Effects of Talents Unlimited Counseling on Gifted/Learning Disabled Students

Students who have learning disabilities concurrently with giftedness continue to trouble educators regarding the nature of programming best suited to their needs. While numerous extant studies have concentrated on the disabilities of such students, this analysis, patterned after a similar study (Olenchak, 1995), has focused on their personal strengths. This inquiry was structured to ascertain the effects of counseling aimed at enhancing their success in instructional environments. The counseling interventions were based predominately on Talents Unlimited (Schlichter & Palmer, 1993) and the study probed their effects on the attitudes, self-concepts, and creative productivity of gifted/LD youngsters enrolled in the sixth through eighth grades. Quantitative results indicated that year-long participation in such counseling had significant positive impact on attitudes toward school and self-concept. Furthermore, qualitative data consisting of interviews, journal analyses, and classroom observations reinforced the quantitative findings.