Highly intelligent individuals often "march to the beat of a different drummer." Nowhere is this more noticeable than in the often undiscovered geniuses with learning disabilities. It is believed there are many students in the educational system with very high IQ's who have dyslexia, dysgraphia, attention deficit/huperactivity disorder, or many other learning disabilities. Their intelligence goes undiscovered because they are smart enough to compensate for their often undetected learning disabililties, while those same disabilities prevent them from being anything more than average students. The public school systems are financially able to test the very obviously failing students, but are reluctant to spend money testing the average student. The bureaucratic maze becomes thicker and more confusing as the student becomes increasingly frustrated. Unless the student and parent are exceptionally persistent or are financially able to afford private testing, the student gets lost in the maelstrom.

I know the frustration well. I am the mother of Joseph, an eight year old Mensan with dyslexia, dysgraphia and attention deficit disorder. Verbally, Joseph appeared intelligent. He had endless curiosity, an adult vocabulary, memorized instantly, and understood unusually complicated concepts. He also failed first grade.

As his school work faltered, he became increasingly violent, very angry and more curious. He continually repeated questions. Why doesn't gravity keep smoke from rising? What is "n"? (In algebra, not the alphabet.) What is the chemical composition of tar? These questions aren't really "important" in first grade, and so he failed. The public school didn't find it too unusual that a six year old could be obsessed with these questions and yet could still flunk first grade. In fact they believed he really had "not failed enough to be tested." The local school system was not willing to pay for testing until he failed at least two grades, preferably three. After weeks of dead ends with the local school bureaucracy, we decided to have him tested privately.

Thousands of dollars later, private testing revealed all the learning problems and the high IQ, but the problems with the school were just beginning. The public school offered to treat either the learning disabilities with special education classes based on repetition, or to work with his high intelligence in gifted and talented programs based primarily on the ability to read and write. The public school had no method for dealing with both his intelligence and his learning disabilities. They seemed astonished to learn that students like Joseph even existed.

Many telephone calls later, we were lucky to locate a Ball State University professor who specialized in Learning Disabled Gifted and Talented. She assured us that Joseph was not as unique as the school system would have us believe.

It would seem that public education has not learned much since the time of Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison, both of whom failed in school because of learning disabilities. With the help of the professor and a very willing Catholic school system, Joseph settled in to a school system that dealt with all his handicaps and all his strengths. Extra tutoring, both in and out of school helped his reading. Accelerated math and science programs challenged him, while his reading program was designed around books on "real" topics. He no longer had to endure repetitious "Dick and Jane"-type books and was free to read about helicopters, jets, large cats, Japan, leeches, US Presidents, sharks, nuclear power, and tar.

Educational television became his constant source of information. Instead of endless strings of unanswered questions, he was encouraged to find answers for every question. When he was particularly well-informed on a given topic, he was encouraged to present it to the entire class. He subscribed to several magazines that were easily understood, with many photographs and very little text. Medication helped him with his attention deficit disorder, and allowances were made when he had difficulty sitting and concentrating for very long periods of time.

Outside of school he has found success in both soccer and theatre, but his association with Mensa has done the most for his self-confidence. He now knows that he is not a failure, or "strange" or "different." In Mensa he has found people to answer his questions, people who don't think his vocabulary is unusual for an eight year old, and people who enjoy talking about the same topics he does. While Joseph's problems seem to be under control now, it is tragic to think how many other potential Mensans are lost in the educational system. How many bright, learning-disabled students are never found because "they haven't failed enough"?