Special groups and identification
Students from diverse cultures
Many of the more commonly used methods of identifying gifted and talented students – particularly standardised tests of intelligence and achievement – are often inappropriate for, and ineffective in, identifying students from minority cultures. This is true, for example, in relation to Māori students (Bevan-Brown, 1996; Reid, 1990).
Teachers nominating and identifying gifted and talented students should be aware of special abilities and attributes prized by other cultures, such as Māori, Pacific Islands, and Asian.
Self-nomination may also be unsuitable because putting your name up for special treatment is not traditionally acceptable in some cultures, for example, for Māori. Shyness (whakamā) could also prevent self-nomination.
Culturally appropriate identification for gifted and talented Māori students
- Observation is a powerful tool for identification. Teachers making observations should focus on the positives of achievement across many contexts. It is also worth observing a child's rate of progress as an indicator of potential talent.
- Products are useful indicators of a student's talent. It is important to understand the motivation and purpose behind products and discuss these elements with the child. Products such as art work, stories, and samples of work can be incorporated into portfolios, which can be sensitive to students' special interests, abilities, and learning styles.
- Whānau members and kaumātua can be valuable resources in helping the school identify Māori students with special abilities. While students may not nominate themselves and parents may be reluctant to nominate their own children, it may nevertheless be in order for other whānau members or kaumātua to suggest nominations.
The responsive learning environment approach to identification, whereby rich, stimulating, and culturally relevant experiences act as triggers for special abilities to surface, is a sound basis for identifying gifted and talented Māori and Pacific students. In this setting, teachers can develop positive relationships and encourage children to value their culture.
Students with learning difficulties
Although gifted students with learning difficulties may seem a contradiction in terms, some students nevertheless have both learning difficulties and special abilities.
Traditional methods of identification – particularly screening programmes – have not picked up gifted students with learning difficulties. Quite typically, these students score 'average' on screening tests and are not identified.
However, average scores often mask peaks and troughs in performance (that is, special abilities and disabilities). Significant discrepancies between verbal subscale scores and performance subscale scores on the WISC-R often indicate a learning disability. (Verbal scores are typically much higher than performance scores).
As well as noting such discrepancies between verbal and performance profiles on the WISC-R, teachers can identify gifted students with learning difficulties by examining students' behavioural profiles. A typical profile might include:
- considerable variability in performance across tasks
- difficulty with visual/auditory processing
- short attention span
- impaired memory
- low self-concept and self-esteem
- poor writing and organisational skills
- alongside exceptional interests, abilities, and knowledge in specific areas, sometimes linked with special abilities in creative and abstract thinking.
When gifted students with learning difficulties have been identified, they have been shown to respond positively to a responsive learning environment approach, such as Renzulli's enrichment triad model.
As a result of such programmes, student motivation, commitment, performance, and self-concept have been shown to improve.
Students with disabilities
Some gifted and talented students have physical and sensory disabilities. The 'disabled gifted' are amongst the 'hidden gifted' because their special abilities are masked by their more visible physical and sensory disabilities.
However, by adulthood it is often their exceptional talent that is outstanding. Consider, for example, musicians who are blind.
It is important to try to identify, as soon as possible, students who have disabilities but who may have special abilities. Teacher observation and the use of rating scales have been used to assist with identification. Some of the most effective methods have been self- and peer nominations.
Underachieving students
The identification and remediation of seriously underachieving gifted and talented students are notoriously difficult. Moltzen (1996) points out that it may be relatively easy to obtain information on a student's performance at school but is much more difficult to find an indicator of ability.
Moltzen further suggests that providing a responsive learning environment that is secure and student centred, and that rewards accomplishments without fear of ridicule or humiliation, will help identify and remediate the gifted underachiever.
Within such a setting, careful teacher observation will be effective in helping to identify such students, particularly if teachers are alert to the behavioural characteristics of this group. Checklists and teacher observation scales are also helpful in increasing the validity and reliability of teacher observation.
Parents are also important in helping to identify the abilities of this group of students. Evidence of high achievement at home or in the community is particularly significant. Peers are another source of information that can be useful in this regard.
Students from low socio-economic backgrounds
Disadvantaged gifted and talented students (or gifted and talented students from low socio-economic backgrounds) are difficult to identify and are seriously underrepresented in programmes for the gifted and talented.
Since the performance of these students generally declines the longer they are at school (by comparison with students from more advantaged backgrounds), it is critically important to identify them as early as possible. Attention should focus on early childhood education and on the junior school.
Traditional identification methods tend to be ineffective with this group of students. Standardised tests of achievement and intelligence may penalise students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Non-verbal tests of general ability, such as the Standard Progressive Matrices, are more culturally fair although they do not predict academic performance as well as some tests.
The accuracy of teacher identification can be increased with the use of checklists designed specifically for identifying disadvantaged gifted students.
Peer nominations have proved promising, particularly where peers have identified areas of special ability outside the classroom, such as art, music, sport, and leadership.
Of particular value, however, has been the responsive learning environment approach for this group of students. When coupled with early identification and intervention, it is usually the most effective method.