I have a very gifted child that you have described to a T. Can you
tell me more about dysgraphia. Did they give you exercises to do with
him. I teach gifted students and have always been aware of gifted
students with learning disabilities. My husband and I run a tutorial
center and most of our students are gifted with either learning
disabilities or able underachieving gifted.
You and your husband might be interested in SENG an organization
founded with children like your son in mind.
I am so sorry you can't find teachers who think out of the box.
An article from SENG
Strategies to Help
The most effective way to inoculate twice exceptional students against
the devastating effects of these emotions is early identification and
support. That way the student's strengths and weaknesses are
documented, understood, and more likely to be addressed. These
students need programming options which allow them to pursue areas of
giftedness, while also providing opportunities to concretely learn
compensatory skills (rather than having to learn them intuitively
through trial and error). The twice exceptional students who are most
likely to achieve are those who know and accept their strengths and
weaknesses, who utilize accommodations in their areas of weakness, who
know and accept that they might have to work harder than other gifted
students to achieve the same results, and who have developed a
positive sense of personal competence about addressing difficult
academic tasks.
Even with a strong program which provides for both exceptionalities,
these students will still encounter negative emotions and setbacks.
They need an active support system to access during these times, to
talk openly about their feelings, and to problem solve about getting
beyond the emotions in a given situation. This support can take place
in informal discussions with teachers, parents, or peers; or it may
demand more formal situations such as individual counseling for mild
issues and, perhaps, therapy for deeper or high impact issues.
By arming these twice exceptional students with ways to compensate for
their academic weaknesses, as well as the means to overcome typical
emotional issues which can daunt them, they can be freed to achieve,
to set high standards, and to succeed academically. Then, hopefully,
they can develop a strong sense of competence as expressed by the
following in a college essay: "I realize my learning disabilities have
been a blessing in disguise because despite the difficulties they
cause me, I have been able to make myself a better stu-dent." David
reminds us that when our twice exceptional students achieve this sense
of competence and control in the academic arena, they may once again
dare to dream.
Jean Strop is Counseling Coordinator and Gifted/Talented Resource
Teacher at Cherry Creek High School, Colorado. She is a consultant and
presenter on affective and academic programming for gifted and
talented students. David Goldman, a senior at Cherry Creek High
School, is a debater as well as a presenter on Twice Exceptional. He
will attend University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business
This is from an article on Seng
On Jun 14, 2009, at 6:47 AM, Ljackson wrote:
He did not qualify for services BUT was clinically diagnosed as
dyslexic with a specific focus on dysgraphia. In other words, he
could spell and visualize words correctly but then scramble them
when asked to write the same thing. He cannot transcribe
information well, makes reversals and transpositions that impact
meaning. He is not lazy, he CANNOT do this due to a specific
processing disorder. I had met someone about about a year ago with
a son with the same diagnosis and as she described her son to me,
along with the fight it took to get him services, she could have
been talking about my son.
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