Dual profile and high ability: the Irish words for 2e

Most often, twice exceptional, or 2e: gifted and neurodivergent at once. An autistic child who is also very able sits at both ends of the bell curve. Ahead and behind at the same time. Both ends of the bell curve covers what 2e means in full.

Irish law has its own word for the able end: exceptionally able. The Centre for Talented Youth Ireland (CTYI) at DCU, and Irish research, tend to say gifted or high ability. Dual profile names both ends at once: a dual profile of autism and high ability.

Autism is a clinical diagnosis. The other words are not. They describe a profile, and different services reach for different ones.

Twice exceptional (2e). Gifted and neurodivergent at once. CTYI describes twice-exceptional students as those whose exceptional cognitive ability exists alongside a special need, including autism, ADHD and dyslexia. It is the word most international research uses.

Dual profile. The two named side by side, usually as "a dual profile of autism and high ability". It says what 2e says, without the shorthand. It is a description, not a category. I couldn't find it defined in any Department of Education document. The NCCA's 2007 draft guidelines for teachers use two close terms for the same group: "dual exceptional" and "double-labelled".

High ability. The Irish research and services word for the able end. CTYI describes its work as being with high-ability students aged 6 to 17. Its 2022 report on Irish gifted students uses high ability for students who score at the 95th percentile or above.

Gifted. The older, international word. Irish research uses it beside high ability, often in the same sentence. CTYI's 2023 resource guide is titled Students with Gifts and Talents.

Exceptionally able. The word in Irish law and Department of Education policy. The Education Act 1998 counts the educational needs of exceptionally able students as special educational needs. The NCCA's 2007 draft guidelines use the same term, and say there is no universally agreed one.

In one Act, yes. Section 2 of the Education Act 1998 defines special educational needs as the educational needs of students who have a disability, and the educational needs of exceptionally able students.

The Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 (EPSEN) defines it differently. There, a special educational need is a restriction in a person's capacity to take part in and benefit from education, on account of a disability or a condition that means they learn differently. High ability on its own is not in that definition.

So a 2e child sits inside one definition at both ends, and inside the other at one end.

In October 2023 the Minister for Education told the Dáil that school boards of management must publish a policy that covers exceptionally able students, and that a Department working group was reviewing the 2007 NCCA draft guidelines. Those guidelines are still published as a draft.

Home education in Ireland is assessed against a certain minimum education. The Department's 2003 guidelines for assessors say it has to suit the child's age, ability and aptitude.

For a 2e child, ability and aptitude point two ways at once. Far ahead in one area. Behind in another. Both are the same child.

None of these words is needed to home educate. The assessment looks at the education provided, the materials used and the time spent. A report that says dual profile, or 2e, explains why the record looks uneven. It doesn't replace the record.

Learning was never the problem. Proving it was.

A record that averages a 2e child into one number is wrong about them. The high end pulls it up, the hard end pulls it down, and the average describes nobody.

E Squared keeps both ends. The parent logs what happened in plain words, in seconds. The app matches it to the curriculum's key skills and builds a report a home education assessor can read. The child never sees any of it.