The issues in identifying twice exceptional students: a review of the literature

This is a review of the literature about twice exceptional students and the difficulties in identifying gifted students with learning disabilities, most specifically reading disabilities like dyslexia, because of compensating and masking abilities, average academic records, and a lack of knowledge about the subpopulation by teachers. Though literature on the topics of dyslexia, learning disabilities, and giftedness exists, there is little to no research that brings all three together. The issues in identifying students that have both a specific learning disability, like dyslexia, and are identified as gifted shows the discrepancy in addressing their needs. With late identification, or at worst, a lack of identification, there are too many students without the necessary interventions. There is no way to know just how many students, past and present, have been excluded from equitable education because of their twice-exceptionality. In this literature review, the authors examine nine articles reviewing models of identification, discuss the findings of qualitative/quantitative studies, and explain the issues in identifying the student who is twice exceptional. We will first define a twice exceptional student; secondly, identify the factors that keep them from being correctly identified; and ultimately, discuss the ramifications of not identifying them.