When two are harder to recognize than one: challenges in understanding and identifying twice-exceptionality

It is only relatively recent that the phenomenon of twice-exceptionality has become subject of interest for researchers and practitioners in the fields of psychology and special education. With the dismissal of the medical model of disability and the emergence of new conceptions of intelligence and giftedness, attention has also turned to individuals who, while having some form of impairment/disability, also possess highly developed abilities in one or several domains. Starting with the issue of defining twice-exceptionality, this paper gives an overview of key findings on the psychological characteristics of twice-exceptional individuals and presents the main challenges in their identification. With regard to the latter, several shortcomings of traditional cognitive assessment when testing persons with disabilities are pointed out, and it is argued that reliance on the discrepancy between ability and achievement is not a valid means of identifying twice-exceptional individuals. As an alternative to this approach, a wide range of other methods are discussed, including the application of dynamic assessment, using composite non-verbal tests of intelligence, drawing on multiple sources, and engaging in qualitative analyses of achievement patterns. It is concluded that, apart from a comprehensive idiographic assessment to identify both individual strengths and weaknesses, dealing with twice-exceptionality requires a dual expertise – in psychology as well as in special education – as a necessary prerequisite to arrive at a fuller understanding of gifted people with disabilities and provide them with adequate support.Kada su dve teže prepoznatljive od jedne: izazovi u razumevanju i identifikaciji dvostruke izuzetnosti Pojava dvostruke izuzetnosti relativno je skoro postala predmet interesovanja naučne i stručne javnosti. Napuštanje medicinskog modela ometenosti i plasiranje novih shvatanja inteligencije i darovitosti skre- nulo je pažnju i na osobe koje, pored izvesnih smetnji ili oštećenja, imaju vi- soko razvijene sposobnosti unutar jednog ili više domena. Polazeći od pitanja određenja dvostruke izuzetnosti, u ovom radu prikazujemo ključne nalaze o psi- hološkim specifičnostima tih osoba i razmatramo glavne izazove u njihovoj identifikaciji. Pri tom ukazujemo na mane tradicionalnog pristupa u proce- ni kognitivnih sposobnosti osoba sa ometenošću i utvrđujemo da oslanjanje na diskrepancu između sposobnosti i postignuća nije valjan način za prepoznavanje dvostruko izuzetnih pojedinaca. Umesto ovog, preporučujemo niz drugačijih pri- stupa, uključujući primenu elemenata dinamičke procene, zadavanje kompozit- nih neverbalnih testova sposobnosti, korišćenje višestrukih izvora procene i upuštanje u kvalitativnu analizu obrazaca postignuća. Zaključujemo da, osim obuhvatne idiografske procene kojom se može utvrditi individualni profil snaga i slabosti, razumevanje i prepoznavanje dvostruke izuzetnosti zahteva dvostruku ekspertizu – spoj defektoloških i psiholoških kompetencija – kao nužan uslov da se postigne celovit uvid u funkcionisanje ovih osoba i osmisle odgovarajuće intervencije i mere podrške