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Article Excerpt
When Jonathan graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University, he landed a job as a computer engineer with Microsoft. It was hard to believe that this was the same young man whose parents were told by school staff that they needed to accept that he was an average first and second grade student. Jonathan's parents, however, had seen evidence of his giftedness as he worked on his "inventions" at home. They continued to advocate for his gifts and his areas of need to be recognized by the school system. He was eventually identified as gifted and talented/learning disabled (GT/LD) and placed in Montgomery County's GT/LD Center Program. After 3 years in the program, his writing and organizational skills had improved. His gifts in the sciences and the arts were so evident that he went on to participate in GT instruction in middle school and Honors and Advanced Placement courses in high school with support from the special education resource teachers.
The premise of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1997) is that a free and appropriate public education will be provided for all children with special needs. IDEA 97 emphasizes the participation of students with disabilities in the general curriculum and requires that Individualized Education Program (IEP) teams make many decisions that support and encourage student performance in the general curriculum and general education classroom (National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities, 1997). The premise of gifted education in the United States, first articulated in the Marland Report (Marland, 1972), is that, "Gifted and talented children ... require differentiated programs and services beyond those normally provided by the regular school program in order to realize their contribution to self and society" (p. 2). Learning disabled students who are also gifted and talented or "twice exceptional" require opportunities to promote their own individual strengths and talents to achieve the accelerated academic proficiency expected of nondisabled gifted students. They simultaneously require gifted instruction and the special instruction, adaptations, and accommodations provided to other students with special needs (Neilson, Hammond, & Higgins, 1993).
Identified as gifted because of high achievement or high IQ scores, these students exhibit remarkable strengths in some areas and disabling weaknesses in others. As they grow older, discrepancies widen between expected and actual academic performance. Instructional programs for gifted and talented/learning disabled (GT/LD) students must focus on developing their strengths, interests, and superior intellectual abilities while accommodating for their learning weaknesses (NAGC, 1998). However, the majority of school districts in the United States do not have procedures in place for screening, identifying, and serving GT/LD students. Research and information about the gifted learning disabled population has not been adequately transferred and applied to classrooms (Dix & Schafer, 1996). According to federal laws PL 94-142, and subsequently IDEA 97, these students are legally entitled to an appropriate education in the least restrictive environment that includes services for the gifts as well as the disabilities (Blancher-Dixon & Turnbull, 1978). This article presents the program model found in Maryland's Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) that addresses the needs of this often underserved population.
Review of the Literature
Over the years, the body of literature regarding GT/LD students has been a source of inspiration, guidance, and validation for the design and implementation of the academic programming for GT/LD students in MCPS. MCPS's identification of GT/LD students utilizes Brody and Mills' (1997) definition, while incorporating VanTassel Baska's (1991) concept of high functioning. The MCPS definition is: GT/LD students are those who possess an outstanding gift or talent and are capable of high performance, but who also have a learning disability that makes some aspect of academic achievement difficult.
As recommended in the literature, the MCPS referral process emphasizes early identification and appropriate intervention (Barton & Starnes, 1989; Whitmore, 1980). The identification criteria used are multidimensional and reflect the unique cognitive processing qualities of the GT/LD students. (Barton & Starnes, 1989; Baum, 1991; Ellston, 1993).
The need for studies on effective treatment and programming for GT/LD students was cited in a 1987 report to Congress (Interagency Committee on Learning Disabilities, 1987). GT/LD students with disabilities require a unified effort of special education and gifted specialists who emphasize an appropriate pace of instruction, extend and compact curriculum, and use a variety of programming strategies (Whitmore & Maker, 1986). Unfortunately, little program development and evaluation for this population has been forthcoming (Vaughn, 1989). Students who qualify for special education services because of the severity of their learning disability and qualify for gifted services because of the type or level of their talent (Baum, Owens, & Dixon, 1991) rarely qualify for multiple services. The framework for the MCPS program incorporates the major recommendations for programming found in the literature (Brody & Mills, 1997).
The literature describes program efforts that modify traditional enrichment programs (Baldwin & Gargiulo, 1983; Baum & Owens, 1988; Baum, Owens, & Dixon, 1991; Bees, 1998; Betts, 1985; Fall & Nolan, 1993; Renzulli, & Reis, 1985; Udall & Maker, 1983; Nielsen, Higgins, Wilkinson, & Webb, 1994; Whitmore, 1980). Programs have also been designed for GT/LD students with specific disabilities (Clements, Lundell, & Hishinuma, 1994; Coleman & Gallagher, 1995; Gentry & Neu, 1998; Hackney, 1986, LeVine & Evans, 1983; Maker, 1981; Yewchuk & Bibby, 1988). Regardless of the program model used, the curriculum must be geared to the strengths, rather than the weaknesses of the GT/LD student. Utilizing a variety of adaptations, strategies, and accommodations for GT/LD students is widely advocated throughout the literature (e.g., Baum et al., 1991; Daniels, 1983; Fox, Tobin, & Schiffman, 1983; Hishinuma, 1991; Howard, 1994; Silverman, 1989; Surer & Wolf, 1987; Torgesen, 1986; Van Tassel-Baska, 1991; Waldron, 1991; Weill, 1987; Whitmore, 1988). When a student's gifts are identified and nurtured, there is an increased willingness on the part of the student to put forth greater effort to complete tasks (Baum, Emerick, Herman, & Dixon, 1989). Differentiation of curriculum, (Maryland Task Force on Gifted and Talented Education, 1994; NAGC, 1998), acceleration and enrichment (Renzulli & Reis, 1985; Southern & Jones, 1991), and mentorship s (Baum et al., 1991) provide positive opportunities for GT/LD students. "Education of these children must focus on abstract ideas and generalization. Teachers must provide organizational strategies to help these students achieve and allow alternatives to writing as a means of communication." (Baum et al., 1991, p. 19).
The System-Wide Comprehensive GT/LD Program in MCPS
Determined to address the needs of the GT/LD students, educators in MCPS have spent 15 years creating dynamic, comprehensive programs for their GT/LD student population. In 1986, MCPS initiated a pilot program to explore the incidence rate of students with high cognitive ability who were experiencing learning difficulties. The findings were presented in a paper to The Council on Exceptional Children National Conference in Washington, D.C. March 29, 1988 entitled "A Study in the Identification, Differential Diagnosis, and Remediation of Underachieving Highly Able Students" (Starnes, Ginevan, Stokes, & Barton, 1988). With initial funding from the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Education Grant, promising developments have occurred in MCPS. MCPS identifies gifted students with varying degrees of learning disabilities and has developed special self-contained classes for gifted students with severe learning disabilities while those with moderate and mild disabilities receive services in the general education classes.
GT/LD students in grades 2 through 12 receive appropriate instruction, adaptations, and accommodations related to their disability. Successful, practical...
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