An Investigation into the Classroom Interactions of Twice Exceptional Students in Comparison to their Typically Developing Peers

Type of content
Theses / Dissertations
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Health Sciences
Degree name
Master of Arts
Publisher
University of Canterbury. Education
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
Date
2015
Authors
Lewis, Taryn
Abstract

Students who meet criteria for both being intellectually gifted and having a disability are known by the term ‘twice exceptional’. To date there is little known about the classroom interactions of these students, and how these interactions impact their developing self-esteem. The interactions of four gifted primary school students with identified learning difficulties (twice exceptional) were observed along with four matched typically developing students and their teacher during normal classroom teaching activities. The number and type of positive, negative, neutral or no response interactions were recorded over four, one hour observation sessions. The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory was then administered to the four twice exceptional and four comparison students. Results indicated that there was little difference between the twice exceptional and comparison students in terms of number of interactions recorded, with the twice exceptional students showing slightly more positive interactions with their teacher and peers. All four twice exceptional students reported lower self-esteem levels than their matched peers, with two students being in the low range. The results suggested that these four twice exceptional students were interacting in a manner similar to their typically developing peers, although they displayed lower self-esteem levels. The implications of these findings and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Description
Citation
Keywords
Twice exceptional, gifted, learning difficulties, self esteem, children
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Rights
Copyright Taryn Lewis