High Ability/Learning Disabled Students: How Are They Different?

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to investigate what characteristics distinguish High Ability/LD students from learning disabled students with average cognitive ability and from high ability students. One hundred-twelve high ability or learning disabled students in grades four through six participated in the study: High Ability, High Ability/LD, and LD/Average. A variety of instruments was used to assess and compare cognitive and motivational patterns in the three groups. Discriminant analyses indicated that the three groups are distinguishable. As might be expected, the greatest group difference existed between high ability nondisabled students and both learning disabled populations. A second discriminant function provided information about differences between the two learning disabled populations.

A Case Study of Giftedness and Specific Learning Disabilities: Bridging the Two Exceptionalities

“…For example, Bees (1989) studied a program implemented in Vancouver that included resource room support for the student's learning disability and enrichment for their giftedness and concluded that providing meaningful school connections for gifted learning disabled students contributed to the success of the program. Baum and Owen (1988), in their research comparing high ability students, high ability/learning disabled and average/learning disabled students, concluded that feelings of self-efficacy are improved by providing programs that recognize these learners' giftedness as well as their learning disability, and this in turn leads to greater achievement SLD/GT Case Study 11 when the students' gifts were acknowledged. In another study, Baum, Emerick, Herman, and Dixon (1989) undertook case studies of four programs specifically designed for gifted learning disabled students and concluded that when the students' giftedness was recognized and nurtured, there was an increased willingness by the students to complete tasks, and a decrease in unsuitable behaviors (including disruptive tendencies, inattentiveness, short attention span, task avoidance and manipulation tactics) which affected their learning.…”

Curricular Modifications for Elementary Students With Learning Disabilities in High-, Average-, and Low-IQ Groups

“…Allowing for the explosion of growth that public school systems have experienced and the overwhelming increase in the identification of students with LD, the amount of creative and intellectual thinking and productivity grows as well. One study suggested that as many as 36 percent of students with LD simultaneously demonstrated behaviors that may be associated with giftedness (Baum & Owen, 1988).…”

“…Early work served to convince the field that students could simultaneously embody gifted characteristics and LD. As the field turned its attention from basic acknowledgment of the existence of a population of learners with G/LD and identification of these students, it began to look toward understanding the importance of adaptation strategies, compensation strategies, and enrichment to allow the student to expand beyond the remedial approach used for simply correcting the learning disability (Baum, Emerick, Herman, & Dixon, 1989;Baum & Owen, 1988;Fox, Tobin, & Schiffman, 1983;Gallagher, 1983;Whitmore & Maker, 1985). A growing body of research about this unique population of students has suggested that this heterogeneous group must receive uniquely differentiated programming if they are to reach their full potential (Baum, Cooper, & Neu, 2001;Nielsen, 2002).…”

Dual differentiation: An approach for meeting the curricular needs of gifted students with learning disabilities

“…The situation seems even more dismal for students with LD who have high cognitive ability. Because of their cognitive prowess, they have a heightened sensitivity to failure, and are troubled by the vast discrepancy between what they can and cannot do (Baum & Owen, 1988). In their study, Schiff, Kaufman, and Kaufman (1981) concluded that, "in many ways, the emotional concomitants of these learning-disabled students [with superior intelligence] seem striking in their severity and were apparently more exaggerated in the pervasiveness of their impact than is typical for conventional learning disabled populations" (p. 404).…”

“…Balancing their special needs with their gifted characteristics presents a formidable challenge to even the most talented learning-disabled student. The studies investigating the duality of learning needs and resulting programmatic interventions suggest the importance of providing these students with a curriculum that both accommodates their gifts and talents and simultaneously allows the students to compensate for problematic weaknesses (Baum, 1988;Baum & Owen, 1988;Baldwin & Gargiulo, 1983;Olenchak, 1994;Whitmore & Maker, 1985).…”