Identifying and Providing Services to Twice Exceptional Children

Abstract

Twice exceptional children are those whose demonstrated performance falls in both directions of the learning spectrum. They demonstrate superior ability in one or more areas, and also have one or more disabilities. They may be gifted with serious emotional difficulties, gifted Asperger children, gifted children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning-disabled (LD) gifted children, gifted children with physical handicaps, etc. Psychologists are typically called on to assist families or schools with two tasks: to determine whether or not an identifiable disability is present in a gifted child who is having trouble learning, and to make recommendations for educational interventions. Less often, parents of identified disabled children will seek the help of a psychologist to determine whether or not their child is gifted. The goal of this chapter is to assist the psychologist in these tasks by highlighting the major findings from the empirical literature on twice exceptional children and by exploring their implications for psychological practice. In particular, the chapter aims to answer six questions: Who are twice exceptional children? What distinguishes them from other populations? How might they be effectively identified? What issues, if any, are unique to this population? What interventions have been demonstrated to be most effective in enhancing their achievement and social-emotional adjustment? How should educational placement decisions be made?