Privilege vs Poverty
Tuesday November 25, 2008
In her article Gifted and challenged: When enlightening has to strike twice, Sarah Lemagie talks about a new program in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, are for children with a dual exceptionality -- children who are gifted and also have some kind of disability. The program developed as a result of a growing awareness of the difficulty these children have in school and the challenges of teaching them.
However, after reading some of the reader comments on this story, I wonder just how much awareness actually exists. Here's the comment that really got me wondering:
However, after reading some of the reader comments on this story, I wonder just how much awareness actually exists. Here's the comment that really got me wondering:
I've seen "Asberger" kids mainstreamed into "regular" classrooms. One thing I've noticed is that this "syndrome" seems to be very white, upper-middle class specific and these children are allowed to misbehave far more than their less affluent, non-white peers. Twice gifted just means "money/money" my kid will get the best education money can buy--whether it's public school funds or private school.What do you think?
Comments
I’ve seen no statistics on the incidence of Asperger’s syndrome in different socio-economic classes, but I can easily believe that the diagnosis is more common among those with private health insurance than those without. It takes a lot of work to make an accurate diagnosis for a 2E child, and those with good health insurance are more likely to be able to get the diagnosis.