We at REEL are excited to collaborate with Barbara Pape, Senior Director of the Digital Promise® Learner Variability Project, as a guest blogger for this two-part series on supporting the twice-exceptional. Through our DEAR REEL model, we focus on the the importance of connection, flexibility, strengths, and supporting behaviors of the 2e, all of which are also core to the Learner Variability Project, a resource we often recommend to educators and families as they seek practical strategies to support differently wired learners.
As the parent of a twice-exceptional learner herself as well as a researcher and practitioner, Barbara brings many insights to better understanding the twice-exceptional learner profile. This first part of her series focuses on her son’s experiences in the K12 journey, as well as the history and barriers that twice-exceptional learners and their educators face. The second part of the series, Bridges to Opportunity, outlines the key strategies to support the twice-exceptional, in particular as educators think about ways to address the range of learner variability present in any modern-day classroom. To craft this series, Barbara also interviewed several 2e adults and their parents about their educational experiences.
During his preschool and kindergarten years, our son, Anthony, relished telling us stories that we would write down and then he would illustrate with spot-on detail. In first grade, he was thrilled to hear that his class would participate in Writer’s Workshop despite his unconventional pencil grip and stunningly inaccurate spelling. His teacher helped by having him record his story or taking his dictation. Masterfully, she made sure each student in her room had a strength that she publicly recognized. One student was awarded the “Spelling Champ” and would assist classmates if they had trouble spelling a word. Anthony enjoyed generating story ideas, so he was awarded the “Idea Kid” and if a classmate had difficulty coming up with something to write about, Anthony was the person to engage in a brainstorming session. We knew by then that Anthony had dyslexia and began to grasp his remarkable abilities–ranging from a vast vocabulary to an uncanny grasp of storytelling and advanced understanding of science. We were fortunate to have a brilliant teacher guide him through his first grade year.
A Very Brief History of 2e
While initial awareness of people who manifest both high strengths along with learning disabilities began in the early 20th century, it wasn’t until the mid-1980s-1990s that the term “twice exceptional (2e)” began to gain traction. Major research that was released addressed 2e students, including landmark studies from researchers such as Whitmore, Tobin, Gallagher, and Baum. These cumulative research efforts elevated the needs of students who required customized services to address strengths and scaffolding to allow them access to knowledge and opportunity.
Policy action followed, including the U.S. Department of Education’s Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act of 1988. Among other statutes, the Act funded program development for underserved students that included gifted students with disabilities. Grants and the creation of several district-level programs (primarily on the East coast) were designed to provide those opportunities for students who were 2e. At the time, our son was in the Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools district, which had a strong gifted and talented and learning disabilities (GT/LD) program and team, and he benefited from the county’s Wings Mentor Program. While students with learning disabilities are covered under federal law 94-192, IDEA, that includes the Individual Education Program (IEP), there is no equivalent federal law for students identified as gifted. However, since 2007, denial of services could be considered discriminatory and deemed “inconsistent with Federal law (Section 504 and Title II) that require qualified 2e students be given the same opportunities to compete for and benefit from accelerated programs and classes as given to students without disabilities” and State law, which varies across the country, covers gifted students and their education (Reis et al., 2014, p. 218).
For a concise history of twice exceptionality see Baldwin et al. (2015) Twice-Exceptional Learners: The Journey Toward a Shared Vision and, Reis et al. (2014) An Operational Definition of Twice-Exceptional Learners: Implications and Applications.
Who are Twice Exceptional (2E) students?
Definitions of 2e have been modified over the years, but this one from The 2010 Commission on Twice Exceptional Students is the most comprehensive (Reis et al., 2014):
Twice-exceptional learners are students who demonstrate the potential for high achievement or creative productivity in one or more domains such as math, science, technology, the social arts, the visual, spatial, or performing arts or other areas of human productivity AND who manifest one or more disabilities as defined by federal or state eligibility criteria. These disabilities include specific learning disabilities; speech and language disorders; emotional/behavioral disorders; physical disabilities; Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD); or other health impairments, such as Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). These disabilities and high abilities combine to produce a unique population of students who may fail to demonstrate either high academic performance or specific disabilities. Their gifts may mask their disabilities and their disabilities may mask their gifts.
According to the International Dyslexia Association (IDA), about two to five percent of school-age children are 2e, although some reports put the percentage higher. Yet, many 2e students are misdiagnosed, ignored, or receive inadequate intervention in either their gift or their disability. This especially holds true for students who are from historically and systemically excluded (HSE) populations. To illustrate, state and national exams find a growing gap at the top of the achievement scale between advanced students from low-income backgrounds and those with more financial advantages and, also, between white students and students of color (National Association for Gifted Children).
Barriers to Opportunity
“Teachers teach what they are taught.” That’s what a superintendent on a panel I moderated said when asked why many teachers are not engaged in the science of reading. Her comment applies to 2e teaching and learning, too. Teachers who are not exposed to courses and research that can help them identify and address students who exhibit clear strengths and challenging weaknesses present a barrier to opportunity. Far too many teachers are introduced only to the deficit thinking associated with learning disabilities, which can lead to labeling, stigma, and stereotype threat. Some adults view having these “deficits” and being “gifted” as a conundrum, leading to comments from a teacher at Anthony’s middle school for gifted youth, who told us, “I’ve never seen a smart kid who can’t read.” Reis and colleagues discuss the “uneasiness” about recognizing the contradiction of giftedness and learning disabilities as based on “faulty ideas and stereotypical images associated with giftedness and disabilities, such as the belief that if you struggle with reading, you cannot be identified as gifted” (Reis et al., 2014, p. 223).
