The term twice exceptional is used to describe a student who has a disability and is also a gifted learner. This website will focus on students with specific learning disabilities and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder who have also been recognized as having superior abilities. A learning disabled gifted student poses unique challenges for educators. Not only does (s)he need remediation in her/his identified area(s) of weakness, (s)he also needs opportunities to promote her/his strengths and talents. To complicate matters, many times a student’s gifts are masked due to his learning disability and/or her learning disability is not detected due to her exceptional aptitudes.
Even though it is the goal of Durham Public Schools to meet the needs of all children, many educators may be unaware of the existence of twice exceptional students. Or, if they are aware, they may not know how to answer the following questions:
How can we more efficiently identify the following subgroups of twice exceptional children?
What laws and policies are in place to assure that these students are identified and served?
How can we effectively meet the needs of these students?
How can we assist the families of these students with the particular challenges they may face in helping their children reach their potential?
This website will serve as a resource in answering these questions for Durham Public School educators as they find ways to identify and serve twice exceptional students.
Even though it is the goal of Durham Public Schools to meet the needs of all children, many educators may be unaware of the existence of twice exceptional students. Or, if they are aware, they may not know how to answer the following questions:
How can we more efficiently identify the following subgroups of twice exceptional children?
- Students who are identified as gifted, but are exhibiting difficulty at school and are considered underachievers.
- Students who are identified with a specific learning disability, but whose exceptional abilities have not been addressed.
- Students who do not qualify for services as a gifted or leaning disabled student, but are not performing to their potential because their abilities and disabilities mask each other.
What laws and policies are in place to assure that these students are identified and served?
How can we effectively meet the needs of these students?
How can we assist the families of these students with the particular challenges they may face in helping their children reach their potential?
This website will serve as a resource in answering these questions for Durham Public School educators as they find ways to identify and serve twice exceptional students.
Beckly, D. (1998). Gifted and Learning Disabled: Twice Exceptional Students. Neag Center for Gifted and Talented Development, University of Connecticut. Retrieved September 8, 2013, from Gifted.UConn.EDU
