Lesson 7: Problem Solving for Success
The Gifted Child With Disabilities
Gifted children with disabilities are excellent candidates for homeschooling. Many schools refuse to recognize the giftedness or they refuse to recognize the disability, because one disguises the other. We were even told by one administrator that children were not allowed to be both in that school!
The challenge for the parent is to figure out how to let a child work at his intellectual level while adapting to the gift. In many ways the accommodations you developed in an earlier lesson will work now.
Few children are equally gifted in all areas. Give special attention to those areas in which the child excels because he will need these areas to maintain a positive self-image. He may doubt his intelligence, particularly if he had a poor traditional school experience. By having an area in which he has a great deal of knowledge, he will be reassured that he is bright. Allow him to work in his area of strength using whatever accommodations are needed. The important factor is getting the knowledge into the brain. Let him watch videos, listen as you read or talk to experts. If he reads well, stock his library.
A gifted child’s strength can be a motivation for helping him to grow in other areas. Often, he will work harder to learn the words that relate to his area of interest. If he cares about space, teach him to read space-related words so that he can explore books that interest him. If he wants to be a scientist but cannot do math, show him what math he needs to do his chosen field. Help him work with an eye toward his goal. Go online and show him lists of famous people with disabilities. He needs to understand that his challenge is not going to keep him from reaching his goals if he is willing to work. After all, Einstein himself was thought to be stupid as a child, but actually had learning disabilities. I have read that he never mastered arithmetic.
Guard against feelings of stupidity. Focus on his strengths and on signs of his giftedness, but don’t ignore the frustrations and contradictions of the disability. Assure him that many people are both gifted and disabled. Study some books on the disability and learn how the disability is caused. Do some reading about intelligence. Let him understand that there is no correlation between his disability and his intelligence.
It is important to note that gifted children with learning disabilities are often inconsistent in their performance. Sometimes you may doubt his intelligence yourself! The learning disabilities are often worse on one day than they are on another.
In general, when I taught my children, I used methods recommended for gifted children. The accommodations were just naturally worked out, but I considered the intelligence to be a greater factor in the educational needs than I did the disabilities.
