Learning Disabilities and Giftedness

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Abstract
Relationships among academic achievement, self-concept, and behavior of the learning disabled/gifted child, and abilities of parents and teachers to identify the learning problem were considered. Twenty-four learning disabled/gifted children and a control group of normally achieving, gifted students were administered a six-factor self-concept measure. Subsequently, their parents, regular classroom teachers, and teachers in an enrichment program completed a student behavior measure. Analyses indicated tendencies for experimental subjects to have lower self-concepts than controls. Correlations showed seven statistically significant relationships between self-concept and hyperactive/asocial behaviors in experimental subjects. Enrichment program teachers, who had received special education training, significantly identified experimental subjects as having learning problems. No parents identified experimental children as having learning difficulties. Conclusions are that experimental students may be masking failure through passive behaviors, and that they may be unidentified at home and school, unless adults are trained in special education.