Can children be both gifted and learning disabled or gifted and ADHD?
Yes, absolutely. Many experts agree that it is not only possible but relatively common. Learning-disabled children are often defined by state law as otherwise capable students who are not working up to their potential in some area because of an underlying learning problem. These are children who show strengths in some areas and noticeable weaknesses in others. Many gifted children fit this pattern. An individual IQ test, the kind commonly used to diagnose gifted students in schools, is made up of several separate subtests measuring different areas like memory, visual spatial skills, and verbal ability. While a child’s full scale, or overall, IQ score may fall in the gifted range, the pattern of scores on these individual subtests can vary widely. For example, some gifted children show unusual strength in subtests which measure visual reasoning ability and a relative weakness in those measuring verbal areas. Other gifted children show quite different patterns. In fact, rather than being
