Using a qualitative cross-case methodology over 3 years, I investigated the ways in which gifted students with cerebral palsy and no speech indicated their cognitive abilities. Data collection methods included participant observation, interviewing document analysis, audiotaping, and videotaping, and data were analyzed using analytic induction, constant comparison, diagramming, and cross-case analysis. The participants demonstrated several academic characteristics of giftedness, some of which were modified by effects of the disability. Personality traits which often accompany giftedness were manifested: maturity, goal orientation, persistence/determination, and patience. Giftedness was also apparent in ways which were related to the disability: recognition of limitations at a mature level, desire for independence from human aides and technological devices, and use of the intellect to circumvent the disability.
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