Resources for Districts
The Illinois State Board of Education, the Advisory Council on the Education of Gifted and Talented Children, and the State Advisory Council on the Education of Children with Disabilities have formed a subcommittee that is working on resources for districts to support their efforts to identify twice exceptional(2e) students.
“Twice exceptional” is a term used to describe students who have potential for high achievement who are both talented or accelerated and show evidence of one or more disabilities as defined by federal or state eligibility criteria -- such as autism, deaf-blindness, deafness, developmental delay, emotional disability, hearing impairment, intellectual disability, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, specific learning disability, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, and visual impairment.
Twice exceptional students often are under identified; they may exhibit strengths in certain areas and weaknesses in others.
Common Characteristics
- Strong sense of curiosity
- Outstanding critical thinking and problem-solving skills
- Difficulties with reading and writing
Best Practices
- Provide challenges.
- Individualize services.
- Focus on student strengths first.
- Provide accommodations.
- Be flexible when grouping students.
- Grade by learning objective, not by how students execute directions.
- Allow flexibility to show mastery.
- Use a strength-based approach.
Tips for Identification
- Use a multi-dimensional approach to identify twice exceptional students.
- Consider oral questioning.
- Extend time for students to demonstrate knowledge.
- Offer assessment procedures to accommodate language and cultural differences.
- Use both formal and informal assessments.
Resources to help with identification of students who are twice exceptional
