Where On the Path Might One of Your Students Fall?

Determining a Student’s Starting Place on the Pathway

Although Colorado's formal definition of 2e learners requires identification, a student may still be gifted and have a disability without having been identified; therefore, 2e learners may fall into one of 4 groups: 1) identified as 2e, 2) identifed as gifted but with no disability identification, 3) identifed with a disability but no gifted identification, and 4) neither identified as gifted nor disabled. 

 Rizza, M. G., & Morrison, W. F. (2007). 

Please note that you will need to read through the information for all 4 categories to show completion of this section of the course.  

Identifying Your Team

Remember that collaboration is key to identifying and supporting 2e students. Do you know who your Special Education specialist is in your building (if applicable for your role) and who the director of SpEd is in your district?  Do you have a gifted specialist in your building, or if not, who is responsible for the duties around this role?  Who is the gifted education director in your district?  Do you know how to communicate with them (in the building and in the district)?  

We suggest that you stop now to find this information. There is a place on your student study if you want to add this information.

No Gifted or Disability Identification

In this group of students, their abilities and disabilities are "masking" each other because they are often using their superior intelligence to compensate for their undiagnosed  learning disability. Their talents often emerge in specific content areas, becoming noticed later in life, but needless to say, they function below their potential since their giftedness is not being adequately challenged nor their learning disability supported.

This might be the largest group of 2e students!  Compensatory strategies that many 2e kids naturally use can mask their gifts or the legitimate learning differences/disabilities they have.

A student who is not identified disabled or gifted may:

• Be achieving at grade level and assumed to have average ability.
• Show areas of difficulty as curriculum becomes more challenging.
• Be viewed as performing within expectations and, therefore, never referred for a special education evaluation.
• Have deflated achievement and standardized test scores due to the disability and may not qualify for gifted education services.
• This group of students is at increased risk of suffering from mental health issues.

They are

Identified as Gifted but No Disability Identification

Has your student been identified as gifted without the disability having been identified?  This often happens when, in early elementary school, the student's advanced thinking or abilities were noticed, and it isn't until the work begins to get harder--anywhere from 4th grade to college--that the gifted student's ability to compensate for the disability breaks down and the student begins to "underachieve."  Identification of their disabilities could offer these students an understanding of their academic difficulties, ease their frustration with school, and make the difference between success or failure in academic endeavors.

Possible clues that a gifted student has a disability:

Identified with a Disability But No Gifted Identification

• These bright students often fail in school and are noticed because of their disability not because of their talents.
• Because little attention is given to their strengths, these students become more aware of their difficulties in learning, experiencing academic failure more often than success.
• Over time, this negative outlook on school can lead to disruptive classroom behavior, feelings of low self-concept, and sometimes even more serious mental health issues.

We will go into more depth about gifted identification in the next section. 

Students Identified as 2e

If your student has already been identified as 2e, a major hurdle has already been accomplished!  The next step is for you to explore how to support the student.  Start by looking at what data is available about the student and consider how to continue--and refine--supports already in place.