Gifted with Dyslexia and Right-Brain Learners are Often the Same Child
This article on Visual-Spatial Thinking and Dyslexia makes it sound like Edison, Einstein, Disney, Schwab and Branson were or are anecdotal exceptions — where gifted students have dyslexia and learn differently — we call these students GOLD Students – or Gifted Operating with a Learning Difference.
The article then poses three questions, The first two make me want to scream and the third question is really important.
Two Questions Make Me Want to Scream
What is the right balance between intervention and nurturing strengths?
When is it appropriate to shift the emphasis from skill-development to assistive technology?
The Question We Should Be Asking About Gifted Students with Dyslexia who are GOLD Students
If a dyslexia-talent relationship exists, can it point to more effective interventions?
New UC Merced Research
Let’s tackle the questions individually.
What is the right balance between intervention and nurturing strengths?
If one locks on to dyslexia treatments that focus on a child’s weaknesses, then the question has some validity. We believe there should always be a balance between capitalizing on a student’s strengths, while identifying and addressing his or her challenges. We believe the best intervention capitalizes on and nurtures the strengths and simultaneously identifies and addresses the issues.
When is it appropriate to shift the emphasis from skill-development to assistive technology?
Skill development for a right-brain learner who is gifted and has dyslexia, is a lifelong effort. For the gifted child, they can often learn the skills, with the right approach. The shift to assistive technology takes a couple of different turns:
– We have found that assistive technology is often helpful from the beginning. If a student has difficulty with writing or reading, then tools like Dragon Speak (R) or audio books can be very helpful. We also believe it is very helpful to simultaneously build the skills
– For smart and gifted students with dyslexia, we have found that assistive technology is rarely needed long term for reading, but it can be a long term solution for writing. When it comes to reading speed, we have found that most smart and gifted students with dyslexia can significantly increase his or her reading speed — we have had students more than double their reading speed with tools like the Interactive Metronome (R), visual skills training and Reading Plus(R)
If a dyslexia-talent relationship exists, can it point to more effective interventions?
New UC Merced Research
If Gifted with Dyslexia occur in the same child, it is important to see if the child is also a right-brain learner, who learns differently.
We have had many cases of gifted students who learn differently and may have dyslexia. Organizations like the Gifted Development Center have seen far more.
There is no coincidence here. With all the geniuses who have both gifted and dyslexic traits and a gift for learning differently, we see the case as clear cut.
The challenge is to get this accepted into society and into schools. Too often we hear:
– The student cannot qualify for the gifted program because he or she does not read well enough
– The student should leave the gifted program because of reading comprehension challenges.
– Gifted with dyslexia is not possible
In what should be understood by all, Ignacio Estrada wrote:
“If a child does not learn the way we teach, we should teach the way they learn”.
We call these students GOLD Students (TM) — Gifted Operating with a Learning Difference.
Click here for more information on how we view GOLD Students
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