Double exceptionality: what it is and how it affects children

There are several children who have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a disorder due to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or with dyslexia, among others, and at the same time have high capacities intellectuals; being in this case a double exceptionality.

The double exceptionality refers to those cases in which a child presents, together with high capacities, the diagnosis of some disorder, so it requires an adaptation in the school context according to their abilities, so that they could develop all their potential.

However, it is difficult first because there are not enough studies in this regard and in many cases it is not diagnosed. the double exceptionality, but only one of the two exceptionalities is detected, being in a minority the high capabilities.

In this article we will explore the concept of double exceptionality and some of the most common examples in which it usually occurs will also be discussed.

• Related article: "High intellectual capacities: management and empowerment"

What is double exceptionality?

The double exceptionality is based on cases in which a child with a diagnosis (for example, ADHD) also has high intellectual abilitiesTherefore, when they occur together, they promote greater complexity when making both diagnoses.

High intellectual capacities are a series of exceptional aptitudes that perform in one or several areas of knowledge or also in one or several functions at the cognitive level that allow the individual who presents them to achieve high performance and also a high degree of motivation in the tasks that they they perform. These people with double exceptionality in the academic context are also known as "2e students", being twice exceptional students.

Regrettably, High intellectual abilities often end up being overshadowed by other educational needs, whether due to ADHD, ASD or any other cause, this being one of the reasons why the detection of these cases is extremely difficult.

On the other hand, the double exceptionality needs a greater number of in-depth investigations given its complexity with in order to develop instruments for its evaluation, detection and diagnosis with the greatest efficiency possible.

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Most common types of double exceptionality

Next we will see the most frequent combinations.

ADHD and giftedness

This double exception occurs when a child with high intellectual abilities has also been diagnosed with an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

ADHD is quite common, so cases in which a person has high intellectual abilities together with the diagnosis of ADHD could be the most common, within the double exceptionality. However, there are still few identified cases, although attention and research in this field have grown, although they are still not enough to have sufficient scientific support and so that they could be included in the diagnostic manuals officers.

On the other hand, in these cases of double exceptionality, since there is simultaneity, the high cognitive abilities could camouflage the attention deficit, as well as the opposite situation could occur in which the attention deficit prevents these high capacities from fully manifesting intellectuals.

In investigations carried out with cases of double exceptionality, in which high intellectual capacities and ADHD were presented at the same time, it was observed thatThe students had a wide variety of interests, high creativity, great verbal fluency, and above-average verbal reasoning.; on the other hand, they also had traits of impulsiveness, hyperactivity and attention deficit.

It should be noted that a series of characteristics were found in these types of cases of double exceptionality:

• Being very critical of yourself.
• Impatience.
• Easily get bored of routine tasks.
• Low tolerance for failure.
• Dominance.
• Inappropriate humor at certain times.
• Not having too much pleasure in company.
• Difficulty focusing on new areas of interest.
• Pay little attention to details.
• Somewhat excessive emotional reactions at certain times.
• Diachrony between high intelligence and maturity at an emotional and social level.

Notably People with this double exceptionality could end up presenting an academic performance below what they should, given their high learning potential, as well as they could have certain difficulties in the social sphere, so that it would be certain for them to integrate socially with their classmates. school.

On the other hand, there are a series of advantages that these children have with respect to other children with ADHD, who usually have a hard time concentrating on a task to be productive; while children with this double exceptionality are usually able to focus on a series of stimuli that motivate them and thus they can have a better understanding, and, therefore, a greater learning, and it is that these children can more effectively control attention to stimuli that cause an interest in them and allow them to be motivated in the task they perform.

• Related article: "Types of ADHD (characteristics, causes and symptoms)"

Dyslexia and giftedness

Another existing double exceptionality is the one that occurs when a person with dyslexia has high intellectual capacities.

Due to the difficulty in detecting this double exceptionality due to the scarcity of resources and information in this regard, it is frequent that only one of the two exceptionalities is found, the other being masked. And this can happen in various ways, for example, when it is discovered that the child has high intellectual capacities but her academic performance is not in accordance with those capacities due to certain difficulties that she presents due to the dyslexia; On the other hand, since it is not detected, its low performance is attributed to lack of motivation, low self-esteem, etc.

The opposite may also be the case, in which the child has been diagnosed with a learning disability and this has masked her high intellectual capacities for not having been evaluated in the correct way or, for another part, the child may not receive the school-level care that he or she needs due to the mutual masking that exists between both exceptionalities, so none could be detected.

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Asperger syndrome and giftedness

This is a case of double exceptionality that occurs when a child simultaneously presents high capacities to intellectual level together with the diagnosis of Asperger syndrome (DSM-IV-TR), classified in the DSM-5 within the Autism Spectrum Disorders.

This double exceptionality requires, in the field of research, the study of the impact that the difficulties presented by people with syndrome could have. of Asperger with those high intellectual capacities that he possesses, as well as the help that these high capacities could suppose in the social sphere of these people.

Due to the lack of empirical studies in this regard, There is a lot of ignorance in the field of this double exceptionality and how it could influence different areas of the lives of these people (academic, behavioral, mental health, social, etc.).

It could also be the case that one of the exceptionalities masks the other or even that they both mask each other, for which none of them are detected, as occurs in cases in which the double exceptionality occurs with ADHD or dyslexia.

Some investigations about this double exceptionality found that during the student stage these people used to report feelings of inefficiency at the school level; however, these children were able to compensate for these feelings using their strengths, while at the same time they were able to solve the difficulties that could arise. They achieved this thanks to problem-solving strategies that they were capable of carrying out in different contexts.

These students were able to demonstrate their high intellectual abilities through their high abilities and skills with respect to some a subject that had aroused much interest in them, so they had become experts and mastered them at levels out of the ordinary. common. These high capacities also enabled these students with double exceptionality adapt more easily to the social context thanks to their high level of verbal intelligence, among other. However, more research is still needed in this regard, as with other types of double exceptionality.

As we can see, despite the lack of information and research on double exceptionality, there have been several cases that demonstrate detected that allow us to demonstrate that it is a reality, so more research is needed in this regard to help these people and their families, so that their children have at their disposal the necessary resources to meet their academic needs; On the contrary, if this is not the case, it is likely that there will continue to be numerous cases of children who are not receiving adequate attention and this translates into school failure.