The word “gifted” is arguably one of the most misunderstood terms in education.
Most people think that gifted kids are straight-A students, and many believe that these children’s abilities are primarily the result of pushy or privileged parents. Even teachers sometimes hold these misconceptions because, in the past (and, unfortunately, in some school districts today), gifted programs were often made up primarily of “teacher-pleasers” — bright, conscientious kids who follow instructions, do their homework, and bring home high grades.
Defining Twice-Exceptional
Certainly, some gifted children fit this description. But many don’t. As research in psychology and education has progressed, we’ve come to understand that a lot of gifted kids are better described as “GT/LD”—that is, gifted and talented/learning disabled, or “2e” for “twice-exceptional.” This terminology conveys the fact that these young people are both gifted and have some type of learning disability or disorder that inhibits typical growth in an academic setting.
A 2e designation can cover a very broad range of learning profiles, including recognized learning disabilities or differences like ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and various auditory processing disorders, as well as mental health challenges like anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. These are all possible secondary exceptionalities for 2e children, alongside their primary exceptionality of giftedness.
Understanding the 2E Profile
The good news for parents is that, under the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), school districts are required to provide educational services for children with learning disorders. In its 2007 Dear Colleague letter, the U.S. Department of Education made it clear that such support includes access to gifted and advanced classes. As a result, districts may no longer legally say that a child has to choose between special education services and gifted or honors classes.
The bad news is that many districts don’t realize this, and since IDEA states that all children are entitled to a “free and appropriate education,” your district may claim that, if your child is passing her classes and not exhibiting major behavioral problems, the education being provided is “appropriate.” The National Association for Gifted Children has found evidence of this kind of “excellence gap” in every state. If your child is 2e, you may have to educate yourself and advocate strongly in order to ensure that her strengths are served alongside her challenges. That said, in states that recognize giftedness as grounds for an IEP or as part of special education, putting together a plan that addresses both exceptionalities—the giftedness and the disability—may be somewhat easier. (You can find state policies on gifted education here.)
Moreover, since most people don’t spend a lot of time reading articles on educational psychology, you are likely to run into many individuals—including doctors, teachers, and other parents—who don’t understand how a child can have such divergent learning capabilities. If your child is verbally gifted and looks “normal,” others are likely to see her gifted side first and view symptoms of a disability as “laziness,” “underachievement,” or “bad behavior.”
If your child’s giftedness doesn’t express itself through verbal precocity (particularly if she is nonverbal) or if her disability is visible, adults may speak down to her—a practice that is annoying to many disabled children but that can be especially infuriating for those who are gifted. Many parents decide to smooth the path by gathering free resources that introduce the concept of twice-exceptional profiles to health care providers, teachers, tutors, and other professionals who work with 2e children.
Addressing Divergent Learning Needs
Whatever your child’s diagnosis or diagnoses, it’s important that both aspects of her needs be addressed educationally. It’s common to assume that gifted children, with or without learning disorders, will do fine without any particular special attention—after all, they’re smart, aren’t they?
In fact, though, gifted students need to have their strengths fostered. It can be exceedingly frustrating for those gifted children who also have a learning disorder and regularly experience the gap between their intelligence and their ability to demonstrate their skills in school. Perpetual frustration isn’t helpful for anybody, and few things are as difficult for the quick mind of a gifted child as being forced to do work that is tedious, redundant, or boring. Often, these children act out or shut down, leading teachers and others to label them as “behavior problems” or “underachievers.”
Gifted students who manage to navigate school more easily may be able to get good grades without ever really encountering difficult work or learning to study, a pattern that can lead them to chronically avoid challenges or set them up for a breakdown when they hit a problem they can’t sidestep. And, as recent research has shown, children who are told frequently that they are “smart”—as most gifted kids are—often develop anxiety around living up to this label. Like many parents, educators, and experts will attest, anxiety is a common disorder among gifted children, and may account for their apparent underperformance as they try to avoid work that may threaten their self-image as “the smart kids.”
How Can Parents and Teachers Help?
