I’ve heard that students can be both gifted and learning disabled. What does that mean?
Contrary to many people’s view of what it means to be gifted or learning disabled, the two “conditions” can occur together — and with greater frequency than one might expect. When a child is unhappy or underachieving in school, it may be the result of an undiagnosed learning disability. A learning disability in a child who is also intellectually gifted can be very frustrating and confusing to the child, the parents, and educators. Here are some “signs” to look for as a screening for students who may need to be professionally tested: • widely different test scores from one administration of a test to the next • very different test scores on one test versus another (e.g., ability versus achievement) • unexplained differences between standardized test scores and actual classroom performance • exceptional verbal reasoning ability, but great difficulty organizing thoughts in written form • exceptional mathematical reasoning ability, but difficulty doing computations or memorizing number fa
