Gathering Data

Trying to figure out what is going on with a twice-exceptional student can feel like peeling back the layers of an onion.  Every time you think you have it figured out, you find there's another layer to expose.  

When things don't seem right with a student, or the student is clearly unhappy or not functioning well at school, getting a diagnosis can be a relief.  But often it is not that simple. Documentation shows that approximately a quarter to one-third of all children with ADHD also have learning disabilities (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Office of Special Education Programs, Teaching Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Instructional Strategies and Practices. Washington, D.C., 2008).  Similar rates of co-morbid (co-occurring) conditions hold true for kids with learning disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and other conditions.  

There are several reasons why it's easy to miss co-morbid conditions during an initial assessment.  If one condition is having an overwhelmingly strong impact on the child, it can mask others.  If a child's area of special needs fall in a variety of realms, the first assessor may not have the expertise in the other areas.  When you are working with 2e children, the child's giftedness can mask any special needs, such as a learning disability.  Quite often the 2e child becomes quite adept at using their intelligence to compensate for areas of weaknesses, and the child may seem average in your classroom.  

How do we address this problem?  We have to stay vigilant and look for signs that something may have been missed.  We have to be in tune with the student and look for discrepancies.  We have to get to know the student and focus on his or her strengths. Peeling back the layers of the onion for a 2e student might feel like a never ending chore; however if you stick with it, you can begin to discover what the child needs to find success.