Twice-Exceptional Students: Review of Implications for Special and Inclusive Education

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to review recent literature on twice-exceptional students and consider implications for their education in the context of the trend towards increased inclusive education for students with disabilities. The review focused on teachers’ experiences and perceptions and the school experiences of twice-exceptional students. Fifteen articles were reviewed, published between 2000 and 2020, selected according to a systematic protocol from two widely used online databases. Findings indicated that the implications that need to be considered were the importance of teacher preparation, the need for a continuum of special education interventions, the need for collaboration with parents and specialists, and teachers needing to focus on developing strengths as much as remediating difficulties. It was concluded that twice-exceptional students can be taught effectively in inclusive education settings as long as they are able to access appropriate strategies and programs from the fields of special education and gifted education.

Inclusive Support to Safeguard the Strengths of Twice-Exceptional Students

“…Foley-Nipcon and Assouline [15] found no empirical support for counseling strategies that work specifically for 2e students, and this finding was replicated by Renzulli and Gelbar [14]. Therefore, generic implications serving 2e students are of utmost importance: e.g., teacher pre-and in-service training, the need for a continuum of special education interventions, the need for collaboration with parents and psychoeducational specialists, and teachers needing to focus on students' developing strengths as much as on their psychoeducational challenges [16].…”

Anxiety and Depression in Gifted Individuals: A Systematic and Meta-Analytic Review

“…that we did not investigate in our study. Twice exceptionality could also be an avenue, as many gifted with one or more disorders may experience significant disappointment with the school system, with frequent episodes of frustration (Beckmann & Minnaert, 2018), when accommodations focus only on their weaknesses and do not exploit their high potential in different skill areas (Gierczyk & Hornby, 2021).…”

Dyslexia and Giftedness: Myths versus Science

“…It is also essential that teacher candidates take part in clinical experiences and engage in collaborations with schools working directly with 2e learners. Finally, it is important to cultivate better understanding within educator preparation programs so there is collaboration across general and special education, gifted and reading education, and even school psychology and counseling on content, terminology and approaches related to 2e [69]. Collaboration can better address misconceptions on giftedness and disability and the binary view between the two that teacher candidates may develop [70][71][72][73].…”