Bully Proofing Your Twice-Exceptional Child

A Doctoral Comprehensive Performance Assessment Matrix Reflection on Evidence-Based

Practice
By
Amra Mohammed
To achieve my overall goal of becoming an expert in twice-exceptionality, I decided to

focus one of my research projects on the experiences of parents of twice-exceptional (2E)

students. I conducted a qualitative study during which I interviewed four parents of a 2E child to

collect data about their perspectives and experiences related to being a parent of a 2E child. One

of my key findings, which agreed with other studies in the area, was that parents of 2E students

often lack understanding and skills in how they can support their children emotionally and

socially. One of the most difficult challenges facing 2E students is the development of

socioemotional resilience. So, I chose to write an article that focuses on research-supported

practices for healthy interpersonal and intrapersonal development among 2E students. The article

was research-based in that all the practices listed as helpful things to do for 2E students were

recommended practices that are largely based on work produced by academic researchers.

The social and emotional issues that 2E students frequently demonstrate are often as

debilitating as their challenges in other areas. Parents are often faced with a frustrated, angry, and

depressed child, and they may themselves experience similar emotional and psychological

issues. According to Nielson (2002), psychological issues are often hidden behind the negative

behavior. Inappropriate behaviors such as teasing, clowning, anger, withdrawal, apathy, and

denial of problems can indicate poor self-esteem.

Twice-exceptional students often struggle with developing healthy interpersonal

relationships, suffering from isolation, teasing, or aggressive bullying. Negative interpersonal

experiences leave these children wounded and alienated from peers, in many cases well into

1
adulthood (Wood, 2009). Furthermore, it is often difficult for schools to provide the specialized

attention and learning environment that these children require. Therefore, practitioners and

parents can play a vital role in helping their 2E student become resilient in the face of

intrapersonal and interpersonal difficulties by intervening and advocating on several levels.

Current research indicates several practices that help 2E students develop social and

emotional resilience, including specific social skills instruction, fostering positive peer

relationships, and creating a safe learning environment. My practitioner article lists several

specific practices that nurture healthy interpersonal and intrapersonal development among 2E

students, and it also provides links to helpful resources with live modeling of healthy behavior.

To produce an artifact for this project, I submitted the article to Parenting for High

Potential, one of the publications of the National Association for Gifted Children, and it was

accepted with minor revisions to appear in the June 2018. This exercise was especially helpful to

me in that I started learning how to choose an appropriate journal for article submission and

tailor an article according to the submission guidelines. The differences between journals in

terms of style and requirements is a big part of generating an acceptable manuscript. So

accordingly, I am learning how to rewrite articles for submission.