Talent Development and Twice Exceptional Learners: The Monarch School

This project was undertaken in order to demonstrate how talent can be developed in twice exceptional learners, individuals who dually possess high abilities and learning difficulties. As a result of interviewing academics, learners, twice exceptional learners themselves, their parents, and individuals working in various art-related institutions, it was decided to concentrate on The Monarch School, a school dedicated to students with neurological differences. The Monarch School's population employs a systematic approach to teaching individuals to develop strategies to understand their ownership of self-regulation, relationship development, executive functioning, and academic competence, thus setting the stage for "liberating" the potential talent of individuals. Working with the staff and students, the researcher filmed a wide variety of activities and classes in the school, reviewed the footage obtained, edited the material, and scripted a voice-over in order to create a documentary that demonstrated this systematic approach to talent development.