Graduation Date
Spring 2025
Document Type
Project
Program
Master of Arts degree with a major in Education
Committee Chair Name
Sara Sterner
Committee Chair Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Jayne McGuire
Second Committee Member Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Keywords
Humboldt County, Education, Giftedness, Disability, Twice-exceptionalism, 2e, Differentiation, Crip theory, IEP, Cripistemology, Special education, Gifted education, GATE
Subject Categories
Education
Abstract
Drawing on ideas from disabilities studies about compulsory able-bodiedness as well as experiences of disability being fluid and context dependent, this study posits that giftedness, just like disability, is a complex multidimensional form of identity that is both context and temporally dependent. Twice-exceptionalism is defined as an identity in which an individual is gifted in at least one domain of human productivity and manifests at least one disability. Students with unique learning needs (students with disabilities, students with giftedness, and students with twice-exceptionalism) face many complex challenges within Humboldt County, California. Twenty-five educators from Humboldt County working across all grade levels and eight school districts provided personal insights through surveys and interviews on how they support students with unique learning needs and the challenges they face working in Humboldt County. Only 36% of educators had heard of the term twice-exceptional prior to this study, despite 72% of educators, when given the definition of twice-exceptionalism, identifying that they had worked with at least one student with twice-exceptionalism. This study highlights how complex and diverse students with unique learning needs are as a population. Insight from Humboldt County educators indicates that many of the challenges students with disabilities, students with giftedness, and students with twice-exceptionalism face are caused, in part or in whole, by external forces. For all three types of students with unique learning needs, developing meaningful adult-student relationships was found to be essential for their success.
Citation Style
APA
Recommended Citation
Taylor, River Johnathon, "Twice-exceptionalism and the complexity of supporting students who are both gifted and disabled" (2025). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 2287.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2287
Included in
Disability and Equity in Education Commons, Gifted Education Commons, Special Education and Teaching Commons