The Year is 2030…
Introduction
When the term 2e garnered attention in the mid-1990s (Twice Exceptional, n.d. and Nielsen, 1993), educators were still reluctant to shift resources to this small percentage of students. 2e or twice-exceptional refers to gifted learners (meaning they perform significantly higher in intelligence or creativity measures than typical learners), that also have secondary differences (dyslexia, ADHD, ASD, etc.) in the way they learn (National Association for Gifted Children, 2019 and Maddocks, 2020). It was often concluded that these students would manage fine without intervention because they are gifted. Educators maintained that lower ability students needed their help; the truly ‘special needs’ students with cognitive delays and physical impairments require most of our capacity to support. The research said that 2e students struggle was as crucial as those with other special needs, but by not giving the attention they need, we were doing them harm and stunting their potential for flourishing as adults (Willis, 2011).
Thankfully, by the early 2000s, educators started to make changes in the way we see ‘special needs’ and inclusion (Neumann, 2004). 2E and gifted learners took their place among those with ‘special needs,’ The system finally found ways to include them in education (Baldwin et al., 2015). Now, in 2030 we see the bounty of sensational and groundbreaking work coming from those previously seen as; ‘able to look after themselves’ or ‘be fine on their own’ when given the inclusion in education they so desperately needed.
High achievement expectations compound the barriers that 2e students have faced due to high IQ scores (Wang & Neihart, 2015). So, when technology began to break down these barriers for 2e students, these students’ potential that had been masked by invisible disabilities became undeniably apparent (Dare & Nowicki, 2015).
The following is a summary of two case studies highlighting how these 2e students managed to find success in an ever-evolving educational technology landscape.
Danika
Danika was identified as 2e at the age of 13. Years of uneven grades, frustration and ultimate withdrawal from putting any effort forth into her work, Danika’s parents opted to have a full psychoeducation assessment done. The results of this assessment were eye-opening. Danika’s scores in most areas fell into the gifted range, yet in the cognitive space that allows for thoughts, ideas and comprehension to go from mind to written text (Disorders of Written Expression, n.d.) were drastically impaired for Danika. What happened over the next number of years permitted Danika to become the writer of a best-selling novel and recipient of the John Newberry Award.
What made this difference? First was identifying her deficit, and then the broad adoption of speech to text and read-aloud software in classrooms as a universal support (Aitken, Fairley & Carlson, 2012). Software like Dragon Speak began to find its way into classrooms in the early 2000s. Still, the improvements and embedding of such technology into everyday platforms like Google Classroom and Microsoft Office came later in that decade (Hashley, 2014). These inclusive technologies allowed students who had specific written output disorders to overcome the obstacle of getting their thoughts into text (Lennex & Nettleton, 2015). Danika used these technologies all through high school, and once she was in university, the technologies had become so refined and personalized, she could wear a small personal device and take audio notes and write almost anywhere. The technology was so personalized to her style, it knew the nuances of what she wanted to convey.
This is likely just the beginning of the fantastic writing we will see from Danika. She is currently working on teaching writing classes virtually to students with written output disorders such as dyslexia. She does this by using technology that predicts specified deficits in a student’s writing and uses an AI to verbalize, in real-time to the individual writing, how and where to tweak and shift their writing to maximize their style. This innovation is an extension of the software that was used over a decade ago called Grammarly (Collins, 2016).
Tyler
Tyler was identified as 2e when he was 12 years old. He had been labelled a ‘behaviour’ child by the time he was seven and was often put out in the hall to work. ADHD was his first diagnosis at age eight. Even with the right medication, Tyler struggled to find focus and organization to his thoughts when he was confined to a classroom. The pandemic of 2020 forced all students online to virtual classrooms. Some, like Tyler, were experiencing this kind of learning for the first time (Li & Lalani, 2020). It was in this tumultuous time that Tyler’s true potential was first glimpsed.
Tyler’s family was of a lower socioeconomic background and did not have a computer at home. He used the computer at school, but he rarely had a teacher who used them a lot, or for much more than typing games or searching with Kids World Book and other limited sites such as those. His mom had a smartphone that he loved playing some simple games on, but he did not have one of his own. The school he belonged to had a laptop loaner program for families during the pandemic and a wireless company gave WIFI to families in need (Telus, n.d.). Tyler finally had access to the world beyond his classroom and the local library computer. He started with learning Scratch (Resnick et al., 2009). His attention was now focused, and he could work very fast, as is often the case with 2e students whose ‘e’ is ADHD (Ticknor, n.d.).
That school year, during the pandemic and learning online, Tyler finally felt the learning click. He would flit from tab to tab, often able to help his teacher during lessons. Five years after the pandemic, Tyler was partnered with other gifted children worldwide as they worked on developing solutions for struggling learnings. By tapping into Learning Analytics (Gedrimiene et al., 2019) and Personalized Learning Platforms (Graf, 2005), these students developed ways to create their classrooms with robotics (Eguchi, 2015), VR and other augmented reality to teach each other and break the boundaries of classroom walls.
Conclusion
The last ten years in ed tech has helped improve learning for 2e students. In the past, these students’ potential was behind a locked door that antiquated educational strategies could not unlock. Technology advancements have made possible beautiful works of literature, dizzying virtual platforms, and so many more discoveries and developments that 2e students have given to the world. All this made possible by educational technology, equity and inclusion.
References
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