I've known since my son was 3 that he was twice exceptional (severe apraxia/dyslexia and gifted). The main reason I know he's gifted is that his LDs are so severe he shouldn't be able to function in a regular classroom. (That and the fact that he has that crazy gifted out-of-the-box thinking.) Yet he manages just fine in a regular classroom, reads at grade level, and on the surface seems very average.
Except he's only average in the way a man with his head on fire and his feet in ice water is average. And the poor kid has to spend so much of his school time working on his issues that he gets very little time to work on his strengths. He would absolutely love it if he could do some of the activities the identified gifted kids get to do-- like the science fair or the stock market game-- but he has speech and writing help and spelling help and we don't want him to miss classroom time either.
I'm not sure what the answer is, or even if there is one. But I'd love to hear from anyone whose kiddo needs more support on the LD side than he/she does on the gifted side, and learn how you supplement the gifted side outside the school day.
