Developing a Scale to Identify Gifted Pupils with Disabilities in the Primary Schools in Bahrain

Abstract

This study aimed at developing a scale for identifying gifted pupils with learning disabilities in the first three grades at the government primary schools. The participants were pupils in grades 1, 2 and 3 who were diagnosed as having learning disabilities by special education specialists taking remedial lessons. The number of the participants in the study was 654 boys and girls. An instrument of two subscales was developed for this purpose. It contains signs of both giftedness and learning disabilities. For validation of the scale, reliability and Cronbach alpha was used. The results showed that the scale was reliable and valid. The scale is formed of 4 dimensions or subscales: attention and concentration, emotional, cognitive, and self-concept. In conclusion, the scale could be used as a screening test to identify gifted pupils with disabilities in the primary school. The researchers recommend repeating the same study on a random sample from the ordinary classes.