I have an 8 year old who her 3rd grade teacher thinks may be twice exceptional. I had never even heard such a thing existed until a couple weeks ago, but now I’m interested in finding out if anyone has experience in this area.
I have always thought she was exceptional intelligence wise, which her teacher agrees with, but she also thinks my daughter may have a LD to go with it - ie: twice exceptional.
My daughter could point out all her letters by sight at 18 months old, before she could even talk. Could sight recognize all her letters caps & small, numbers to 100, every shape & color you could imagine, used words like melancholy & apparently in her regular speech… all at age 2. She would memorize pretty long books after only having me read them a couple times. She loved working puzzles, but after a couple times she would get bored, then turn the pieces upside down to the brown side and work them. She has always been exceptional, but always only done just OK in school.
In Kindergarten she would have trouble finishing assignments on time, even when it was things she had known how to do for years. I always just thought she was bored. She never did really learn to read until we just started letting her memorize every sight-word we could think of. She reads well now and has a tremendous vocabulary, but does creative writing at a very remedial level for a 3rd grader. She had tremendous trouble doing simple math fact sheets in 2nd grade and was behind everyone in her class. But, give her a very difficult and complex word problem and she was the only child who could do them. Yet on a coloring sheet with simple addition, she be the kid who hasn’t even started when everyone else is already done.
There are many examples of this discrepancy, but I don’t really know whats going on. I always thought she was just being lazy, but maybe its not that. Any advice would be great… I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed.
[Modified by: JennyC on September 08, 2008 06:06 PM]
Re: Anyone have a kid they call "twice exceptional"?
I think your talking about using “ROTE” memory. Alot of medical students need to use rote memory to get through school. Alot of medical students can’t write papers well and many probably have poor fine motor coordination and can’t be a surgeon. It’s good to know what skills your child has.
Around age 7 or 8, your child will need to use “Analytical” skills and inference and problem solving skills. This is different than rote memory since the verbatum testing will be different. More reasoning and looking deeper into a problem to come up with a solution.
This might be the area of where LD comes into play since reading and math need the use of analytical skills.
I like the book “keeping a head in school” by Dr. Mel Levine. It gives you all information about the brain, memory and language functions needed to keep up in school. I also like his other books “A mind at at time” and “The myth of Laziness”
We are all wired differently. The school is set up and expects every child to learn the same way at the same time all the time. Some kids are meant to be diversified and well rounded and some kids just need 1 specialty in life. There is a job and an opportunity for success for everyone out there.
Re: Anyone have a kid they call "twice exceptional"?
I know this was posted a couple months ago but I just had to respond that you describe my 8 year old son EXACTLY. Down to the remedial writing and lack of memorization of simple math facts but complex word problems - not an issue! He has a 140 IQ and until last year coasted through school - but would never finish his work. Since pre-school this has been an issue. His brightness really did mask his learning problems. We could never figure out if it was boredom or something else but late last year his assessment scores tanked - did a nose dive. We finally got a diagnosis of Central Auditory Processing Disorder. We’ve been through other assessments too for ADD, ADHD and other sensory processing issues but for him, the CAPD was the primary diagnosis - his other symptoms of ADD, etc. were merely the result of CAPD. We’re now at a point where we feel we can act on a diagnosis and he wears a filter in his ear (helps a little) and is currently going through listening therapy.
I would definitely make sure you do look into possible causes of lack of performance. Bright kids want to be successful too - and because they are bright they tend to be really sensitive and knowledgeable about how much they are “failing” at doing what they want to. This causes a lot of problems down the road with self-esteem and school. While she may just be bored, I wouldn’t ignore the symptoms. I’m glad we didn’t.
Be cautious with the school. Twice exceptional kids sometimes have great difficulties getting services. If they are performing well below their abilities but not out of the norm of the rest of the students - the schools will sometimes fight the need for support(even though you identify a LD by the gap between ability and performance). Look into your state’s laws too. Some states do have laws that protect twice exceptional kids.
Good luck!
Anyone have a kid they call "twice exceptional"?
You can find more information and support for 2E kids here http://community.greatschools.net/groups/16042
Re: Anyone have a kid they call "twice exceptional"?
My daughter is very bright with dyslexia. That made her average since she floated by with average grades in most things..but her 5th grade teacher took time to see what was really going on in her head. She was placed in AG math and reading discussion but was in LD classes for writing. That was the best teacher she ever had. She’s now in Honors classes in High School and making mostly A’s & B’s (a C here and there, but I can’t really complain. I barely made a B in Honors Chem myself).
So in short it can be even more frustrating with twice exceptional kids..especially if they have big things going on in their heads and can’t express them properly.
Good luck with everything!
Twice exceptional kids can have very high IQ’s but also have LDs that keep them from functioning totally at the high level. My dd has an IQ of 123 but couldn’t read above a 2nd/low 3rd grade level when she finished 6th grade. These kids tend to learn very differently.
There was a book out many years ago called The Twice Exceptional Child. I don’t remember who the author was but you can look it up on Amazon.
http://www.visualspatial.org/ - This is another site that may give you some help with your child’s learning style.
Give her the right tools and watch her shine. :)