Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Gifted with LD?

There have been a few topics on here lately that have me wondering if DD7 may have an undiagnosed LD. Her father is very intelligent but he quit school in 8th grade. He remembers getting poor grades and being yelled at for not understanding things but he is very intelligent especially in math. DD is doing very well in school and is performing at grade level but I wonder if she is capable of more but being held back by some type of LD inherited from her father. Big brother is very gifted and the discrepency seems huge between them. I am afraid I am not very well versed in learning disabilities but wonder if a child who is HG may never be diagnosed as they are still performing at grade level. She was a late talker and required speech therapy. She still mispronounces some sounds and sometimes seems to not do well on logical sequences or patterns when they are not visual/pictoral. I appreciate any thoughts. :-)

Breakaway

Sounds classic; has she had any testing of the aptitude sort? I have read that if one child is gifted it stands to reason that the parents should seek testing for all siblings even if the other child doesn't 'stand out' as gifted.

But otoh if she is happy, really happy about how she is doing, maybe that is a good fit for her.

Hi Chris,

She has not had any sort of aptitude testing. The testing I had for DS was done privately and was very expensive but he was so "out there" and having school/behavior issues so I felt the testing was necessary. DD is overall happy I guess but she does feel like her brother is much smarter and she is not smart. (her words not mine) I think it keeps her from trying harder things and that just plain stinks in my book. I think she is wonderful and talented as is but since her brother is so HG I wonder about her and her self-esteem. I just don't really know what to look for in terms of LD symptoms and since she is doing well in school I doubt that they are looking.

I would have her tested. It is very likely that she is gifted as well.

I have two boys, one of whom is obviously HG+ (and tests that way). The other one at age 7 seemed somewhat below average (and he was the older of the two, so I wasn't comparing him to his brother). Many years and much testing later, he has finally been identified as HG+ with dyslexia and ADHD.

Google "twice exceptional" and "gifted learning disabled" and see if what you find resonates. Also the Eides have some wonderful information on their website and blog.