Twice-Exceptional Students: Identification of and Adjustments to their Educational Needs in Dutch Education

Balanced research and practice

Twice-exceptional students are students who are talented on the one hand, with learning, developmental, or behavioral difficulties on the other. Identifying these students and their educational needs can be difficult due to the large individual differences between and within these students. The current research aimed to gain more understanding in, and to optimize the practices of, identification and educational adjustments, within Dutch primary and secondary education. By using a mixed methods design, we retrieved information from students, parents and teachers using online questionnaires, case-file analysis, and interviews. Results indicated variety in several psychological, behavioral, and educational student characteristics and provided meaningful insights into the diagnostic and educational processes. Besides discussing these findings, this paper presentation will stress the importance of an individual and need-based approach in the identification of and (educational) support practices for twice-exceptional students. Fostering potential talent includes recognizing and embracing individual differences and individual needs.