The effectiveness of the awareness training program on twice exceptional (2E) students

The concept of twice-exceptional is used to define individuals having at least one disability, disorder or difficulty along with giftedness or talent. The paradoxical combination of concept causes many problems as accepting, understanding twice exceptional students and providing appropriate education. Herein, teachers have a key role, but their knowledge, skills and awareness of this relatively new field in Turkey are limited. Therefore, awareness trainings should be provided to all education professionals, particularly special education teachers and pre-service teachers. Accordingly, the aim of the study is to analyze effectiveness of awareness training program developed for pre-service special education teachers regarding twice-exceptional students. In this respect, "Twice Exceptional Awareness Training" including the questions: "What is giftedness/talent?", "How to define the concept of twice exceptional?", "What are main characteristics of twice exceptionals?", "What are socio-emotional and educational needs of them?", "What is intersection of giftedness/talent and SLD/ADHD/ASD?" was developed and analyzed. A quasi-experimental design with pre-test post-test control group was used. The sample of the study consists of 50 pre-service teachers; 25 for experimental and 25 for control group randomly selected within Ondokuz Mayıs University Special Education Teaching Department. The program was applied to experimental group. To collect data, "Twice Exceptional Achievement Test" was developed and conducted to both groups as pre-test and post-test. Furthermore, "Program Assessment Scale" was applied after training and participant opinions on program were taken. The t-test, one of parametric tests, was used for analysis. Accordingly, there was a significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores of experimental group (t=-5.216, p<.05), but not in control group (t=-.238, p>.05). Consequently, it was concluded that the training program was effective in increasing knowledge and awareness of pre-service special education teachers. Program assessment scale and participants' opinions confirmed this conclusion.