| Gap Academy 4 John Street, Toronto, Ontario M9N 1J3 416 249-1500 Fax 416 246-9155 |
| An innovative approach to teaching pre-teens and adolescents with learning disabilities. |
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"Welcome to the wonderful world of Gap, where things really change."
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| No other arrangements for gifted children works as well as acceleration – James A. Kulik |
Gifted LD
Gifted/LD: The Dichotomy
Many people have difficulty comprehending that a child can be gifted and also have learning
disabilities. As a result, children with special needs that result from both their high abilities and their
learning problems are rarely identified and are often poorly served. In the high IQ range, there are
several ranges: mildly gifted (IQ scores from 115 to 129), moderately gifted (scores between 130
and 144), highly gifted (scores between 145 and 159), exceptionally gifted (scores between 160 and
179), and profoundly gifted (180). These ranges are based on a standard bell curve. Most people
fall with the average range of 85 and 115, with 100 being the absolute norm. This range is
considered normal, but the farther away from the absolute norm of 100 a child is, the greater the
need for special education accommodations, regardless of whether the distance is on the left or the
right side of 100. It's hard to believe that gifted students often have very serious obstacles in their
learning and can fail at school. Of particular note, giftedness most notably coincides with ADHD,
ADD or reading and spelling disabilities. Over the years, we've had many students who fit into the
gifted/LD category who have fared well in our high energy constantly challenging environment.
Many people have difficulty comprehending that a child can be gifted and also have learning
disabilities. As a result, children with special needs that result from both their high abilities and their
learning problems are rarely identified and are often poorly served. In the high IQ range, there are
several ranges: mildly gifted (IQ scores from 115 to 129), moderately gifted (scores between 130
and 144), highly gifted (scores between 145 and 159), exceptionally gifted (scores between 160 and
179), and profoundly gifted (180). These ranges are based on a standard bell curve. Most people
fall with the average range of 85 and 115, with 100 being the absolute norm. This range is
considered normal, but the farther away from the absolute norm of 100 a child is, the greater the
need for special education accommodations, regardless of whether the distance is on the left or the
right side of 100. It's hard to believe that gifted students often have very serious obstacles in their
learning and can fail at school. Of particular note, giftedness most notably coincides with ADHD,
ADD or reading and spelling disabilities. Over the years, we've had many students who fit into the
gifted/LD category who have fared well in our high energy constantly challenging environment.
Diamond in the Rough: Gifted Students with LD
an article by Lisa Fine Goldstein
an article by Lisa Fine Goldstein
| "The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create - - - so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating." Pearl Buck |
| SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT Einstein was four years old before he could speak and seven before he could read. Isaac Newton did poorly in grade school. When Thomas Edison was a boy, his teachers told him he was too stupid to learn anything. F.W.Woolworth got a job in a dry goods store when he was 21. But his employers would not let him wait on a customer because he "Didn't have enough sense." A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he had "No good ideas" Caruso's music teacher told him "You can't sing, you have no voice at all." Leo Tolstoy flunked out of college. Verner Von Braun flunked 9th grade algebra. Admiral Richard E. Byrd had been retired from the navy, as, "Unfit for service" Until he flew over both poles. Louis Pasteur was rated as mediocre in chemistry when he attended the Royal College Abraham Lincoln entered The Black Hawk War as a captain and came out a private Fred Waring was once rejected from high school chorus. Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade. |
| ``Do not worry about your problems in mathematics. I assure yours.`` Albert Einstein |
| children are bored, not only when they don't happen to be interested in the subject or when the teacher doesn't make it interesting, but also when certain working conditions are out of focus with their basic needs, then we can realize what a great contributor to discipline problems boredom really is. Research has shown that boredom is closely related to frustration and that the effect of too much frustration is invariably irritability, withdrawal, rebellious opposition or aggressive rejection of the whole show." Fritz Redl |
