disability is treated.
16. Model celebration of individual differences.