Gifted students who experience difficulty with reading, mathematics, spelling, handwriting, and organization frequently become frustrated at an early age. Well-intentioned teachers attempt to remediate their weaknesses; yet, these youngsters still feel alone in the classroom. Moreover, their academic limitations often mask enormous talent, which seldom has an opportunity to surface. Thus, gifted learning-disabled students require curriculum that develops their special talents and provides them strategies to compensate for problematic weaknesses. This article discusses the dual characteristics of gifted learning-disabled students and suggests a unique curriculum that integrates both through talent development. Developed through Project HIGH HOPES, funded federally by the Javits Act (1993)(1994)(1995)(1996), this dually differentiated curriculum offers strategies for addressing students' learning problems while fulfilling their need for sophisticated challenge through advanced-level content and a focus on solving authentic, real-world problems.

F rom their earliest years, human beings are familiar with the concept of fairness. Mothers who exhort their children to "play fair" demonstrate fairness themselves when dividing a family dessert into equal portions. At the restaurant, Sam's lunch must look identical to Joe's because they've ordered the same item. Employers apply the "equal pay for equal

an students with learning and attention difficulties in school actually be talented scientists in disguise? If we look to history to answer this question, we see compelling evidence that giants such as Thomas Edison, Sir Is a a c Newton, and Leonardo da Vinci might have been students like this. Similar to struggling students today, they had passion, c u r i o s i t y, and commitment to pursue learning, often in unconventional ways. Unlike students today, howe ve r, these school f a i l u res could opt to learn elsew h e ref re q u e n t l y, by themselves or with a mentor. To d a y, we have multiple ways to support our student scientists. There are magnet schools, special schools in math and science, Ad vanced Placement courses, and honors classes that p u r p o rt to provide the necessary scaffolding to actualize the talent of potential scientists. For students not achieving academi c a l l y, howe ve r, these options are often not available because their talent is frequently obscured by their lack of achieve m e n t , their displays of inappropriate classroom behavior, or both. Mo re specifically, to be accepted into these special pro g r a m s , students must demonstrate superior scores on standard i ze d tests of reading and math. Clearly, had these been re q u i re m e n t s in Ed i s o n's day, his talent would have been neither found nor nurtured. We know, furt h e r m o re, of some students who experience difficulties with reading and writing (areas emphasize d heavily in school), but who have talents in science. Un f o rt u n a t e l y, these students are not acknowledged for their abilities due to the re s t r i c t i ve criteria of test scores and grades. T h e re f o re, Project High Hopes set out to address this critical issue: Could there be a talent development model in science that would both identify potential talent and provide a program in which reading and writing we re not re q u i red for success? A Talent Development Model To create a model to meet these criteria we needed sound t h e o retical evidence concerning students with special needs and the best practices of talent development. Sp e c i f i c a l l y, we needed to address these three questions: (a) How do gifted students with special needs learn? (b) How is scientific talent

This narrative presents the educational route followed by an Intel Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) winner who was not always recognized for his scientific abilities. Factors contributing to the success of this gifted student are presented, as well as his creative insights for solving the problem that gave rise to the winning project. Further, the major issues that emerged from this student's story can inform both professional development and instructional practice. These issues include: the need to recognize science talent or creative productive behaviors in students with special needs; students’ need for an experiential science curriculum that incorporates multidisciplinary perspectives from which to study and apply the discipline of science, not merely the subject matter; the power of collaboration between students with similar interests; and the value of developing instructional strategies that accommodate a variety of learning difficulties and learning styles.

For most of this century, educators have debated the types of differentiated curriculum highly able students require in order to realize their contribution to self and society (Gallagher et al.,