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Using Data to Locate Twice Exceptional Learners Presented by, Beth Francazi Office of Advanced Learners Programs AACPS
Using Data to Locate Twice Exceptional
Learners
Presented by,Beth Francazi
Office of Advanced Learners ProgramsAACPS
Today we will…
•Flag some possible Twice Exceptional Learners using data, from both Ability testing and Achievement testing
•Meet some of these learners
They may be difficult to identify because…
The giftedness may mask the disability.
The disability may mask the giftedness.
The giftedness and the disability mask each other and the student appears average or low average.
How do we find them?
One way is to use available data.
In our county we had scores for all second grade students from the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test. (NNAT)
We sorted the data and made a list, for each school, of students that scored an (7), 8 and 9 stanines.
Then we compared those scores to the students Stanford 10 scores.
We flagged any student with a discrepancy of 3 or more stanines.
Some other ways…
Parent seeing high ability
Research shows that 90% of the time the parent is right
Teacher observation: vocabulary extensive knowledge in an area of interest
Special Ed testing- using sub-test vs. combined scores
Scores from outside testing
Some of the Twice Exceptional Learners we have found…
…a young boy with Asperger’s with a wonderful strength in math.
…a second grader who finished the CTY online course for 5th Grade Accelerated math over the summer.
…and Izzy a writer.
Anna was lying down on her bed. Just a few minutes ago, a storm had started.
Right now there was a BOOM!! Anna sat up suddenly. She was wide-eyed. “What
was that?” Oh. She thought. It’s just thunder. She lay back down. She relaxed.
Then Anna closed her eyes and put the part of her brain that does fun things to
work. When she did that, her imagination went crazy. She imagined it was a nice
Spring day. She played outside with friends. She pretended that it was the greatest
day of her life. Next she imagined that she was a secret agent helping the other
secret agents on keeping the White House safe. She was so deep in her imagination
that she did not even hear another crash of thunder. Now she was pretending she
was a famous movie star. After that she was a princess trying to escape an evil
dragon’s tower because he had captured her. Then she was on a television
commercial advertising lotion that makes people’s skin smooth. After that she was
an author that was signing the books that she wrote. Then, right before the storm
stopped, she pretended that it was a very pretty day and she was going on a picnic.
Right when her imagination got tired, her dad knocked on her door asking her if
she wanted to help make dinner. Then she went to help her dad. So remember
this: kids, when you get bored, you always have imagination by your side. Izzy’s First Grade Spelling homework
What do we do when we find them?
Acknowledge their strength!
Adapt instruction to meet their needs.
This may include accommodations, matching instruction to their learning styles
Build on the strengths as you support the weaknesses!
POTENTIAL
“Within every child’s brain is a mind teeming with ideas and dreams and abilities unrealized. The greatest thing we can do- is to nourish that potential, both intellectual and humanitarian, so that each mind can fulfill its promise to the benefit of mankind.”
