ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of origins of the field of twice-practice, and an educational approach that can support their needs. Over the past 3 decades, worldwide interest in a special population of students has caught the attention of scholars, practitioners, and parents. Known as the twice-exceptional (2e), this group of learners is characterized by advanced abilities as well as learning difficulties that include deficits in areas such as reading, writing, focusing attention, and/or understanding social cues. The concept of twice-exceptionality is difficult because the two distinct needs of 2e students cannot be segregated. This means that addressing one aspect in isolation of the other is not optimal and may, in fact, be detrimental to successful learning. A growing body of evidence from the Javits initiative has revealed that the twice-exceptional population is composed of not only gifted students who have also been identified with specific learning disabilities, but also populations of high-ability students from most areas of special education.
