Has anyone come up with a short, sweet, direct explanation of their child's 2E issues? It seems that people see either the giftedness or the disabilities but can't wrap their heads around the whole situation. This means that she is often treated as lazy or dumb or full of excuses.
Adults who see the giftedness often seem to look for her "feet of clay" and feel a need to cut her down to size. For example the executive director of the spec Ed school where she is in OOD recently asked if I thought the teachers may be intimidated by her intellect. "You know a lot of adults might find a third grader who can discuss Dickens or Shakespeare to be rather intimidating." I replied "A lot of people find adults who can discuss Dickens or Shakespeare intimidating too. That's not DD's fault." Maybe not her fault but still a reality.
In extra curricular activities I have to explain her disabilities in order to have her participate. She can't read or do crafts or run as well as other kids her age. But she is sweet and kind and hardworking. It doesn't stop many adults from treating her as "the little special Ed kid who should just be happy to participate."
My only sibling recently passed away and in one of our last conversations I received a lecture about how "there is nothing wrong with Dd." "The neuropsych report was wrong." "Kids just develop at different rates." The entire situation was just the result of bad parenting - we didn't hold DD to appropriate standards. We have also been told by others that "you should be ashamed of yourselves as parents" and "the only thing she is 'gifted' at is getting out of doing her work." Some are convinced she is gifted but the LD issues don't exist. Others see only the deficits and think the whole high level comprehension is a joke...
DD's psych, who is a 2E adult and the parent of a 2E child, says that DD is a child "you have to translate for." My mother recently told me "I don't think of DD as being a special Ed kid anymore. I mean now she can read..."
So what do you say to short-circuit this process? My recent analogy has been color blindness. DD's brain perceives and processes information differently. Some people seem receptive to that. I have read here about analogies others have used about computer processors but being totally non-techie I wasn't all that clear on it.
Ideas anyone?
