Individual Differences in Learning Association

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Individual Differences
in Learning Association, Inc.

Walking the Path with the Twice Exceptional Learner Part I: Descriptions IDL is grateful to a grant from the Horizon Foundation, Columbia MD as well as funding from the Columbia Foundation, the dedication of all the volunteers who donated their time and services to this important project and the generousity of the academic leadership in the Howard County Public Schools for their help in this project. Please view project description files here
Myth of Laziness (10 min 51 sec)	In this video, expert neuropsychologist from Kennedy Krieger (Baltimore), Mark Mahone, and Fran Bowman, educational specialist, are featured. We also interviewed a variety of students who are bright but have learning and attention impairments about the nature of the 'myth of laziness' and what it meant for them.
The Paradox of Strengths and Weaknesses (9 min 45 sec)	Parents, teachers and students talk of the great paradox of having extreme strengths and weaknesses. Students of a variety of ages and stages discuss their strength/weakness which span a number of different academic and non-academic areas.
Characterization of Twice Exceptionality: Ideologies and myths (7 min 18 sec)	Determining how best to assess, identify and define 'alphabet kids', GT/LD or twice exceptional students can be difficult. In this clip, experts, parents and teachers discuss some of the difficulties and ways in which such students can best be characterized.
Masking of Strengths and Weaknesses (5 min 26 sec)	Many of our interviewees share the confusion that can result from large differences between knowledge and performance in school. Often, the students’ weaknesses in performance mask their strengths in conceptualizing and reasoning. Dr. Mahone explains this paradox because of students’ neurological differences with respect to the ability to achieve “automaticity” in the fundamental tasks of reading and, especially, of writing. Understandably, teachers as well as parents and students, are often frustrated by these contradictions. Once a teacher or parent understands how these “maskings” can be explained neurologically, greater insight can be gained into 2E students' behaviors. As Henry Ward notes, it is helpful to think of Albert Einstein, who was unable to communicate intelligibly and to do simple computations on paper in school, and who “turned out to be one of the most brilliant minds of all time.”
Parents and the Twice Exceptional Student (6 min 49 sec)	Parents play an important role in the relationship between teachers and students, in particular when the student is misunderstood and/or doesn't learn in a typical way. Understanding the student from the parents perspective can help both the teacher and the student gain insight into a complex process of learning what works for the student. Parents and students provide discussion regarding how their relationship evolves.
Labels and Emotions: The double-edged sword (4 min 33 sec)	Often, people find it liberating to learn that the student has unique neurological strengths and weaknesses and is not simply “lazy or dumb.” However, labeling can have pernicious effects if that label implies “who the person is.” The students and parents in our film share the emotional pain of stereotyping and segregation from classmates who often say unkind things because of ignorance about learning disorders. Jonathan Mooney, who grew up feeling “that my mind was broken” because he could not read until he was 12, implores us to build the self-confidence of our children: “You have to keep telling the student, ‘you are not broken.’”
Creativity, Visual Learning and Right Brained Thinking (6 min 37 sec)	Another paradox often inherent in the lives of students who learn and think differently is that such students may have enormous gifts in intuitive, visual, and artistic domains, yet remain unable to reflect their logic on paper. Many students who can visualize complex ideas have difficulty simplifying these and translating them into clear cogent sentences. Not only are many twice exceptional learners intuitive thinkers and visual learners, but many such students have enormous intellectual ambitions in areas about which they are passionate and in which they enjoy doing hands on, interactive and creative work
Understanding Different Learning Styles (7 min)	Different learning styles of a student that doesn't 'fit' with the way the teacher teachers (or how a parent parents), can really cause behavioral problems in the classroom and at home as students get frustrated with not being able to learn in the preferred style of the teacher. In this segment, teachers and educational professionals provide some tips and strategies for teachers to provide choices in the classroom for accommodating all students, particularly those with executive function impairments. The process of the parent teacher conference can shed important light on what style might work best.

Walking the Path with the Twice Exceptional Learner