Which child do you think has the greatest educational needs; a gifted student or a student with a learning disability? Most people will instinctively opt for the child with a learning disability. However, the gifted student often has just as many educational needs. These needs are not always recognized or, in some cases, are dealt with inappropriately.

For example, in an average mixed ability class, a teacher assigns a task which the majority of students should complete at roughly the same time. The gifted student will complete the assignment way ahead of the rest of the class and then want other things to do while his or her classmates finish. The teacher may assume that the gifted student should be able to organize their own time until the rest of the class has caught up. However, this makes a number of assumptions. First, that the teacher has, through appropriate training or experience, recognized the child is gifted, and second, that the student doesn’t want any more feedback from, or dialog with the teacher.

Not all gifted children allow their superior skills to be apparent. A teacher may have no idea that they have a gifted student in their … READ MORE ...