Twice-Exceptional (Gifted with Special Needs)
Gifted children, with their high potential and abilities, may also have learning problems that act as a roadblock for the development of their gifts. Living and teaching these children can be extremely confusing. How can a child have an amazing memory for airplane trivia but not be able to test well on basic multiplication facts? It seems improbable that someone who knows the intricate directions to a place he's only visited once can't remember directions for homework or where they put their books. Yet that is exactly what can happen with twice exceptional kids. Twice-exceptional children can easily be misperceived as lazy, stubborn, careless, or unmotivated. While parents know that isn't an accurate description, but some days it's almost impossible not to believe. Something is definitely wrong, but it's hard to describe.
The resources listed in this section were selected to shed light on this special population of gifted children, their characteristics, and special needs. Here you will find resources applicable to many different combinations of twice-exceptionalities (GT/LD). Next, there are 4 subsections with some specific resources for students who are GT/ADD, GT/Dyslexic, GT/Asperger's/Autistic, and GT/Dysgraphic.
Recently a mother emailed NAGC with a question about her son. She asked if there was such a thing as "lopsided" giftedness because the results of a recent IQ test showed that although his verbal score was 145, his performance score was low enough to bring the Full Scale IQ down to 114. This disqualified him from gifted programming at his school. She called the situation "very confusing not to mention frustrating" and wrote, "My son had a horrible year last year in third grade. I am going out of my mind trying to help my son so he does not 'shut down' again."
What this mother describes is the concern faced by parents of dual or twice-exceptional children. They recognize the child's potential. They see the remarkable abilities. They are also confused by the inconsistencies. It takes careful planning and continued investigation to find appropriate educational opportunities for these children; and, it can be especially challenging to find the right balance of remediation and acceleration.
Two points to consider:
When you find ideas to share with your child's teacher, please prepare for any discussion with care and sensitivity. After all, most teachers do want to help their students succeed; they just may not have dealt with such a situation before, or had an opportunity to test different options.
As you work to encourage adjustments within the regular classroom, also collect resources to keep your child stimulated and engaged out of school and at home. Those who live and work with bright students know it's essential to find (or create) an interesting, challenging learning environment.
Another Mother's Perspective
Bonnie Cramond, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Georgia who has done research on gifted, including the link between ADHD and creativity, writes, "I am also the mother of a son who was identified as gifted in kindergarten and as having a learning disability in 2nd grade. It was very difficult to have him served, even after the school recognized his dual exceptionalities. For the most part, the schools and teachers are just not ready to modify their approaches to meet the needs of these students. The teachers of the gifted did not quite know what to do with a gifted student who had trouble reading and writing, and the LD teacher was stymied by a child who was so bright yet did not respond well to drill. (He also received assistance in speech-something that goes along with LD many times.
"His speech teacher had trouble grouping him with other children in speech because he had a very large vocabulary, unlike most of her other students who needed language building as well as articulation help.) They tried and did the best they could. His dad and I got books on tape, read to him and with him, assisted him with homework-having him dictate, and really tried to bolster his fragile self-esteem. Now, he is in high school and doing pretty well. He can read functionally, but doesn't enjoy it. He writes very expressively, although he still has trouble with spelling and other mechanics. He has a hunger for information which he prefers to feed through the history channel, oral learning, and the internet. Using the computer helps with the mechanics and makes writing less laborious, so we got him a laptop.
"But, I think a big problem is that most of these kids are not twice-exceptional. Usually several problems coexist in clusters or syndromes. Sometimes the frustrations of being bright and having learning difficulties causes secondary problems such as behavior disorders, low self esteem, social adjustment problems, anxiety, bed wetting, etc. A successful approach to dealing with the problems that such children face includes determining the root(s) of the problem and attempting to perform some triage--trying to deal with the most immediate or problematic first."
Bonnie's list of suggestions includes:
Get a complete evaluation of your child's strengths and weaknesses
Read and learn as much as you can
Share information about your child's strengths and weaknesses with the teachers, as well as his/her likes, fears, etc. (I asked each new teacher not to call on my son to read aloud until he had gained trust and requested to read. This helped with his fear of being embarrassed in front of the class.)
Try to work on the most serious or immediate problems and minimize the secondary ones. For example, help your child with the reading problems and don't make a big deal of the tantrums, bed wetting etc. They will be minimized as competency and confidence increase.
Identify and emphasize strengths. Assure that they receive at least as much attention as the weaknesses. My own son was and is a fabulous artist, chess player, and cook. We praised him for these things and assured that he got opportunities to develop and demonstrate these things.
Bolster your child's self esteem (by emphasizing abilities as above; by helping him/her put his struggles in perspective, and by helping him/her develop self-efficacy through gradual successes).
Assist your child with developing a supportive peer group by helping find friends with similar interests.
Be an advocate for your child at school, not an adversary. I found that teachers were very open to hearing about my son's needs if I couched it as giving them information to help them do their jobs, not telling them how to do their jobs.
Bonnie continues, "Of course, this is an issue very close to me and one I feel very passionately about. I hope that it will be helpful for those parents struggling with this. My son is doing very well in school. He is in advanced classes in high school, has many friends, has a pretty strong self-concept, and is pretty well adjusted. There can be a happy ending."
More Information
"Gifted Children with Learning Disabilities: A Review of the Issues" is an excellent summary of dual-exceptional children, along with information about identification.
The book, Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults: ADHD, Bipolar, OCD, Asperger's, Depression, and Other Disorders, has an excellent overview.
In-depth information and practical strategies for working with schools can be found in the book, To Be Gifted and Learning Disabled: Strategies for Helping Bright Students with LD, ADHD, and More (2004, Creative Learning Press).
The "2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter" is a bi-monthly publication that is available in print or online.
For a story of success, the book, Learning Outside the Lines (Mooney and Cole, 2000), was written by two young men (one with ADHD and the other with dyslexia) who compiled and developed a series of learning strategies that helped them graduate from Ivy League colleges.
The book, The Pretenders: Gifted People Who Have Difficulty Learning by Barbara Guyer (High Tide Press, 1997), not only offers stories of adults who have dealt with learning problems, but also gives practical suggestions to help these children succeed in the classroom.
Two pediatricians (Klass & Costello) wrote the book, Quirky Kids: Understanding and Helping Your Child Who Doesn't Fit In - When to Worry and When Not to Worry (Ballantine Press, 2004), to help parents understand terminology, possible therapies and medications, and strategies for success in school and at home. This book is a good starting point for parents who are concerned if their young child is showing a different developmental pattern than other peers.
The book, Uniquely Gifted: Identifying and Meeting the Needs of the Twice Exceptional Student by Kay Kiesa (Avocus Publications, 2000), has been recommended by many parents.
The Web site "Uniquely Gifted" was created to help parents understand the needs and educational options for twice exceptional children.