Special Education and Gifted and Talented Students

Special Education and Gifted -- Talented Students

Over the last several years, the issues surrounding gifted and talented as well as special needs students have been continually brought to the forefront. Part of the reason for this, is because a number of different pieces of legislation have been directing educators to improve the various techniques that they are utilizing to reach out to these individuals to include: IDEA 2004 along with the Gifted and Talented Students Act of 1988. This is just one part of the larger effort to address a host of issues that are affecting these students. These pieces of legislation are significant, because they are having a major impact on the way educators are reaching out to these individuals when addressing the different needs that they have.

As a result, number of themes and trends has begun to develop in effectively dealing with these students. A few of the most important include: how to reach out to these individuals and customizing various programs that will cater to each person's unique learning style. At the same time, various questions have emerged from our research that is indicating that a transformation is taking place to include:

How can educators effectively address the requirements of special needs students based on maintaining the basic curriculum objectives?

What kinds of techniques can be utilized to: identify, support and deal with issues that are unique to gifted and talented students?

The various findings of the studies that we were looking at are indicating that a unique approach must be taken when examining: the social background of the student, their individual needs, conducting an effective assessment, utilizing various troubleshooting techniques that are a part of a larger group effort and the effect that it is having on the person. The relevance of this research is illustrating how educators must have the flexibility to adapt to a host of situations that they are facing. These different elements are important, because they are highlighting how the techniques and the way they reaching out to students, will be continually changing based upon these factors.

Coleman (2009) suggests that teachers must be using a variety of tactics to reach out to different special needs students to include: a tiered support system, early intervention, screening / assessments / progress monitoring, the use of standard protocol interventions and collaborative problem solving that is working with parents. The tiered support system is designed to provide educators with a way of effectively introducing concepts that will help these students to understand the information that is being presented to them. Early intervention is when you are reaching out to these students in a way that will effectively address the various problems that are unique to them. While at the same time, they are focused on how to provide special needs students with those concepts that will help them to understand the different material that is being presented to them. Screening / assessments / monitoring are way of effectively evaluating the progress of the student, so that adjustments can be made if there are various difficulties that are being faced. The use of standard protocol interventions is when you are developing practices that can be utilized to effectively reach out to the student through consistent approaches and techniques to reinforce what they are learning. Collaborative problem solving is when you are working with parents to help them understand how they can help to improve learning and address the needs of their children. These different elements are important, because they are showing how this kind of approach is being utilized, to illustrate the way the combination of them can effectively address the needs of the children they are working with. (Coleman, 2009, pp. 14 -- 18)

As a result, we can take the ideas that are presented in this article and use them to build upon the findings from other research that was examined. This will help us to understand how to more effectively address the issues of special needs along with gifted and talented students. This provides us with more specific insights about how to deal with the underlying challenges that we are facing in the future. A good example of this can be seen with the study from Berlin (2009).

In this article, Berlin discusses the how the unique needs of students can vary from one person to the next. What is happening in these situations is that gifted and talented individuals will have their own unique set of challenges that they are facing. Part of the reason for this, is because they have special needs that must be taken into account that will help to encourage and push them to go to the next level. As, there are both positive and negative attributes that will have an effect on their underlying levels of academic performance. This is similar to some of the challenges that many special needs students will face, with these individuals requiring increased amount of attention and curriculum that is customized towards them. The difference is that the overall scope of the material, will be more intense and the circumstances of the student must be taken into account. Moreover, any kind of negative stereotypes that they will face can be overcome by: having an integrated program that is geared towards these students. This is important, because it showing how educators must be concentrating on addressing those issues that can cause gifted and talented students to be affected by a number of different variables. (Berlin, 2009, pp. 217 -- 223)

The different ideas from this source can be used to help establish a foundation for the various issues that are affecting gifted and talented students. To corroborate or refute some of these findings Elhoweris (2008) has a number of different conclusions that they have reached in dealing with these individuals.

At heart of her study, is showing how the cultural background of a person could have an effect on the way they are able to reach out to someone. In this research project, she surveyed a wide variety students that were from different social and economic backgrounds. The results were that was no statistical significance on how this could influence these individuals. Instead, she determined that when teachers are placing preferences on students from different backgrounds. That, it will have an impact on: who they are and their levels of academic performance. At which point, this could affect their underlying areas of academic achievement.