Giftedness and Learning Difficulties: What New Research Says Schools May Miss

A student can discuss a scientific idea with remarkable depth and still find reading the assigned text exhausting. Another may reason fluently in conversation while struggling to organize written work. Schools need ways to recognize the advanced ability and investigate the difficulty together.

Twice-exceptional learners are students whose giftedness coexists with a disability. Their profiles vary widely. An uneven pattern does not by itself establish twice-exceptionality, but it can be a reason to look more carefully rather than assume that a strong ability rules out a support need.

New research examines what identification overlooks

A 2026 systematic review in the Journal for the Education of the Gifted, first published online in June and included in the September issue, examined identification practices and masking. Masking can occur when strengths help compensate for difficulties, when difficulties obscure strengths, or when their interaction makes overall performance look unremarkable.

The review found that many studies discussed masking, but far fewer explained how identification procedures accounted for it. It also identified limited intervention research compared with work describing learner characteristics and assessment. The review identifies gaps in research and assessment practice; it does not estimate how many twice-exceptional students any particular school has overlooked. It points toward stronger identification and practical support.

Look across tasks and settings

A single grade summarizes performance under particular conditions. It may not show the reasoning behind an oral explanation, the effort involved in producing a short response, or how a learner performs when an access barrier is reduced.

Teachers and families can bring different observations to a shared conversation. What does the student understand readily? Which tasks require unusual time or support? Does the pattern appear across subjects or mainly in one format? The student's own account can help explain what adults cannot see.

For example, a learner might demonstrate advanced knowledge when discussing an ecosystem but produce a brief written answer. That difference warrants investigation. It should not automatically be interpreted as avoidance, and it should not be used to diagnose a disability without an appropriate evaluation.

Provide challenge while arranging support

A strengths-based response can preserve access to advanced ideas while addressing barriers. Depending on an individual plan, a student might discuss a sophisticated text with approved reading support or explain a complex design through a combination of speech, diagrams, and writing.

These are planning examples, not universal accommodations. Qualified specialists, teachers, families, and the learner should help determine what is appropriate. The learning goal remains important: if the task assesses writing, the team must distinguish writing instruction from the way a student accesses subject knowledge.

Make identification lead somewhere useful

Identification should lead to a clear plan for the learner. For a first meeting, a family and teacher could bring one example of advanced thinking and one task that remains unexpectedly difficult. A school team can define a small number of goals covering both advanced development and needed support, then examine progress through actual work and student feedback.

It is useful to ask whether a proposed support gives the student access to richer learning or simply reduces expectations. It is equally useful to ask whether an enrichment opportunity assumes skills the student has not yet been supported to develop.

The next step for gifted education includes a more complete view of ability. What might become visible when a school looks for a student's strengths and needs at the same time?

Illustrative image generated with AI.