Twice Exceptional...

[Mommy Piadosa]

Anyone else dealing with this? By definition it is someone who is disabled and gifted at the same time. My son has mental illness and a really high iq, but I cannot get anyone to take his giftedness seriously when he cannot go through an entire school day without scratching himself or pulling his hair.

[LynnS6]

I know there are a couple of parents who hang out on the "Parenting the Gifted Child" board with 2E kids, so you might think about cross-posting there.

I have  child who's mildly 2E -- moderately gifted and mildly special needs (Sensory Processing Disorder + tics (that are pretty mild)). I'm not sure if his tics are due to his sensory stuff, anxiety or maybe even a very mild form of Tourette's. We've not had much trouble with the school because ds is very quiet (probably selectively mute when he was very young). I did have to insist that he was tested for the gifted program, but after that he was fine. I know it is hard to get people to meet your child's intellectual needs when all they can see are the other symptoms.

[hadleys_mom]

Yep! My DD is gifted and visually impaired with SPD, hypotonia, anxiety and possibly NVLD.  We homeschool which helps create the individualized learning environment that she needs. 

[RiverTam]

DS1 is 2E. He is gifted and has Mixed Expressive Language Disorder with some semantic-pragmatic deficits. It's challenging.

[JollyGG]

Originally Posted by LynnS6 

I know there are a couple of parents who hang out on the "Parenting the Gifted Child" board with 2E kids, so you might think about cross-posting there.

Ditto to the idea of cross posting to the "Parenting the Gifted Child" board.

[Aufilia]

My DD is 2E -- SPD & gross motor delays.

[Linda on the move]

My DD is 2E, gifted with autism. We didn't find out she was gifted until she was 13 because she wasn't really able to comply successfully with testing until then. 

What sort of tests do you have to back up his giftedness? Is in working within an IEP or a 504? What sort of accommodations would you like to see him have?

[fallenangel811]

Don't know for sure that my son (5 years) would be considered 2E...He was recently diagnosed with Aspergers, and he is very smart in some areas - vocabulary 6-8 year level, math at a late first grade level. The Developmental Pediatrician that diagnosed his Aspergers also said something about gifted testing is usually done starting in second grade...She said that a few moments after she shared his diagnosis, so I wasn't really comprehending what she was saying anymore - it was kind of in one ear and out the other.

(ETA: My son hasn't been in school yet - his math is self taught)

[kbins]

We're fortunate in that the school has encouraged us to have DS#2 tested for gifted classes - the first I had heard the 'twice exceptional' label. He already has been getting special ed services for a year. He's high functioning autistic but hyperlexic (kindergartener reading at a 4th grade level) with a near photographic memory. We're trying to figure out how to best bring out his potential. Considering a couple of years ago we couldn't  have even thought he'd be mainstreamed in kinder, we're pleased but baffled on what the future will hold for this kid. :)

Our district does gifted testing once a year, and if the child doesn't qualify but the parent wants to appeal and the child has disabilities, there are some exceptions they can make for additional evaluation. I'm worried about how DS will sit for the testing.

[Treasuremapper]

Yes.  I think Tony Attwood says that parents sometimes get a charm bracelet of diagnoses, all pointing to Asperger syndrome, but no overall diagnosis of Asperger's. 

 We had a charm bracelet of diagnoses -- asynchronous development, auditory processing disorder, spd, etc., etc.  But, believe it or not, her life started changing for the better at school when she received a diagnosis of autism. Once she had that diagnosis, all sorts of formal protections started to apply, and even though I cried and experienced shock and denial, the skies opened up and angels sang Hallelujah.

Our daughter has very high IQ as well and hit the ceiling on some subtests on the WISC IV and the Woodcock Johnson.  Even with her high IQ from two private outside testers, the school only formally acknowledged that she was gifted after her performance on the COGAT.   It's hard to acknowledge that a child is gifted when they scream hysterically when someone bumps them in line or when the Puritan hat they wear in the school play is snatched off and stomped upon because it is itchy.  I think that the school Thanksgiving play was the hardest experience for me emotionally, as all the little brilliant neurotypical first graders beamed with joy in their little itchy costumes.

At this time, our dd is the only child at the school with both GT and special ed, but the school was very open and did what was needed. At the same time, I feel that our daughter is in school for social skills only, and she loves being the smartest in her GT class, so I made a conscious decision not to push for increased academics other than what is needed to keep her brain engaged.  I say "I" because even though my husband was very actively involved, he did not have time to spend hours obsessively reading about 2E and he deferred to me on that decision.

[Lollybrat]

My son may be 2E. He is definitely academically advanced, but at this point we are not sure if he is gifted. He has high functioning autism, hyperlexia, dyspraxia, albinism, and a chromosome microdeletion. DS is partially mainstreamed, spending his mornings in the regular first grade classroom and his afternoons in the autism classroom. He has pullouts for advanced reading, speech therapy, OT, and APE. In the autism classroom, he does academic work a couple of years ahead of his grade level.

We have not had DS's IQ tested yet. At this point we are not sure that we would be able to get an accurate test result. His verbal language difficulties (due to the autism) make it hard to do a language based test. But his mild visual impairment makes it hard to do a visually based test.

[khaoskat]

My DS2 might be on the gifted side, and is on the special needs side as well (Expressive Language Problems; Sensory Integration Issues).  We have no testing, except that after his last MFE (right at the end of preschool, just turned 5) his receptive language was on par with a child at the beggining of 3rd grade.  He also seems to pick up things at school really easy, even though it is a new environment for him - this is his first year in Montissori so not only does he have to learn Kindergarten stuff, but also the Montissori method of learning.  His teacher does nothing but praise him.  He picks up on the lessons often times from just observing another child who is doing it, rather than her having to explain it to him.

I sit down and listen to him recite the songs they learn (Days of the week; Months of the year; Continents; Counting by 10, etc) and marvel at how much more advanced he is than his brother.  I even noticed it as early as two years ago towards the end of his first year of preschool.

[heatherdeg]

I'm one of those that hangs on both boards.  Mine is/was PDD-NOS (they lifted it last year and flagged him to be re-eval'd at 8yo for Asperger's) but blew out the Woodcock Johnson tests.  We had the opposite problem: they tried to have him declassified on the premise that he was gifted vs. learning disabled (this was before the neuro. removed the PDD-NOS dx and really, they didn't administer the ADOS or do any comprehensive testing when they lifted it.  NOT thrilled with that, but currently not arguing the point as a dx doesn't do much for us right now).

That being said, we now homeschool so we're not dealing with any of it.