Gyarmathy É. (2005) Double exceptionality. In: Special Educational Needs in Europe Teaching languages to learners with special needs. European Commission. DG EAC 23 03 LOT 3. http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/lang/doc/special_en.pdf, pp 73-74

Eva Gyarmathy

Gifted Children with Specific Learning Difficultiesand Teaching Foreign Languages

Numerous great creators failed or had serious difficulties in their school achievement. Many of them had some types of specific learning difficulties. Einstein could not speak until his age 3, he was a weak learner at school, yet he gained the Nobel Prize when he was 26. Leonardo da Vinci started to speak late as well, and Nietsche had similar difficulties. Anatole France could read early, but he hardly could get his baccalaureate because of his bad spelling. Picasso, the brilliant painter, and even Yeats the poet, Flaubert and Agatha Christie, the great writers, had difficulties in reading. Benoit Mandelbrot the creator of fractal geometry could not count well. Wernher Von Braun, the father of rocketry, flunked 9th grade algebra.

Double exceptionality

There is a large unidentified population with double exceptionality. Gifted children with specific learning difficulties can cover their deficits by their high abilities, however the deficits cover their high abilities.

The fact that both specific learning difficulties and giftedness are even for themselves heterogeneous, and in origin and appearance many kinds of populations are behind the definitions, makes identification more difficult. We can use identificational methods that aim to find the typical, irregular information processes of the gifted persons with specific learning difficulties. Further references, and my own experiences show that these children achieve on a very different level in the school, and have a specific learning style that is little suitable for school success.

Poor verbal, sequential, analytic processes cause difficulties for gifted children with specific learning difficulties, though they are bright, when visual, holistic, parallel approach is required. Verbal-sequential abilities are highly appreciated in our society, starting in the school. Education is based on this way of thinking. Those, who are different, not only suffer from their unfittingness, but fail to acquire abilities and knowledge, like command of language, they need for later high achievements.

Results show that gifted children with specific learning difficulties in appropriate learning and testing situation can perform as high as their average peers. Most of their problem roots from their different information processing and learning style.

Gifted education and verbal abilities

Theory and practice in gifted education have shifted from an emphasis primarily on general cognitive ability to an appreciation of the unique information afforded by sequential-verbal abilities.

Given what is known about the structure and organization of human abilities there appears to be at least one dimension of the cognitive spectrum missing in academic assessment and training, the parallel, holistic thinking. Abilities connected to this “right hemisphere abilities” like spatial visualisation, understanding music, humor, emotions, imagination typically are not assessed when selecting individuals for advanced training in basic science.

Why have abilities of parallel information processing been neglected in working with intellectually talented students? This may stem from false beliefs that these abilities are more relevant to the "vocational trades" than to academic or professional endeavors, inasmuch as the latter tend to place a heavy emphasis on verbal competence An alternative possibility, however, is that evidence of the differential and incremental validity of multiple abilities over and above verbal has been lacking.

Tests measuring “right hemisphere abilities”display limited usefulness for predicting traditional academic criteria, partly because most course grades and academic accomplishment assessments are saturated with content specifically indicative of reasoning with numbers and words. If students were required to operate more in complex physical science laboratories, architectural design studios, or in some of the creative arts, there is reason to suspect that measures of other abilities would contribute to predicting performance and add incremental validity to conjoint verbal and quantitative reasoning assessments.

Teaching foreign languages seems to be less problematic in gifted provision, because most programs identify gifted children with verbal-sequential abilities. These children learn easily languages, even without any teaching. However children with parallel-global-visual thinking, even if they are highly able, have more difficulties in acquiring languages.

Treatment of specific learning difficulties

The syndrome of specific learning difficulties is considered a deficit, a kind of illness that has to be cured. However in most cases it is not true. According to our results specific learning difficulties stem from a unusual information processing. It is not something that has to be cured. It is a characteristic of the child. The treatment has to be started from identification of the child's whole cognitive profile, abilities and information processing, and based on the individual's characteristics.

Current approaches and methods used in the treatment of the children with specific learning difficulties are deficit oriented. They focus on disabilities. This attitude

causes low self-esteem and continuous anxiety. The monoton drills to treat literacy deficits are hardly endurable for gifted persons. If by chance a child with high intelligence is identified as dyslexic, the torture that the treatment means can lead to extreme problem behavior, and can hinder the development of a healthy personality.

