Characteristic
Emotional Intensity and
Hyper-Sensitivity
(especially evident in GT students
with ADD, ADHD, and ASD)
Inattentive and
Overactive Children
(ADD/ADHD)
Strategies
-Teach students to use a rating scale of feelings, discuss causes of feelings, offer positive activities to
channel intensity, role-play scenarios that may cause hyper-sensitivity and talk through positive
reactions and feelings.
-Allow students opportunities to journal about and/or record their feelings.
-Provide highly stimulating work, along with structure, firm rules, and clear expectations.
-Give them opportunities for movement in the classroom (e.g. yoga balls, standing desks, etc.).
-One-on-one attention should be used when possible.
-Allow them to use a word processor when available because of poor handwriting and racing thoughts.
-Create a checklist for procedures.
-Give visual directions (write on board, hand-out—many GT kids are visually oriented).
-Allow time for cleaning and organizing
-Self Help: teach skills and techniques used to reduce anxiety (learn to identify and replace negative
Excessive Worrying
thinking patterns and behaviors with positive ones, to separate realistic from unrealistic thoughts, etc.)
and Perfectionism (or
excessive self-criticism) -Environment: create an environment where kids truly feel safe to make mistakes (perhaps feel
(often centered on future events,
past behaviors, social acceptance,
family matters, their personal
abilities, and/or school
performance even if always done
well)
comfortable pointing out your own) and safe to take chances (so they may see that nothing bad
happens when they do).
-Give clear expectations on work so they know exactly what is expected of them, and check in with
them often to see how they’re feeling (to identify and help alleviate unrealistic thoughts/expectations).
Slow work speed, AS,
LD, and ADD/ADHD
-Allow more time for work
-Decrease the amount of work
-Use technology, dictation, or oral responses as a substitution for written responses
-Decrease the amount of homework
-Prioritize work
-Create a system for work
-Use a visual timer
-Teach and practice study/work skills
-Define goals and then match materials that capitalize on the interests of the child to achieve goals.
-Create a calendar with the student that breaks the task down into smaller parts that the child agrees
to complete on a given day. When completed, the child marks successful completion on the calendar.
(to aid in learning and integrating
new material, staying focused, and -Use brightly colored post-it notes in study area as reminders to keep focused.
demonstrating mastery)
-When reading, stop at the end of every page to write a summary statement including at least three
supporting details for each main idea.
-Predict how much time will be needed to complete the assignment, and stop working when the
designated amount of time has lapsed. Children will become more versed in timeawareness/management.
-Teach prioritizing skills through use of study planning by numbering the homework assignment by this
pattern: hardest/easiest/next hardest/next easiest/etc. Then complete the tasks in that order.
-Give the child a rubric which delineates what is expected in the final project; also include check-off
sheets along the way to help make sure the details of each part of the project have been completed so
that in the end all the requirements have been successfully achieved.
-Use peer review as a means of support for written work.
-Teach note taking strategies (outlining, bullet notes, etc.) that capitalize on content texts and the bold
headings. Then have the student take a piece of their own writing and outline it for main idea and
supporting ideas.
Executive Function in
GT/ADHD and ASD
ADHD: Work
Speed/Poor Quality
-Decrease work load and give more time.
-Use less writing and more annotating.
-Make most important work due first.
-Limit homework.
-Request parents to help as ‘scribes’.
-Don’t send work home to finish.
-Drop the lowest grade in the series of grades for the quarter.
-Use extra credit.
-Allow test retakes for kids who do poorly on a test.
-Acquire verbal answers.
-Help kids get to where they can perform a skill automatically (Lovecky, 2004, pg. 198)
Gifted Women Issues
-Research to target emotional, social, and cultural issues impacting achievement/well-being
-Implement guidance and counseling programs.
-Develop caring, safe environment.
(biased expectations,
underachievement, fear of
success, and perfectionism)
Anxiety
-Allow extra time on assignments and tests.
-Make presentations more visual with the use of document cameras and Smartboards.
Oppositional Defiant
Disorder
-Build on the positives, give the child praise and positive reinforcement when he/she shows flexibility
or cooperation.
-Pick your battles. Since the child with ODD has trouble avoiding power struggles, prioritize the things
you want the child to do. If you give the child a time-out in his/her room for misbehavior, don’t add time
for arguing. Say “your time will start when you go to your room.”
-Set up reasonable, age appropriate limits with consequence that can be enforced consistently.
-Clearly state the behavioral expectations.
-Never raise your voice or argue with the student.
-Regardless of the situation do not get into a “yes you will” contest. Silence is a better response.
(prevalent in children with AD/HD:
those exhibiting tend to lose
tempers, argue with adults, simply
refuse to comply with
requests/rules, blame others for
their own mistakes, and easily get
annoyed or angered; can be
spiteful, resentful, and seek
revenge.)
Obsessive Compulsive
Personality Disorder
(OCPD: typically exhibited at an
earlier age than OCD, includes
perfectionism that interferes with
task completion, preoccupation
with details, rules, lists, order,
organization, or schedules to the
extent that the major point of the
activity is lost.)
ASD/ADHD
(difficulty expressing emotions and
self-regulation, and difficulty taking
others’ perspectives.)
-Create a plan between the student and teacher with a list and estimated time to complete a given
task. Monitor and adjust throughout the class period.
-Allow student to take a break and collect him/herself when feeling overwhelmed.
-Provide scaffolding for overwhelming tasks. Then as the student feels more confident, let him/her
move toward more independent practice.
-Shorten or abbreviate problematic assignments/tasks.
-Implement a 5-point scale: helps students learn to identify, label, understand, and manage their
emotions and behavior. The 1-5 scale system is appropriate for a variety of behaviors including anger,
anxiety, and obsessions.
-Instruct students in theories of mind, including understanding the thoughts, beliefs, feelings,
intentions, and viewpoints of others.
-Use social stories.
-Have students work on ‘comic strip conversations.’
-Use video modeling.