What, then, are parents and schools to do? How do you honor and encourage a kid’s gifts without overpraising her and setting unrealistic expectations? How do you address deficits and problems without frustrating and discouraging her? The difficulty of this balancing act can be a special challenge with 2e kids because the gap between their strengths and deficits can be so frustrating and confusing.
The first and most important step is to get a clear sense of where, exactly, your child excels and struggles, and how wide the gap between these poles is. The best way of doing this is by consulting an experienced professional to obtain a thorough assessment of your child’s cognitive, intellectual, and psychological needs. This can be done through private providers — in some cases, your health insurance may cover part of the cost—or, if your child is beginning to show difficulties in class, through a school psychologist.
In either case, it is important to conduct a full assessment as soon as problems start to emerge so that you can begin putting together a team of specialists to help address learning disabilities or differences. For the 2e child, you may find that her school is more responsive to her disabilities—once they are recognized — than it is to her giftedness. As a former teacher and gifted advocate Celi Trépanier points out, there are constructive ways to advocate for your gifted child to ensure that her giftedness is appropriately challenged.
Still, it can be a frustrating process (one that may help you better understand the frustrations of your 2e child!), but patience and respectful collaboration can enable you to build a strong team with your child’s teachers, learning specialists, and school leaders.
5 Great Resources for 2E Families
Since every 2e student’s particular profile is different, the specifics of your child’s situation and needs will be unique. That said, research and understanding of 2e children are growing rapidly, so there is a great deal of information out there to help you. Below are five of my favorite resources for learning about and supporting 2e learners.
2E: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter
This site offers lots of great articles that will help you and your child’s teacher(s) better understand and address the range of strengths and deficits your child may have.
SENG: Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted
One of my favorite organizations for parents of gifted kids, SENG’s focus (as the organization’s name indicates) is on emotional and psychological health. Many organizations for gifted kids, and schools as well, are primarily concerned with ensuring that these bright children maximize their academic performance; SENG reminds us that gifted children, like all children, are whole and complex people with a broad array of needs. The organization offers parent support groups across the U.S. (as well as online) and holds an annual conference that is well worth attending.
Gifted Homeschoolers Forum
Whether you homeschool or not, GHF is a great, supportive organization. Many parents of gifted children find themselves doing “after schooling”—that is, providing lots of educational opportunities outside of the regular school day, simply to keep up with their kids. This organization has an active Facebook discussion page and extensive information on its main website. They also offer online classes in a broad range of subjects for kids of all ages.
Great Potential Press
This publisher has books on all aspects of giftedness, including 2e.
Wrightslaw
If you are pursuing an Individualized Education Program (IEP) through your local public school, you’ll want to bookmark the Wrightslaw website, which is the go-to destination for legal advice on special education law. The site publishes a book “All About IEPs” that is an accessible series of Q&As on all topics related to the IEP process.
You can find free resources on Noodle Pros as well, where you can ask questions of the expert community about learning disabilities, gifted programs, and other educational topics.
Noodle Pros had a wide range of tutors with a proven track record. Go to https://www.noodlepros.com/request/ to connect with a results-oriented tutor and get personalized 1:1 instruction.
Sources:Beckley, D. (1998). Gifted and learning disabled: Twice-exceptional students. Retrieved September 9, 2015, from University of Connecticut, Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development.
Dear Colleague letter: Access by students with disabilities to accelerated programs. (2007, December 26). Retrieved September 4, 2015, from U.S. Department of Education.
Dweck, C. (2007, October 1). The perils and promises of praise. Retrieved September 4, 2015, from ACSD.
Gifted education in the U.S. (n.d.). Retrieved September 9, 2015, from National Association for Gifted Children.
Halvorson, H. (2011, November 21). The trouble with bright kids. Retrieved September 4, 2015, from Harvard Business Review.
Sabatino, C. (2009). The mythology of learning, part 1, abandoning deficit models: A paradigm shift. Retrieved September 4, 2015, from 2e Newsletter.
Twice-exceptional — smart kids with learning differences. (n.d.). Retrieved September 4, 2015, from Gifted Homeschoolers Forum.