In this way it is difficult to decide which is less harmful, if the child is identified as suffering from specific learning difficulties and pulled into a treatment described above, or if remains unidentified, and endures the continuous frustration of the everyday failures in the school, while not understanding that many far less bright peers can achieve so well.

Identified dyslexics are relieved of learning foreign languages. This false alleviation leads to further frustration, low self-esteem and lack of important abilities.

The solution is in the whole brain teaching. We have to work out and use appropriate methods to teach languages for those with special needs.

Consequences

Not only those with high abilities and specific learning difficulties need alternative teaching. Most of the underachievers are not underachievers, but underserved or miss-served. Education doesn't fit to their rather parallel-holistic abilities. Not only the children should fit to the education, but also education should fit to the children.

Learning languages is a built-in ability of the human beings. Those with verbal deficits may need to make more effort, but those who can acquire a language, even with subdominant verbal-sequential information processing can learn foreign languages. The key is the method. Teaching should use more “right brain” activities such as art, drama, music, humor, emotions and social situations. Visual materials, and different types of technology support have to be developed, too.

Second language and effective teaching in the practice

Dyslexic individuals have many excellent abilities to use in learning and information processing. For example they are visual, they are holistic. They are good in activities where visual stimuli help the solution, they are effective when they can manipulate, and stirring events happens. They like intellectual challenge if the tasks is by their leading abilities.

On the other hand dyslexics have some deficiencies. Most of the deficiencies stem from their different way of thinking. That is why their deficiencies sometimes root from the same abilities which can be excellent. Dyslexics are holistic, so they leave out of consideration details, thus they confuse similar things. They are poor in the perception of directions, orientations, relations. Their sequential abilities, the step by step information processing is weak. Their poor phonological abilities don’t help them. These are traits that hinder literacy skills. They make many mistakes and the incorrect forms rival always with the correct forms. That is the reason they mustn’t

produce anything before they have learned it properly. The material has to be as much as possible multi-sensorial, interactive and follow the natural way of literacy skill’s learning. It has to be built up to lead a slow, gradual progress. The material that has been learned in a phase, has to come again and again on a higher level. There are three main phases and many sub phases in the learning of the language.

Structure

Three phases:1. No reading and no writing2. Reading – phonological abilities to improve3. Reading and writing – spelling and grammar to achieve the phonological

awareness

Phase 1No reading and no writingThe material consists of situations, games and tasks where the learner can hear and see the words, sentences and the short instructions and see pictures of the words and situations of the communication .

Steps forward:

♦ The learner is not expected to produce sentences or give any feed back in the first time.

♦ Production is the learners decision. ♦ Production is expected as repetition of the material.♦ The learner answers questions♦ The learner creates own sentences

Phase 2Reading – phonological abilities to improveThe learner mustn’t pronounce incorrectly the words. The reading production is starting only when it is 100% sure that the learner knows the pronunciation of the given material. The material is based on the material of the first phase. The games, situations and tasks should support the graduality.

Steps forward:

♦ The learner reads the text together with the computer while follows the words. (Colors or any other signing is good for it.)

♦ The learner repeats the text after the computer, while follows it.♦ The learner reads the text, and the computer repeats. Thus the learner can check

own production.

Phase 3Reading and writing – spelling and grammar to achieve the phonological awarenessThe learner should write only when the production is 100% surely correct. The learner mustn’t see the words incorrectly written.

Steps forward:

♦ The learner copies the words and sentences. The computer gives feed back.♦ The learner writes those words and sentences that are already in the inner

lexicon. The computer gives feed back.♦ The learner writes sentences. The computer gives feed back.

Content

a. The material has to be visual, auditive and verbal in the same time. The words and sentences have to be seen in a picture, have to be pronounced and the written form has to be seen together. b. The material has to be interactive. Games, situations, tasks, choices, decisions make the material living.c. The material can be improved by songs and poems. Karaoke is a very good tool.d. The grammar tasks have to be clear. Visual and auditive clues should help the understanding and usage of the rules. Colors, shapes and drawings diagrams can be good aids. A good sample sentence helps a lot.e. The material should contain links where other materials on a given level can be found.