Although mental illnesses can be distressing most of the time for both the patient as well as the individuals around him or her, there are a couple of instances where they can be considered to be blessings in disguise. Twice Exceptional learners are individuals who have been diagnosed with a mental illness but at the same time also have some hidden special gifts that place their mental capabilities far beyond that of normal human beings. The problem is that these gifts are hard to identify because these individuals end up being predominantly associated with their mental ailment. If you want to learn more about how to identify these gifts, click here.
The best way to let twice exceptional learners come out of their shell is to make them comfortable and feel as if they are being challenged. These individuals can generally seem to be lazy and unmotivated although in reality they may just be feeling overwhelmed or may be thinking that the task at hand is not challenging enough. For instance, consider twice exceptional children in an art room. What can you do to motivate them into harnessing their natural gifts into something useful and tangible?
The first thing to do is to give them an easy project which you know is moderately challenging but can also be completed by them without any hassles. Such a project can be a collage because they are pretty easy to finish. Once the students have successfully produced the collage, they will now be the proud owners of some new skills which they can now build upon and harness into more challenging techniques. The next step would be to introduce them to a project such as building a paper mosaic. On the other hand, you will also have to ensure that you are able to explain the entire project carefully and in detail.
Research conducted over the years has indicated that twice exceptional learners can have difficulties understanding things that involve a number of steps. Although they may be naturally gifted when it comes to something such as art, their brain may not allow them to process things as quickly as a normal human being and that is why it is important to ensure that they are allowed to learn things within their own established time frame. The best way to dish out instructions is to use different types of methods for example visual representation, oral communication as well as making them read the steps out loud.
For this purpose, the use of multimedia equipment is considered to be quite optimal. Consequently, twice exceptional learners are indeed unique human beings who possess skills which can be hampered by mental illnesses.