How can a person be Gifted and have a learning disability?

Well, there are children who are severely mentally handicapped yet show savant skills. For example, they need help with the smallest things, like putting on their socks and shoes, but they can play the piano without ever receiving any instruction, and can replay any tune that they have ever heard.

So a person can be gifted in one way and still possess learning disabilities. How this exactly happens is difficult to explain in medical terms because there are so many different variations and degrees to the disability and the gift. The simplest way to explain it is, there are areas of the brain that are damaged in one way or another, and somehow, the brain compensates for that damage in other areas.

Is there a specific reason you are asking this question? Is there someone you know that is gifted but has learning disabilities? If you can be more specific, we might be able to give you more specific information, or at lease provide you with a link to a web site that can supply you with further details.

Yes they can!

My son has ADHD and is extremely gifted in Math. In fact, many children with ADHD are extremely intelligent but because of deficit disorder then often times tend to start falling behind simply because they cannot concentrate on one thing or another for adequate amounts of time.

Also, I have a brother who has an IQ of somewhere around 70 (high functioning mentally handicapped), I remember when we were growing up, he could quote every statistic of any baseball player he ever had a topps baseball card of. Truly amazing!

My son has ADHD and is gifted. He reads well above his age level, has a capacity for mental equations of someone at least two years older than him and was talking fluently by the agr of two and a half ( and hasn't stopped since!). Yet the attention deficit disorder is a definite learning disability. When he hit school age he had difficulty socialising with other children and followed the teacher around the room all day. He couldn't keep his hands to himself or sit still on the floor.
Luckily for us we found an excellent doctor who manages his case with such success that my son (now in year 5) is an excellent student (who still has trouble making and keeping friends though).

Yes a child can be gifted and learning disabled. Actually they have a name for it!

'Twice Exceptional'

If you search for Twice Exceptional and 2e, you will find lots of helpful material.

One of my favorite links is the following:
2enewsletter.com

Hello I have dyxlexia and I have ADD. I'm gifted and talented I was 6 points away from Mensa when I was six, and IQ goes up over time. I'm 10 and the highest reader in my class. I'm in the high school level reading. I'm one of the best people at math in my school probably in the top 5. Im great at building and construict, plus art. Having ADD actually makes you smarter. I might be so smart because I'm related to Albert Einstein who also had ADD. So to answer your question "Mr. Rocket Scientist" it is possible. My sister was 2 points away from mensa when she was five.

You have posted on a 2007 thread that is long closed.

Please check dates when you post - I realize you are 11 and not familiar with the boards but plesae doublecheck before you answer.