UDL & Gifted Education
Who Are Gifted Learners?
Students who are gifted are blessed with, and challenged by, divergent thinking patterns, intense emotionality, acute social perceptibility, and sensory sensitivity. Kazimierz Dabrowski, a Polish psychiatrist, in his theory of positive disintegration noted a group of people who demonstrated five “overexcitabilities.” These included intellectual, imaginational, emotional, sensual, and psychomotor aspects of their development. Overexcitability is a translation, of course, and really meant a neurological hypersensitivity. He observed that these individuals have an intense activity of the mind, a vivid imagination, a heightened sensory experience or awareness, a surplus of energy, and heightened emotional sensitivity. Many people working with gifted children today accept this theory, and it is present in the definition put forward by the Columbus group of giftedness as,
“Giftedness is ‘asynchronous development’ in which advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity combine to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm. This asynchrony increases with higher intellectual capacity. The uniqueness of the gifted renders them particularly vulnerable and requires modifications in parenting, teaching and counseling in order for them to develop optimally.”
This differs from bright, convergent thinkers for whom the system is designed. So how do we support an "at-risk" population that most people don't recognize as being at-risk, and in fact believe are "lucky" and don't need support?
“Giftedness is ‘asynchronous development’ in which advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity combine to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm. This asynchrony increases with higher intellectual capacity. The uniqueness of the gifted renders them particularly vulnerable and requires modifications in parenting, teaching and counseling in order for them to develop optimally.”
This differs from bright, convergent thinkers for whom the system is designed. So how do we support an "at-risk" population that most people don't recognize as being at-risk, and in fact believe are "lucky" and don't need support?
The Three Block Model of UDL & Gifted Education
While many people associate the use of universal design for learning with the inclusion of students with disabilities, the Three Block Model of UDL is designed to create accessibility to the social and academic life of the classroom for ALL students, including those who are gifted. The stated goal of the model is to create schools in which all students develop a sense of pride in who they are as a learner, feel a sense of belonging to their learning community, are intellectually engaged, and are challenged to learn and grow. Like all students, students who are gifted require supports for social and emotional learning, as well as intellectual engagement, growth, and success.
Block One - Social and Emotional Learning
Students who are gifted often struggle to find their true peers. If a student has advanced intellectual interests and intense emotionality, it can be difficult to "fit in." Chronological peers may not share the same interests or desire for intimacy, yet older peers are more developed physically and perhaps, socially (e.g. ready for dating relationships). As a result, students who are gifted require two primary interventions/supports:
Block Two - Inclusive Instructional Practice
Students who are gifted are most often divergent thinkers. This means that multiple areas of the brain are involved in their thinking, resulting in lateral, connective thought patterns rather than a convergent, logical-sequential processing style. Several strategies built into the Three Block Model support the inclusion of students who are gifted:
Block One - Social and Emotional Learning
Students who are gifted often struggle to find their true peers. If a student has advanced intellectual interests and intense emotionality, it can be difficult to "fit in." Chronological peers may not share the same interests or desire for intimacy, yet older peers are more developed physically and perhaps, socially (e.g. ready for dating relationships). As a result, students who are gifted require two primary interventions/supports:
- Facilitation of friendships and peer relationships
- Development of emotional resiliency/coping skills
Block Two - Inclusive Instructional Practice
Students who are gifted are most often divergent thinkers. This means that multiple areas of the brain are involved in their thinking, resulting in lateral, connective thought patterns rather than a convergent, logical-sequential processing style. Several strategies built into the Three Block Model support the inclusion of students who are gifted:
- Integrated Curriculum - supports connective thinking inherent in divergence.
- UBD - using essential understandings as a focus for instruction and assessment allows students who are gifted to focus on holistic conceptual understanding of "the big ideas."
- Inquiry - allows gifted learners to pursue areas of passion and interest
- Differentiated Instruction - supports diverse preferences for learning modalities, reduces the expectation that students who are gifted be "perfect" at everything.
- Strength Based Approach - allows gifted learners to appreciate their areas of talent, while also recognizing those of others.
- Four stage assessment rubrics - encourage students to "go beyond" what the teacher has asked to the "exceeding expectations" criteria. Rubrics are based on a Bloom's taxonomy, thus emphasizing higher order thinking rather than rote learning, and reducing the need for acceleration and enrichment (retrofitting) as the tasks are open ended.
UDL & Students with Dual Exceptionalities
Students can have higher order thinking and still have a learning disability in a skill area such as reading, writing, or computation. They can also have sensory and physical disabilities, mental health challenges, emotional and behavioral disorders, ADHD, and so on. The frustration of having high level thinking, but being unable to acquire or express knowledge in ways that traditional schooling often demands can be intense. Students with dual exceptionalities often have very low academic self-concepts, struggle socially and emotionally, and at times exhibit challenging behavior.
It is critical that this population be identified and supported. Frequently, students are recognized for having a disability, and their gifts are ignored, resulting in further frustration and a loss of potential development. When students demonstrate higher order cognition orally, but struggle in a skill area, they should be flagged immediately and assessed for a dual exceptionality.
All of the same strategies listed above support students with dual exceptionalities - and it is even more important for this population to be offered these supports.
It is critical that this population be identified and supported. Frequently, students are recognized for having a disability, and their gifts are ignored, resulting in further frustration and a loss of potential development. When students demonstrate higher order cognition orally, but struggle in a skill area, they should be flagged immediately and assessed for a dual exceptionality.
All of the same strategies listed above support students with dual exceptionalities - and it is even more important for this population to be offered these supports.