Dyslexia

Definitions

Dyslexia, like giftedness, can be defined in various ways. Some definitions are specific to dyslexia, whereas others describe the condition as one of a broader set of challenges called learning disabilities. Medical definitions, like those of many optometrists and the International Dyslexia Association, define dyslexia specifically as a set of severe, intrinsic, lifelong, perceptual, memory, and organizational problems that often underlie significant reading, writing, and other language-based challenges. By contrast, definitions by advocacy groups, psychologists, and educators tend to focus, with varying degrees of breadth, on language-learning disabilities. Most broadly, the Learning Disability Association's (LDA's) advocacy-based definition refers to extensive learning “differences,” rather than deficits, shown by dyslexics and other persons with learning disabilities (LD). This definition emphasizes the many ways in which people with learning challenges can—rather than can't—do community, home, and school tasks over the entire life span. Psychological definitions, such as that of the American Psychiatric Association's fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), generally are used more narrowly to show how information-processing challenges affect dyslexic and other learning disabled persons at home, in school, and around the community. Perhaps most narrowly, educational definitions, such as those of the U.S. Department of Education and many state education departments, focus on processing difficulties that cause LD youth to underachieve academically in one or more school subjects during the K–12 years.

These diverse definitions—with their implicit, varied challenges for gifted dyslexics—may present different opportunities for these youths' widely varied strengths to arise. For example, LDA's definition, with its “can do” philosophy about LD persons' alternative ways of getting things done, has long been open to excellent performance from highpotential dyslexics throughout their life spans. Further, federal and many state educational definitions, which connect “LD” to “average-to-above” intellectual potential during the K–12 years, suggest that many LD students can profit substantially from appropriate, school-based, remedial instruction. When appropriately individualized, the instruction often accompanying the “LD” label can significantly close the gap between gifted dyslexics' very high academic potential and their actual achievement levels.

Prevalence

Given the varied definitions of giftedness and dyslexia, it is difficult to determine the precise prevalence of gifted dyslexic students. Even within a given definition, the theory and the practice surrounding that definition portend different numbers of gifted dyslexic children. For instance, according to the federal gifted and LD definitions—both of which are open, theoretically, to having the “other” exceptionality present—there should be about 100,000 gifted K–12 students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. In practice, however, few dyslexic children may actually be identified for gifted programs, perhaps due to dyslexic youths' difficulties in achieving the results needed for gifted-program admissions, on test scores, or on teacher, parent, or self-nominations.

Characteristics

In professional gifted and learning-disability journals (from 1997–2007), the characteristics of these seemingly elusive gifted dyslexic youth can actually be described in familiar gifted-education terms, through these journals' descriptions of these youths' learning, intellectual, creativity, and leadership strengths and needs. The literature on these characteristics has traditionally put a “human face” on these pupils' processing difficulties and on the effects of these challenges on the children's lives. In recent years, however, the literature—particularly that of gifted education—has increasingly described these youths' strengths, as well.

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