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Students with special educational needs are integrative part of each school population across the world. Even though, students with special educational needs are mostly recognized through deficits in particular areas, their potential (eventually giftedness) needs to be taken into account for comprehensive response to their needs According to the NCES [16], one of the most common types of special educational needs worldwide are specific learning disabilities (SLD). SLD can be defined as an inability of a child with at least average intelligence to learn how to read, write or count when common teaching methods are used [6]. In comparison, IDEA (2004) defines SLD as “a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which disorder may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations”. However, the SLD ale mostly connected with deficient functions, a certain percentage of those students also show co-occurring presence of giftedness. The co-occurrence of intellectual giftedness and specific learning disabilities is referred to as twice-exceptionality. In order to be able to successfully learn and reach full potential, students with twice-exceptionality need to receive support addressing both their exceptionalities – SLD and giftedness. Despite the necessity for comprehensive support for the academic skills development, the social and emotional needs have to be addressed as well. In order to explore the area of psychosocial characteristics of students with twice-exceptionality, the systematic review of international studies was conducted. For the review, the research studies published in electronic databases SCOPUS, Web of Science and EBSCO within the years 1988-2020 were used. From total of 1456 studies, only studies that focused on the psychosocial characteristics of twice-exceptional students in combination of specific learning disabilities and intellectual giftedness were selected. Finally, only 10 studies met the criteria to be involved. Psychosocial characteristics of twice-exceptional students in included studies were analysed and divided into seven main areas – personal characteristics, interpersonal relationships, emotional experiencing, motivation, self-concept, externalized problems and learning abilities. Results of the systematic review indicate that students with twice-exceptionality indeed possess a unique psychosocial profile in which both characteristics stemming from intellectual giftedness and specific learning disabilities combine. Repeated and long-lasting academic failure, feelings of frustration stemming from unbalanced skills, unsatisfactory peer relationships and feelings of not belonging can lead to development of behaviour disorders, anxiety, depression, and other problems. It is therefore important to provide these students with support that would address not only their academic, but also their emotional and social needs in order to prevent the development of behavioural and emotional disorders.
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