ask ELLA MAE Ella Mae Gogel CEC-TAG Parent Committee Chair

A letter from a Southwestern state: "I am a teacher in a small rural school. I teach students with learning disabilities as well as the gifted and talented. I have been teaching four years in both these areas and only recently became aware of the gifted/learning disability classification. I have a student with this dual diagnosis and am finding it difficult to provide the assistance that he needs. I want to learn enough to make presentations at our state teachers conference because I believe learning disabled/gifted students are being overlooked, ignored, and neglected. Please send information to help me with this endeavor."

Fortunately, this dual identification has been recognized in recent years. A wide range of characteristics that describe the learning disabled child exists and each child is unique in his or her educational needs. Adding the gifted and talented dimensions broaden the characteristics even more and teacher and student frustration can be overwhelming. In classrooms the disability becomes the entire focus, and it is not recognized that the student has high abilities in some areas.

In the testing process, students are sometimes not able or not willing to show their abilities. Developmental delay may also be a factor. Learning styles and abilities need to be identified and monitored often for they change as the student develops. Generally, the learning disabled student does not absorb information and skills incidentally, but needs a detailed step-by-step process. Since he excels in some areas, he may be very impatient and angry with himself that he cannot succeed as others. An individualized education program (EP) is a requirement and must be a plan for the "whole child," including the disability and the gifted and talented abilities. You mention that your student is gifted in reading and math, that his disability is in areas of the written language. He might be interested in this book: The Worst Speller in Junior High, by Caroline Janover. Free Spirit Publishing, Inc., 400 First Avenue North, Suite 616, Minneapolis, MN 55401-1730 (800-735-7323) 1995. Katie, 13 and in 7th grade, with a talent for writing, also has dyslexia. Describes ups and downs of early teens at home and school.

Other titles that may be helpful for you and your student's parents are these:

How Your Child is Smart: A Life Changing Approach to Learning. Dawn Markova, Ph.D., Anne R. Powell. Conari Press, 2550 Ninth St., Suite 101, Berkeley, CA 94710. Phone: 510-6497175; fax: 510-649-7190 1992. Understanding the variety of ways children think and learn and how to meet those individual needs. Filled with rich details from the experiences of teachers, parents, and students. Supportive and reassuring.

Learning Styles.: Food for Thought and 130 Practical Tips for Teachers K-4 - , Priscilla L. Vail. Modern Learning Press, Rosemont, NJ, 1992. Descriptions and examples of learning types with parenting and teaching responses to each type.

Smart Kids with School Problems, (Things to Know and Ways to Help), Priscilla L. Vail. E.P. Dutton, 2 Park Avenue. New York, NY 10016, 1987. Describes characteristics of the learning disabled/gifted child and related school problems. Five chapters explore strengths and weaknesses in a variety of learning systems. Testing, maturation, and higher education are explored. Case histories and an annotated bibliography are included.

Teenagers with LD, Learning Differences, Rhoda Cummings, Ed.D., Gary Fisher, Ph.D. Free Spirit Publishing, Inc., 400 First Avenue North, Suite 616, Minneapolis, MN 55401-1730, 1993. Ages 13 and up. Succeeding in school, becoming independent, finding and keeping a job, setting goals, dating, driving, etc. User friendly in tradition of the survival guides. Excellent resource.

In Their Own Way, (Discovering and Encouraging Your Child's Personal Learning Style), Thomas Armstrong, PhD. Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 9110 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90069, 1987. A helpful, caring book on learning differences; has great respect for childrenŐs perceptions and unique needs. Author is a former teacher and learning disabilities specialist.

ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education (800 328-0272) has a number of digests on gifted/learning disabilities: Gifted But Learning Disabled: A Puzzling Paradox by Susan Baum. Underachieving Gifted Students by James R. Delisle and Sandra L. Berger.

Above all, parents and teachers need to be patient, accepting, and encouraging. The student needs to be helped to understand and appreciate his learning abilities; strategies must be found to help him with written language.