It was Yehudah’s third birthday party. Instead of calmly interacting with his guests, he either ignored them or bossed them around with his limited vocabulary of ten words. He ran around nonstop and elbowed every person in his path. Then, his mother, Shoshana, decided he needed some time to himself so she asked him to play quietly in the den for a few minutes. Yehudah became immersed in his legos and would not emerge from the den for an hour, building a complex helicopter and helipad.
A year later, just as Shoshana was ready to concede that Yehudah would never speak more than ten words, his vocabulary multiplied exponentially. Not only that, but he learned to read at the same time. While breathing a sigh of relief, Shoshana knew that Yehudah’s problems with school were not over. Sure enough, throughout kindergarten and first grade, his teachers would call her:
“Yehudah does not try hard enough! He simply is not living up to his potential.”
“I cannot get Yehudah to sit still. He is so disruptive.”
“It’s nice that Yehudah is so curious, but he has got to stop asking so many irrelevant questions.”
“I think Yehudah needs to be tested for a learning disability.”
After first grade, Yehudah was diagnosed with ADHD and placed into a special education classroom. However, even with this remediation, Yehudah was still disruptive and he would come home from school complaining that it was too easy and he was bored. It was in second grade that Yehudah came to see me.
After a few sessions, we were able to determine that Yehudah was indeed bored in a special education classroom because along with his ADHD, he was also gifted intellectually. Now, as a fifth grader, even though his reading skills are slightly delayed, he is doing ninth grade math. In addition, with the recognition of his learning disability (LD) and his ADHD, Yehudah was reintegrated into a mainstream classroom. With ADHD and LD, Yehudah is a typical “twice exceptional” child.
Twice Exceptional
The term “twice exceptional” is still new in educational jargon – but it is something that is becoming more prevalent in my practice today. These children have a combination of exceptional intellectual power and uncommonly formidable mental roadblocks. That is, twice exceptional children are gifted intellectually and also can have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Aspergers Syndrome, Nonverbal Learning Disorder (NVLD), or dyslexia.
Many times, these children can become problem students – even though they are head and shoulders above the crowd intellectually. A perfect example is Albert Einstein. Even though Einstein was brilliant when it came to visual and spatial reasoning, as a child he had behavioral problem, was a terrible speller, and had trouble verbally expressing himself. In many subjects, his report card grades were close to failing. Obviously, there was something else going on for the young Albert Einstein – though brilliant, his needs were not always met by the school system.
Specialized Learning
Research has established that children like Yehudah are the most underserved populations in the school system. Most of the time, children who are twice exceptional go through school without recognition of their considerable talents. Instead, they enter adult life without the necessary skills to compensate for their learning disabilities. Therefore, many of these children develop low self-esteem and believe that they are simply stupid and “not good at school.” The shocking news is that The US Department of Education estimates that 2%-5% of all students are both gifted intellectually and suffer from some form of learning disability.
How do we avoid losing out on the Einsteins of our generation? Children who are twice exceptional are often hard to categorize – sometimes their learning disability masks their brilliance, while at others, their brilliance masks their learning disability. How is it possible to identify these children? And, once they are identified, what can parents and schools do in order to make sure that their needs are met?
What teachers can do:
· Look for discrepancies: As gifted children who have learning disabilities are very hard to identify, look for discrepancies between a child’s “potential” and his actual work. If you feel that the child is simply being lazy because he could have done so much better based on his intellect, consider talking to his parents about getting him evaluated. Identification of twice exceptional students is the first step towards success.
· Differentiate instruction: In a class of twenty-five or more students, it is impossible to meet every student’s needs. However, through modification of teaching style or assignments, children with learning disabilities can better comprehend and complete their assigned work.
· Raise awareness: Talk to parents and colleagues about the existence of twice exceptional students. If parents and teachers look out for discrepancies in performance, they will be more likely to identify these students. In the long run, we will be educating a generation of students who will be better equipped as adults.