Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Article about gifted kids

http://calgaryherald.com/life/swerve/gifted-children-are-frequently-misunderstood

My mom who is a retired teacher sent this to me yesterday after reading it in the paper. She knows that DS is gifted/LD and that I've been trying to advocate for him and others both at the school level and at the board level. We've never really seen eye-to-eye on most things to do with gifted education. Kids should learn to do what they are told and learn how to do stuff even if it bores them to tears - it prepares them for real life. I know as a kid I figured that out real quick.

We recently spent a month traveling with her. Her comment about the article was that she could really see a lot of DS in the examples. She also said that "it shows how little I knew about gifted students and I was working with kids." I figure an article that was able to change my mom's view on gifted education is worth sharing. Hopefully it will be able to change a few more minds.

What an excellent article! Thanks for sharing.

Agreed!

The unfortunate truth is that many schools rely on "differentiation" in classrooms where gifted kids, even profoundly gifted kids, are placed with gen ed students and gen ed teachers... teachers having no special certification in gifted.

Thanks for posting this, Chay. The article has now made it into my city's paper & many of the comments are worth a read, as well.

Thanks. Very good article.

As the parent of both a 2e kid (HG with dyslexia and dysgraphia) and two non-2e gifted kids, this makes me a little uncomfortable. For me twice exceptional should be reserved for gifted with learning disabilities. I've never heard "twice exceptional" used to describe gifted with emotional intensity. My gifted kids who do not have an identified disability are emotionally intense but they are in a whole different realm than my 2e kid.

I was assuming that some of the kids they were talking about were dx with Asperger's like my son...but I see what you are saying.

knute974 - I agree and noticed the same thing. I think those of us that live and breath it on a daily basis would agree and it does muddle up a term that to many has a very precise meaning.

When I asked my mom about it she said she hadn't really keyed in on the specific 2e term and just took away the message about how intensities can bring about their own challenges for some kids. Most people that spend time with DS notice this long before they notice his actual 2nd e. Maybe I'll start calling him 3e ha ha

Overall it opened a door for my mom and I to actually be able to relate a bit on this so I'll take it.

Let me add, here, that I really think that "2e" can be an inclusive term-- but agree that it needs to be reserved for conditions which result in what most persons would consider "disabling" in that they impact the major activities of life.

Basically, 2e, in my experience (lived and observed) is when a child has both gifted traits and has a disability-- not merely extreme facets of being cognitively extraordinary. (I know, I know-- as if that weren't enough to go on with-- believe me, I don't have a child with emotional OE's or a spectrum disorder, and her asynchrony alone can be pretty eye-watering, so I am definitely NOT minimizing that.)

I do think that calling intensity "2e" though is probably not good, because it's merely a possibly facet of high LOG, and educators should be aware that there isn't anything "wrong" with a child like that. Sometimes it's just asynchrony, no matter how out of step it makes such children among typical peers.

The two things (2e) are often at odds with one another in terms of what can/should be done for each exceptionality. It can feel as though any solution is wrong-- and this is where I think it parts ways with regular gifted considerations.

Disability adds in a second set of (often competing) considerations-- and meeting both GT needs and those related to disability can be downright Faustian.

I agree that conflating some of the more extreme traits of giftedness (perfectionism, emotional OE's, etc.) with disability is unwarranted and potentially damaging to children who really do have unrelated disabilities that require accommodations that may/may not have anything to do with their needs as gifted learners. It's often just a complicating set of concerns that must be taken into consideration alongside of their giftedness.

Hard, hard choices there, too-- like those faced by many parents via asynchrony, only magnified by a factor of 10 or 100. As I said-- it can feel as though EVERY choice is wrong. Every decision is made via least-worst decision-making.

The 2e thing annoyed me too but I think for most people the article would help them start to understand.

Really appreciate your distinction between true 2e disabilities and the intensities/overexcitabilities, etc. seen in PG and other highly gifted individuals.