And when it comes to academic abilities, most children, even those who are very bright or high-achieving, have a definite set of strengths and weaknesses. We all do. Think of your own school experiences. Were there classes or subjects that were easier for you - where you felt most comfortable and in your element? How do you learn best? Are you someone who needs to read something to understand it, or do you retain information better when you hear a lecture, or see a picture or a visual presentation? How about your child - does he or she breeze through certain subjects and struggle with others?

Some variation in abilities, including those involved in doing well at school, is normal - a fact that is consistent with many current views on human intelligence. That is, intelligence should be thought of as a group of distinct abilities, rather than a global or general factor that filters down to everything we do. One child may be great at art and reading, but not so great at math or athletics. Another child may be truly creative in the way he views the world or in the way he approaches problem solving, but have a hard time getting his ideas down on paper. In other words, intelligence is not one "thing" that we can point to, and just because you excel in one area doesn't mean you'll do as well in others.

For most of us, these differences are no big deal. We get through school and life by working a little harder at the things that don't come as easily, or we learn to compensate for our weaknesses by using our strengths. If we have a hard time understanding information that we read, we may use pictures or diagrams to help us learn, or we visualize the material in our minds. If our memories are weak, we might learn to take detailed notes, study more often, or develop other strategies to help us recall information. We learn, often unconsciously, to adapt.

For some children, however, the differences between their abilities are so great that it is difficult, if not impossible, for them to succeed in school just by working harder or through compensating. These children have a true learning disability - a persistent and obvious block when it comes to learning certain types of material. For some children, the problem may involve reading, for others math. Still others may struggle with written or spoken language. These are otherwise capable children who, even though they have had great teachers, help at home, and plenty of opportunity to learn, still don't seem to "get it."

Children identified as having a learnng disability (or a "specific learning disability") are otherwise capable students who are not working up to their potential in some area because of an underlying processing problem. These are children who show strengths in some areas and noticeable weaknesses in others. Many gifted children fit this pattern. An individual IQ test, the kind commonly used to identify giftedness in school age children, is made up of several separate subtests measuring different areas like memory, visual spatial skills, and verbal ability. While a child's full scale, or overall, IQ score may fall in the gifted range, the pattern of scores on these individual subtests can vary widely. For example, some children show unusual strength in subtests which measure visual reasoning ability and a relative weakness in those measuring verbal areas. Other children show quite different patterns. In fact, rather than being universally gifted, most children with high IQs show a definite pattern of strengths and weaknesses, or peaks and valleys, when it comes to their cognitive abilities.

Similarly, gifted children can vary greatly in how well they do in school, depending on the subject area being considered. While they shine in some academic areas, they may struggle in others. Some of these children will be able to compensate, using their underlying strengths to make up for their weaknesses. But sometimes the process deficit - memory, attention, expressive language, or some other problem - is so severe that the child is not able to compensate. Children like these are sometimes called "Twice Exceptional," or "2E" kids.

What to Look For

Some signs that your otherwise bright or gifted child may have a specific learning disability are:

• He appears to be trying his best, but is still struggling in one or more subject areas despite having a skilled teacher and support from you at home.

• He shows a big difference in performance between subject areas - for instance, consistently doing well in reading and writing, but poorly in math.

• There are obvious signs of problems with cognitive skills like attention, memory, understanding or using language, or following directions, and these problems appear to be getting in the way of school success.

• He forgets what he has learned from one day to the next.

• His teachers are concerned about his lack of progress in comparison to other children of the same age or grade, or feel that he is working below his ability.

What to Do

If your child is struggling in school and shows one or more of these signs, it's time to call an individual meeting with the teacher to discuss your concerns. Often, parents and teachers can find solutions together, without having to look any further.A modification of homework assignments, extra tutoring, or a change in ability groups within the classroom are some common solutions. 

If you've already tried accommodations suggested by your child's teacher without success, go to the next step and ask for a "student study team" (SST) meeting (sometimes called a student intervention team (SIT) meeting, a grade level intervention team (GLIT) meeting, a brainstorming meeting, or some similar term). Schools typically hold these meetings when interventions at the classroom level are not working and there is a need to get other opinions about how to best support a child.

The student study team is often made up of the child's general education teacher, other experienced teachers at the school, the principal, and sometimes a special education teacher or school psychologist. The team will listen to your concerns, discuss your child's strengths and weaknesses, and come up with recommendations that can be put into action by the general education teacher. These recommendations might include additional services during or after school, the use of supplementary learning materials, a change in the way your child is grouped for instruction, or suggestions about how you might provide extra support at home.

The kinds of remedial programs available to general education students vary from district to district, and often from school to school. Some schools have a general education learning specialist or special programs and materials available for students who need extra support. Some allow general education students to receive informal or "school based" support from special education teachers on campus. In these programs, students who need extra help are grouped with formally identified special education students for instruction in the areas where the support is needed. The instruction may take place in the general education classroom, or children may be pulled out once or more a week for instruction in a special "resource" room.

If your child is still not succeeding despite the best efforts of the teacher and the school team, and you or your child's teacher still believes that a learning disability may be present, then consider requesting testing for formal special education services. By law, schools have a certain number of days after receiving a parent's written request for testing to respond and develop an "assessment plan," outlining what types of tests will be used.