Services and programs for academically talented students with learning disabilities

Implications for Service Providers

Within these five major ideas is an implicit understanding that LD specialists should have some time to focus on high-potential students with LD and that, in an ideal situation, an enrichment or gifted education specialist would work collaboratively with a LD specialist to develop a program of individually selected enrichment activities such as those advocated in the Enrichment Triad Model (Renzulli, 1977; Renzulli & Reis, 1985, 1997). Research has suggested that these experiences can ultimately lead toward personal creative productivity, enhance self-esteem, and reduce frustration among gifted students with LD (Baum, 2004; Olenchak, 1995). In addition, Olenchak (1995) found that gifted/LD students should perceive the purpose of schooling as a shift from an orientation toward remediation to one targeting their individual growth. In a program for academically talented students with LD, opportunities for counseling and acquisition of compensation strategies coupled with the choice of a major of strong interest provided the best possible combination for a successful academic career (Baum & Owen, 2004; Reis et al., 1997).

Providing instruction in higher order problem solving and information processing enhances the development of academic coping strategies, and can improve students' self-esteem as problem-solvers as well as their academic performance (Hansford, 1987; Reis et al., 2000). Furthermore, because gifted/LD students tend to be more resourceful and strategic in approaching problems than nongifted students who have LD, classroom activities that emphasize these skills may also improve self-esteem (Coleman, 1992).

Best Practices and Promising Future Directions in Intervention Research

In summarizing the major impacts of the interventions and programs that have been developed to date and that have reported successful outcomes, Newman (2004) concluded that many of these programs have focused on addressing the needs of students who demonstrate high intellectual ability. Specifically, she suggested that the students who are served have a profile of giftedness primarily in the area of analytical abilities or high IQ (Sternberg, 1999). We concur with Newman and her colleagues at the PACE Center at Yale University, who make a case for a broader conception of giftedness to include students who may also have gifts in domains such as creative or practical abilities that often serve as a foundation for building professional success (Sternberg, 1999; Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2004). Consistent with this philosophy of broadened conceptions of intelligence and giftedness with emphasis on developing students' talents and maximizing their potential is the work of Renzulli and Reis (1987, 1995). Renzulli's three-ring conception of giftedness, his distinction between school-house giftedness and creative-productive giftedness (Renzulli, 1997), and the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (Renzulli & Reis, 1997) provide implications for identification and programming for gifted students, as well as for gifted students with LD (Baum et al., 2001; Baum & Owen, 2004; Robinson, 1999).