Gifted Children With Learning Disabilities

Gifted Children With Learning Disabilities

Vidya's "Gifted Children With Learning Disabilities":

An in Interpretive Review

In her article, "Gifted children with learning disabilities: Theoretical implications and instructional challenge," Shelia R. Vaidya discusses the challenging subject of teaching special education students on both sides of the dichotomy. She states that students with learning disabilities, who are often unable to perform or remain alert during class, are often gifted as well, able to talk about subjects with a sufficient degree of critical thinking skills. According to Vidya, these students often exhibit their giftedness in one-on-one teaching and tutoring sessions. Furthermore, she states that teaching these learners is often challenging, but can be done when considering a variety of methods and factors, including portfolios, psychological tests, teacher-parent conferencing that encourages parents to focus on their child's gift as well as her disability, learning styles, teacher approach, and others. In conclusion, Vaidya states that further research should be done in order to learn how to teach these exceptional learners. In the mean time, parents, teachers, and psychologists can work together to provide the best environment possible for these students.

Expounding upon a group that has received little attention, and in fact has only been acknowledged for a few years, Vaidya's article is beneficial to the teaching and learning community. Although the identification of such gifted/learning disabled students has occurred, few teachers understand how to best cater to them. Vaidya gives teachers and understanding of some of the techniques that teachers may use to help these students achieve to the heights of their ability. Knowledgably providing teachers with the understanding that students of this type need several different types of resources for success, Vidya gives teachers a practical guide to understanding and helping these children, as well as working with their parents, counselors, and others on their support team. Finally, Vidya's article not only gives teachers a practical resource to use with their students, but it also opens the dialogue so further works can be done regarding these students and how best to help them.