Friends:
Below is a link to a story by Rachel Blustein that appeared in the Hechinger Report (a publication of Columbia Teachers College) on March 6:
Twice exceptional, doubly disadvantaged? How schools struggle to serve gifted students with disabilities
Parents say it¡¯s often impossible to find schools to educate bright kids who have disabilities. Now some are fighting to change that
"NEW YORK ? To Eva Santiago, her son¡¯s education has always felt like an impossible dilemma.
Before elementary school, the boy was diagnosed with autism, ADHD and anxiety, and in kindergarten he was placed in a small, self-contained class for kids with disabilities.
But he was articulate and curious, so when he was 6, Santiago took him to be tested for the city¡¯s exclusive gifted-and-talented program. She was pleased when his score earned him one of the coveted spots.
But in his larger gifted-and-talented class, he became anxious and easily upset. He fought with students and teachers and spent most of the school day roaming the halls. After he kicked a security guard and the school called the police, Santiago said, she begged administrators to return him to a self-contained class. There, at least, his teachers could manage his behavioral challenges ? even if it meant he breezed through his school work and learned little. . . ."
Margaret
