While teaching for several years at a large high school, I saw a few students fall through the cracks. I am sure, after reading our first module text, some of those students were probably twice-exceptional. In the district that I worked in, some students came into high school without passing a course in middle school. The philosophy was about keeping students with their peers. For example, English (Language Arts) courses were based on grade level and not skill level. The courses were English 6, 7, and 8. If students failed English 6 or didn’t take English 6, they weren’t allowed to take English 6 during grade 7 but were put into English 7 even though they didn’t learn the basic foundations taught in English 6. They didn’t attain the skills to be successful in high school and this was very frustrating for us educators at the higher levels. While we did the best we could to remediate some issues that we could implement with very large class sizes, when grades counted starting in grade 9, they failed and eventually dropped out of high school. Early identification of twice-exceptional students, especially in my examples, can help educators pinpoint strengths and weaknesses and help them succeed.
There are several reasons why identification of twice-exceptional students is problematic. One issue that I found surprising being a former ESOL teacher, is there isn’t a set federal definition for twice-exceptional students (Trail, 2011, p. 12). As a veteran teacher, I honestly don’t think I heard of the term twice-exceptional. I know I probably had 2e students but without a set definition or set protocols, I didn’t know the next steps on how to help them. Without knowing what to look for with 2e students, teachers, at least at the high school level, are at a loss. Furthermore, no 2e students are the same so labeling a student as twice-exceptional is challenging (SENG, 2012). Another issue is teachers’ belief in what a stereotypical gifted student should look like. Some teachers are reluctant to refer students to gifted programs because of emotional or behavioral problems and even think learning disabled student can’t be gifted (Trail, 2011, p. 14).
As we read in our module, twice-exceptional students can mask their disabilities and disabilities mask giftedness and thus make it difficult to identify (Trail, 2011, p. 12 and Chilen, 2012, p. 15). Sometimes parents may not know their child’s giftedness or disabilities (SENG, 2012). This is much different that identifying English language learners (Ell). The process to get language support goes quickly. Caretakers fill out a form and registrars flag students whose primary language is not English. That information is passed on and students will be quickly tested and, if they need support, it is implemented quickly. I could imagine that for potential 2e students, there could be a conflict in trying to identify, label, and support them from everyone involved in the process. They may not all be on the same agreement for disability and/or giftedness.
I am in a unique situation as an online educator. My branch of our company works with school districts, academies, and individual students across the nation and a few internationally. Information about students come directly from their schools. Students don’t have to be full-time student with us. They can take an extra course that isn’t available at their school or retake a course with us that they may have failed at their school. If 504 or IEP information isn’t provided to us, we don’t know that they need extra support. Some courses are like this course; the only interaction is through discussions and assignments. Depending upon the course and students’ interaction, I may not even talk with my students over the phone. Right now, I don’t think it could be possible to identify twice-exceptional students with the little interaction we have with them.
What I can remember from my previous school district in Colorado, the process for any special support took a few years. By the time students were in high school, very rarely did students become newly identified as having a learning disability or giftedness. In the ESOL department, at least in the cases we brought up as a department to try to get special educational services for Ell students, we got push back because the district didn’t want too many Ell students dually labeled. As frustrating as that was, we took it upon us as a to help our high school Ell students who probably had a learning disability. We would modify and accommodate these students the best we could along with other mainstream teachers. This was our approach to helping our population. Conversely, I know we had Ell students who were gifted but didn’t have the language yet to succeed in challenging courses such as AP or IB. Another factor in this situation is that a good majority of the Ell population is transient and not having students in the classroom is also hard to identify having issues.
Chilen, D. (Ed). (2012). Twice-Exceptional Students Gifted Students with Disabilities Level 1: An Introductory Resource Book (4th ed.). Denver, CO: Colorado Department of Education.
SENG. (2012, January 20). The Misdiagnosis of Gifted Children. Retrieved August 3, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XN7IOteagI&feature=youtu.be. SENG – Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted.
Trail, B. A. (2011). Twice-exceptional gifted children: Understanding, teaching, and counseling gifted students. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.