Misunderstanding of young 2e people and their asynchronous development is common. Parent of 2e children and neurodiversity expert, Amanda Morin, herself was an undiagnosed 2e learner during her school years. From her perspective, simply being recognized as gifted left her unprepared to “walk into a world” that is more diverse and at the same time filled with others who also are gifted. A barrier she often encountered with her children and was constantly asked, “Well, you're so good at this…why can’t you do that? You just aren’t trying hard enough.” Or, the pointing of fingers by some who believed that only if the parent could “get the child under control” there would be no problem. An example of asynchronous development that Amanda points out about her son: “He could do advanced math in his head, but didn’t have the language skills to explain how he got there. His emotional regulation skills were lacking and developmentally behind his math ability.”
Amanda’s son, Jacob, who is autistic and identified as gifted, recalls how his highly inquisitive nature often got him in trouble. “They didn’t know how to deal with my constant questioning. If something didn’t make sense, or if I questioned how something was presented, even though none of it was done out of malice, teachers became wary of me. They presumed I was always doing something wrong and made everything a behavioral problem with detention as the only solution.”
Lack of a solid educational foundation in teaching students who are gifted with learning disabilities also exposes the inability to identify these students. A student’s strength can often mask their weakness, while a student’s weakness can mask strengths. I remember the difficulty explaining to some educators in Anthony’s early years that, even though his comprehension level seemed high, he required a formal evaluation of his reading. I could see that while he’d miss a lot of words, he was able to “power through” by relying on his deductive reasoning, vast vocabulary, and background knowledge to decode reading passages. Anthony struggled with phonological awareness, a foundational reading skill essential to reading success and the ability to advance to more sophisticated text.
“Seeing” 2e Learners
The broader 2e definition (noted above) provides guidance in identifying these students, but it still remains complex for sundry reasons, including the co-occurrence of indicators, challenges of strengths and struggles masking one another, and the emotional interplay that may be distorted due to either the student’s strength or challenge.
Stevie Mayes, Executive Director of Michigan’s Council for Exceptional Children, found testing instruments to be a student barrier. When Stevie was young, their mom initially served as their advocate; she knew Stevie was quite bright and also dyslexic. In high school, their accommodations were taken away because they did grade level work. The school only felt responsible to support Stevie in reaching grade level standards, rather than helping them grow their strengths and interests. Stevie felt frustrated, and still does, that their acumen in science was never recognized. While teachers gave them A+s in classroom work, their standardized test scores were low and Stevie was kept out of advanced placement science, despite teachers arguing for them to be there. “My low test scores stifled my academic growth in science, and that was frustrating.” Turning lemons into lemonade, when their IEP and accommodations were removed, Stevie learned and honed self-advocacy skills to stand up for what they needed to achieve their potential.
Other barriers exist. For some educators, personal bias can lead them to ignore gifted curriculum and acceleration options. Also, students from under-resourced communities may also be overlooked, especially given that they typically cannot afford expensive private assessments and tutoring.
And, too often, even when teachers want to provide for 2e students, they do not have the time, support, or professional learning to do so. In a 2019 Learner Variability Project National survey, nine in 10 teachers, about eight in 10 Americans overall, and three-quarters of parents say that teachers don’t have the support they need to focus on students’ learner variability. Most say teachers’ time and professional learning opportunities are lacking as well. Those results mark a broad gap between what the public wants, a focus on each student’s learner variability, and what they believe schools are able to provide. Anthony and Jacob both mentioned the difficulty they see when a teacher has 25+ students in a classroom and doesn’t have the support they need to customize for students, especially those identified as 2e.
All three former students wondered if teachers had the professional development or undergraduate college experience that could support their efforts to engage 2e students. Respondents to REEL’s 2024 Silicon Valley Educator Survey agree with the lack of opportunity to prepare to teach these learners. As one commented, “It would be so helpful to have PD for teachers who have these students. Often these students are their least favorite, but in reality they might be the most capable in the class.” Another shared, "The diversity I have found in the classroom is the greatest challenge. Students have multiple labels and needs. Trying to reach them all is an everyday struggle. Yet, the one thing I can do to support these students is to broaden my understanding of their unique needs." It’s clear that teachers need more support in addressing learner variability in the classroom, including their twice-exceptional students who are so often misunderstood or overlooked.
What is learner variability? It is an evidence based concept that recognizes “each of us go to school with a backpack filled with very different experiences that we draw from to master content, create meaning, work in groups, share our voice, and achieve our potential.” These factors of learning are holistic, interconnected, and can change according to context. For more information: Learner Variability Is the Rule, Not the Exception (Pape, 2018).
Ready to learn about effective strategies to support 2e learners by acknowledging and supporting their learner variability? Check out the second part of this series: Twice Exceptional: Bridges to Opportunity.
For more information, including on the Learner Variability Navigator, contact: Barbara Pape, Senior Director of the Learner Variability Project at Digital Promise, bpape@digitalpromise.org
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