What Does Twice Exceptional (2E) Mean
Most of us have heard of gifted children and have ideas of what that implies. There’s a whole host of expectations heaped upon a child who’s been deemed gifted. Everything from being able to talk and read at an early age, to being able to do college math in middle school, and the assumption that the gifted child will learn all things easily in school ensuring great grades and a certain ease to life.
This could not be more untrue for some gifted children.
It’s often been imagined that gifted students have no disabilities, no struggles, and always enjoy learning.
This too could not be more untrue for some gifted children.
Being exceptional does not only mean high intellectual abilities. The standard definition states exceptional means of being rare, one of a kind. But in academics, it means requiring special schooling for reasons of intellectual giftedness or physical or mental disability.
Being twice exceptional (2E) means a person has both intellectual giftedness and learning differences or learning disabilities. Students with both are different from typical students in two ways.
Being academically gifted is typically defined as having an IQ over 130. Some schools have different qualifications for their gifted programs.
Learning Difference or Disabilities (LDs) include, but are not limited to:
ADHD
ASD
Anxiety
Specific Learning Differences (SLDs like dysgraphia, dyslexia, dyspraxia)
Sensory Processing Disorder
Visual Processing Disorder
Auditory Processing Disorder
Other Learning Disabilities
Why Being 2E Matters
Many of these learning differences are co-morbid with each other. Their interplay affects how the differences can and should be supported. Twice exceptional people often have multiple diagnoses, sometimes lovingly referred to as alphabet soup.
These children can have the social, emotional, and psychological intensities often referred to as over-excitabilities, common with giftedness.
However, because of the difficulties their learning differences create, these over-excitabilities can look like defiance, anger, disillusionment, laziness, etc.
These children often experience anxiety from the cognitive dissonance being 2E creates. This asynchrony can exacerbate the LDs themselves. Kids often silently ask themselves, “Everyone tells me I’m so smart but I am struggling to live up to their expectations. Why can’t I do it easily like so many others? What’s wrong with me?”
Twice exceptional children often go undiagnosed because their intelligence hides the learning deficits and their learning deficits hide their intelligence cancelling each other out to most decision makers.
Twice exceptional children are often misdiagnosed, because disabilities are mistaken for each other. Often disabilities have similar or even the same symptoms and some symptoms are masked by others so they can be hidden making diagnosis difficult. For example, giftedness can look like the hyperactivity of ADHD in an academically under stimulated child as they seek intellectual stimulation. And, yet, that child can still have ADHD-Inattentive type.
Misdiagnosis can lead to unnecessary medication or therapies. Inappropriate therapies seem to not work leading to a defeatist mindset. Therefore, it is important to have a thorough evaluation by a neuropsychologist or developmental pediatrician who can really tease out all that is going on for a child who is struggling. Achievement testing at school does not always elucidate the subtleties of a gifted student struggling with a learning difference; they can mask each other or even unnecessarily depress scores. Only a talented assessment provider, knowledgeable in gifted/LD can see through the confusion. The earlier the better as early intervention is shown to be of utmost importance for future success.
The asynchrony in the twice exceptional child can look like many ages at once; very mature with their knowledge and interests while very immature in peer interactions, social skills, and organizational and time management skills, all while a totally different chronological age.
A twice exceptional student may struggle through school socially, emotionally, and academically depending on their individual exceptionalities. Some 2E students grow to reach great heights professionally and personally, some continue to struggle throughout adulthood to reach their seeming potential.
Twice exceptionality is often misunderstood and sometimes even unknown by academic institutions as they struggle to encourage the innate intellectual abilities while appropriately supporting the second (or third, or more) exceptionality.
These kids are often divergent thinkers who see the world through a different set of lenses than most but who also struggle to show their talents and abilities because of it. Twice exceptional children are who they are and they know they are different, even if they go undiagnosed.
The frustrations of knowing certain things without being taught and having to sit through a chronologically correct or remedial class feels devastating.
The irony of being highly intelligent but relatively immature can lead to outbursts.
The emotions involved in knowing the subject matter, but not being able to organize their thoughts, read the material easily, or output the answers with ease often leads to imposter syndrome with the child (or the teachers/parents) questioning if the child really is as smart as “they” say.
All of these issues and more put 2E children at risk of anxiety and depression. If left untreated, the risk is even higher.
How We Can Help
Obtaining appropriate supports for your child can be difficult if either exceptionality is masking the other. Mira is well versed in a variety of interventions and supports needed in school and at home. She will always defer to experts and is happy to help you find academic, medical or psychological supports as needed.
Because kids can often “hold it together” during the structured school day, they often fall apart for their families at home. Mira will help you develop your parenting plan while helping you hold the school to the standard of meeting the child’s intellectual needs through appropriate scaffolding for their weaknesses. It’s teamwork at its finest.
Mira’s goal is to help you parent your highly individual child who is truly like no other.
To schedule a session, please contact Mira (she/her)
cell: 312.320.9544
email: mduncan@roughdraftsparenting.com