| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
< BACK TO ARCHIVE |
| Date: From: Subject: | 1/14/2010 3:08:45 PM Home School Legal Defense Association HSLDA's Homeschooling Your Struggling Learner Newsletter |
|
---------------------------------------------------------------- HSLDA's Homeschooling Your Struggling Learner Newsletter January 2010--Gifted with a Glitch ---------------------------------------------------------------------- By Dianne Craft, MA, CNHP HSLDA Special Needs Coordinator What a privilege it is to homeschool our children. We get to know them so well, can plant God's Word into their hearts, and help them find their God-given gifts. All of our children have unique gifts that God has imparted to them to be a blessing to others. For the purposes of our discussion today, let's look at giftedness from the purely academic viewpoint. One of the most puzzling scenarios we see in educating our children is the child who is academically gifted but performing so far below that standard. The temptation is to see the child as having a "character" problem. We reluctantly come to the conclusion that the child is "lazy, sloppy or unmotivated." We use many different strategies to help that child perform better. However, today I want you to consider another possibility. This could be a child who is gifted but still has a learning glitch. Commonly, the child who is "gifted with a glitch" is the most misunderstood of our children. Let's see if we can unravel this mystery child a bit. Characteristics of Academic Giftedness The general consensus is that an average IQ is 90-109. One can accomplish much with an average IQ. In general schooling settings, a child is considered for entry into "gifted" classes if his IQ measures at 120 or above. However, we home educators often do not have to have our child tested in order to know that he is academically gifted. We can see it in so many ways. Dr. Linda Silverman, author of "Upside Down Brilliance," and founder of the Gifted Development Center in Colorado (http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=7466), agrees with this. She states that parents are excellent identifiers of giftedness in their children. She has found that 85% of the children whose parents say they fit three-fourths of the following characteristics score at least 120 (superior range) in an IQ test: 1. Reasons well (a good thinker) 2. Extensive spoken vocabulary 3. Has strong curiosity 4. Has a great sense of humor 5. Is a keen observer 6. Has a wide range of interests 7. Avid reader (if a reading glitch is not present) 8. Concerned with justice and fairness 9. Tends to question authority 10. Often prefers older companions or adults You may have recognized these characteristics in your own child but are puzzled because his performance does not match his IQ. Is this a manifestation of a character issue or a learning glitch? Twice Exceptional After I had finished homeschooling my son, I went back to teaching. I taught children who were identified as "twice exceptional." I thought of them as "gifted with a glitch," because they were identified as gifted, which was one exception, while experiencing another exception--their below-average performance in schoolwork. I learned so much working with these wonderful teenagers. I helped them overcome their learning glitches, so that they were free to do the things that God called them to do. Most Common Glitch The most common learning glitch that these children displayed was dysgraphia. (See HSLDA's Struggling Learner email newsletter for September 2008 http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=7467 for a complete description of children with dysgraphia, and home corrections.) These teenagers had great ability to tell a story orally, but when they put the "offending utensil" in their hand, their minds shut down. I had them in my language arts class because they were turning in so little written work. (Math teachers also reported that they refused to "show their work" or they made "careless" math errors because they didn't line up their numbers correctly, which is another subtle sign of this visual/spatial disorder.) Because spelling is usually taught by writing words multiple times, or by filling in worksheets (with the offending utensil--the pencil), these young people had not memorized many common spelling words, such as "was" (wus), "sure" (shur) or "what" (wat). They continued to misspell the days of the week and months of the year, even after we had studied them many times. This made their writing appear very primitive. When it came to spelling errors, my first goal was to determine whether these children really had not memorized the necessary words. It could be they actually knew how to spell the words correctly but wrote them down wrong because of the writing glitch. When a child misspelled a common word, I asked him to spell it orally while I wrote it down for him to see. If he spelled it orally correctly, then I determined that the writing glitch was the biggest cause of this child's spelling errors in writing. In that case I employed the crossing the midline exercise described in the September '08 newsletter. If the child spelled the word incorrectly even when I wrote it in front of him, then I realized that the method which had thus far been used to teach this child spelling was not the correct one. Thus, I chose two methods that bypassed this problem: 1. Right brain spelling, utilizing the child's strong photographic memory for storing non-phonetic spelling words (see Struggling Learner email newsletter, December 2009 http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=7468) and; 2. Sequential Spelling to learn words with a phonetic pattern to them (http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=7469). To teach paragraph writing skills I used a very basic step by step program I called "right brain writing," (I sometimes called this "writing without curriculum," because it is the parent/teacher working with the child, showing him how to think through all the steps of paragraphing). This method allows the child to see the end from the beginning and follow an easy path to success. Another, more sophisticated writing method that is also good for struggling writers, is the one developed by the Institute for Excellence in Writing (http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=7470). It is such a relief for a child to have his glitch identified and, based on that information, to utilize new methods in teaching him. He will be grateful. God says in His Word that He will give us insight and understanding in everything, as we pray. We can thank Him for that every day, as we homeschool our children! Resources "Home Schooling the Gifted Child" http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=7471 Gifted Development Center: Homeschooling Information http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=7472 Homeschooling Your Struggling Learner Newsletters http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=7473 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> Remember the last time you wrote a term paper? Research can be grueling-digging through archives, wading through articles, conducting interviews. But if it's related to homeschooling, you can relax a little. There's a good chance that you'll find what you're looking for in HSLDA's bimonthly Home School Court Report. Providing in-depth, insightful articles on much of what affects the world of homeschoolers, the Court Report is a must-read for the serious homeschooler. This publication is provided free to each HSLDA member. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1933 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. Box 3000 Purcellville, Virginia 20134 Phone: (540) 338-5600 Fax: (540) 338-2733 Email: info@hslda.org Web: http://www.hslda.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- How To Subscribe: - Subscribe to the HSLDA E-lert Service at our website: https://secure.hslda.org/hslda/elert/account.asp?Process=Subscribe - Or send an email with name and complete mailing address to: subscribe@hslda.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscription Information: - You subscribed to the HSLDA E-lert Service as: ##ToAddress## - To unsubscribe from the HSLDA E-lert Service send an email from the email address you want to unsubscribe to: unsubscribe@hslda.org - To change your email address or make other changes to your subscription, visit the HSLDA E-lert Service account web page at: https://secure.hslda.org/hslda/elert/account.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------------- POSTMASTERS: This message is being sent to the most recent address we have for our subscribers. If this is an invalid email address or you have other problems, please reply to webmaster@hslda.org. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER: This is considered a private and confidential message from HSLDA to its bonafide HSLDA E-lert Service subscribers. HSLDA cannot attest to the authenticity of copies posted, forwarded, or sent by any party other than HSLDA. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: Please do not reply or otherwise use this email address; hslda@hslda.org is for broadcast purposes only and is not intended to receive incoming messages. We cannot reply to any email sent to this address. If you have comments or questions, please send email to info@hslda.org or call HSLDA at 540-338-5600. HSLDA members can also email staff directly through the Members website at http://members.hslda.org/contact.asp. Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
