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“Children in the top 5 per cent need a differentiated curriculum just as much as children in the bottom 5 per cent,” says Colm O’Reilly, director of the Centre for Talented Youth, Ireland. “By definition, the average or mainstream curriculum will not serve their needs. Yet there is no recognition of giftedness as a learning need in schools. There is no training for it at the teacher-training colleges, either.”
About 15 per cent of children who access services through the centre are described as “twice exceptional”: gifted and diagnosed with a learning disability such as autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or dyslexia. It can be a huge challenge to create an appropriate curriculum for them. And such children are presenting in even greater numbers, says O’Reilly, probably because of more frequent assessment. “Five years ago we would probably have had one child in 20 at the centre that would be twice exceptional. Now it’s three times that amount. These children can be hard to identify if their learning disability masks their giftedness.”
Children with poor writing skills from dyslexia, for example, cannot be assessed for giftedness using a written exam. The Centre for Talented Youth, Ireland has developed new entry systems to deal with such children, including varied assessments and referrals from teachers.
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