Thank you for posting this. The article "Twice Exceptional--An Interview" was good. Like the woman in the article, my 11-year-old son with motor dyspraxia has had to deal with fatigue issues and not wanting to appear different. My son also needs to conserve his energy for the more important things. My daughter and I took him to the Dallas Aquarium recently and he had to stop and rest several times when the leg and foot pain was too much for him. At least the physical therapist that he finally got to see at age 11 understood his pain and told him that what he was feeling was not the "good kind of pain" that people talk about when they do physical exercise, it was more like having a repetitive motion injury and when he started hurting that is when he needed to stop. She thinks the scoliosis is probably causing the problems. He needs to be fitted with orthotics and also do physical therapy. Finally, no more cliche advice from pediatricians who told him it was growing pains and to take Tylenol or Ibuprofin without even looking at how he walked and didn't refer him for physical therapy.
The woman that was interviewed has mild cerebral palsy and some of her issues are similar to my son's, yet she was successful in working around her issues. Pain and fatigue can make kids mentally tired and so many people don't understand this. I have seen this with my son. I can tell from the look in his eyes when he needs a break. My daughter noticed at the aquarium that he was the only kid she saw really reading the information about the animals and who seemed really interested in what he read, but when he started hurting, he quit reading. When he hurts, it slows him down and it takes a lot out of him. I think living with pain and fatigue is almost like a learning disability.
The article also mentions the difficulty in trying to find twice-exceptional peers. I keep looking. I keep hoping. No luck so far.
The one thing I haven't seen is anyone talking about twice exceptional kids living with chronic pain.
Previous Topic
Index