Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Help for GT/2E non-trad student in college?

I'm looking for help with a few things and hoped I could maybe find some recommendations here. Most searches I have done turned up results for GT/2E children rather than adults, young or ...at heart. I am in MA close to RI if that's any help (one of those "danger zone" states on the map diagram here).

1) Counseling with specialty in GT/2E adults, esp. those from abusive/dysfunctional families. Someone who specializes not only in emotional/mental assistance (w/o drugs, of course!), but also in creative encouragement, i.e. identifying creative blocks and helping the patient/client work through them. Sort of a mixture between life-coach and traditional therapist... and of course, someone who takes insurance or does "out of network" reimbursements

2) Educational program or assistance for GT/2E students... like a sort of "Davidson U." I heard about this college (a legitimate one, not one of those shady online schools) on the radio that offers a Learning Community for students with learning disorders and/or emotional problems, but I forgot the name of it, and it's probably too far for me to attend anyway. Alternatively, and perhaps ideally, if anyone can tell me if it's possible to have gov't assistance (like financial aid) for non-traditional and non-grade-based skills enrichment programs, or find a way of paying otherwise without loans, that'd be good too.

3) Some answers to or help with the dilemma of turning 26 and getting booted off my old man's insurance policy. Also, some help with searching for work and/or resources to help me maybe do something independently, i.e. starting a business or developing a product and finding "networking" help with that. In other words, some help with having a little spending cash (but honestly) as a gifted person from a poor background with few friends and a scattered, non-traditional education

4) Any other resources that might help someone like me: an INFP (for the MBTI enthusiasts); an aspiring novelist with plenty of ideas but in dire need of (one-on-one) help translating them from concept to finished copy; and one who is 25, unemployed, too "creative" for the stringent rigors of college, but too broke to aim for anything else, at least not right now. Links, phone numbers, listings, or even just words of support are all welcome. TIA

Have you read 'Learning Outside the LInes?'
http://www.jonathanmooney.com/frames.pl?path=/learningoutsidethelines.html

Are you still in college or on leave or door slammed shut?

Do you have an idea what sort of challenges you have?

It's true that there are very few resources for 2 E adults, but,
some resources for adults with challenges,
such as
http://www.drhallowell.com/add-adhd/
are skewed towards 2E without the writers even identifying as gifted - think about it, how many physicians who have ADHD who are able to work aren't gifted?

Good luck,
Grinity

If you believe your 2E challenges are keeping you from being successful in school and present a barrier to employment, your state division of vocational rehabilitation might be able to help you get (time-limited) counseling and medical treatment, diagnostic testing, and help with career planning and job placement. Often, people don't even think about checking out this resource.

@aculady: Thanks for the recommendation, but I have already been involved with my state voc. rehab. dept., and have to say, it was an absolutely horrible experience. I was already in college, a 2-year school, and needed some IQ testing done to prove that I had dyscalculia (which I know I do, but it's nowhere in black-and-white) and was unable to do math, in order to waiver out of a required stats course that I needed to graduate with my Associate's.

The guy who tested me didn't seem to know what he was doing at all, and even told me a few dirty jokes while compiling his report! All of which, by the way, had nothing to do with my education or intellectual or even emotional level, but in fact rife with inaccuracies about me, my family, and especially my mom. The idiot counselor I had said that my participation in the program was contingent upon retaining this report as the basis of why I needed to be there. It was full of total crap, and basically painted my mom, who has really been there for me one hundred thousand percent, as a cold, emotionless, Bettleheim-esque "refrigerator mother" and narcissistic attention-seeker. Without even spending any time with her or even meeting her face-to-face, and relying on god-knows-what that I did not say whatsoever, this guy had officially diagnosed my poor mom with Munchausen syndrome by proxy! I wonder if this is common with parents of GT/2E students, including college-level ones, if they are seen as the "crazy ones" when oftentimes they drive themselves crazy "grabbing at straws" just to help their kids achieve and succeed...?

I requested the original copy of the report be sent to my house so I could destroy it personally. I ended my relationship with that agency, and have decided that I'm just not cut out for traditional book-learning and structured college study. Considering I did very well with my gen. eds at the two-year level, I have this inclination that I'd suffer a steep decline at 300- and 400-level coursework in a bachelor's program, let alone graduate's or beyond. The measured IQ test -- the Wexler or something, I think it was called? -- indicated an exorbitantly high verbal IQ, but with a lop-sided deficit in terms of left-brained mathematics and "symbolic logic." Balanced and averaged out, though, it still has me in what the educational liaison I had at the two-year school (not at the agency) termed "intermediate genius." She used the word "gifted/talented" herself, and has boatloads of experience interpreting these scores, especially considering she herself has GT/2E children and grandchildren.

Nevertheless, all of this had to be approved by the head of the math department, the prospective teacher of the course, and the student-services administration, and I got a big fat NO with regards to swapping a simpler course in lieu of the stats. I did end up getting an A in the math course (a distance-learning class over the summer, and the only one I took that semester), and so have finally graduated -- summa cum laude, with a 3.86 GPA (much to my own surprise, honest), but not without serious, almost crisis levels of fatigue, emotional frustration, and a whole host of other physical health problems. I started getting headaches because my blood pressure skyrocketed; twice I passed out at the dinner table (fell out of the chair), and I almost ended up in the ER at one point because my doctor thought I should be monitored for possible stroke! Luckily those days are behind me; however, I really don't think I perform well under pressure. "Under" pressure is really a misnomer, since I was so "over"-pressured I was making myself sick!

@Grinity: Thanks too, for the links to Dr. Hallowell and Jonathan Mooney. I hadn't heard of them before; although I think Mooney is an apt name for a successful public speaker who identifies as something of a "space cadet." I like that Hallowell put together a whole book of biographical profiles of successful and well-known people who haven't let AD(H)D hold them back I'm not too sure of where Sudbury is either (apparently he has a counseling/resources center there), but I'm sure a quick Map Quest search will point my compass in the right direction