The Hidden Problem of Twice Exceptional Students

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The Hidden Problem of Twice Exceptional Students
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Twice-exceptional Students A Population in Need

• Schools have special education programs to
  provide support for children on both sides of the
  educational spectrum gifted and disabledso
  that they can reach their full potential and
  succeed academically.
• In most American school systems, a structure has
  been created that makes it seem like the two
  cannot exist together.
• However, there are many students who have both a
  high level of intelligence and some type of
  disability that impedes their ability, known as
  twice-exceptional students.
• The mechanisms that lead to giftedness or
  disability, whether a learning disorder, mental
  health disorder, physical disability, or
  something else, are not mutually exclusive.

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• The first group is gifted students who have been
  identified as such, but whose disability is not
  diagnosed, meaning their giftedness masks the
  disability.
• The second is the opposite a student formally
  identified as having a disability but not as
  being gifted, so the disability masks the
  giftedness. The final group is not formally
  recognized as gifted or disabled because the two
  components mask one another.
• This group is probably the most common, and is
  the one that most easily slips through the
  cracks. Their grades and school work are average,
  so teachers, and sometimes even parents, do not
  perceive a problem, so they do not get tested for
  either giftedness or disability.

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Identifying Twice-exceptional Students

• Twice-exceptional students are the most
  under-identified population in schools. It is
  even harder to categorize them because there is
  no one typical description of this kind of
  student.
• Twice-exceptional students can simultaneously
  have high cognition skills alongside learning,
  physical, social/emotional, or behavioral
  problems.
• They might also be extremely talented in one
  area, such as arts or music, but struggle in
  other areas.

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The Problems Twice-exceptional Students Face

• Even if a parent or teacher believes a child
  might be twice-exceptional, significant hurdles
  remain for the student to have proper support.
  Often, the problems of a twice-exceptional child
  are not recognized until secondary school.
• A student might just be screened for one
  particular problem. However, this does not always
  help twice-exceptional students. They might have
  more than one disability, and their strengths and
  weaknesses might offset or neutralize each other.
• The stereotypes that separate the two conditions
  are too strong, even though someones
  intelligence has nothing to do with whether he or
  she has a learning disability.

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• The stereotypes that separate the two conditions
  are too strong, even though someones
  intelligence has nothing to do with whether he or
  she has a learning disability.
• Teachers and parents just add more pressure on
  the student to work harder, intensifying his or
  her frustration and stress about not being able
  to achieve. Typically, twice-exceptional students
  are trying just as hard, if not harder, than
  their peers.
• Many schools are not set up to adequately handle
  this special population, and teachers and other
  educators do not receive the right tools to
  nurture these students.
• Therefore, twice-exceptional students often fall
  through the cracks, and many school districts do
  not have the resources to catch them.

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Helping Twice-exceptional Students

• The best ways to ensure that twice-exceptional
  children succeed are to nourish their strengths
  while teaching them how to compensate for their
  weaknesses.
• These students also need to learn coping
  mechanisms not just to accommodate their
  disability but also to learn how to deal with the
  frustration and other negative emotions that come
  from their struggle.

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The Risks Twice-exceptional Students Face

• Twice-exceptional students are at risk of
  developing problems because of the divide between
  their ability and disability. Often, their
  abilities and disabilities mask one another, so
  they end up seeming like just average students.
• They may be frustrated or angry have low
  self-esteem, depression or anxiety act out in
  school or get into fights. These students are at
  a high risk of developing behavioral,
  disciplinary, substance abuse, mental health, and
  other problems.
• They often become discouraged in school, so they
  do not go on to college or university, and might
  not even complete high school.
• Many famous, successful people have overcome
  their twice-exceptional problems to succeed,
  including Albert Einstein, Beethoven, Temple
  Grandin, Helen Keller, Steven Hawkings, and
  Nikola Tesla.

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