08/15/2012

Dan Peters, Ph.D.

Does your bright child have special abilities – but also some special issues? Did you know that it is common for gifted children to be “too old and too young” at the same time?

Does your bright child have special abilities – but also some special issues? Did you know that it is common for gifted children to be “too old and too young” at the same time? For example, you might have an 8-year-old who has the reasoning ability of a 15-year-old, the mathematics skills of a 12-year old, the social skills of an 8-year-old, and the emotional regulation of a 4-year-old – all at once.

In addition, many gifted children struggle with anxiety, attention problems, dyslexia, Asperger’s disorder, and more. These kids are called “twice-exceptional” or “2e” because they have abilities at both ends of spectrum. They are both more advance than, and behind, their same-aged peers. Unfortunately, 2e kids usually are not identified as gifted, and do not receive support for their gifted abilities – or their deficit areas – because their strengths and weaknesses cancel each other out. Understanding whether your child is 2e is critical for his or her life-long development – for both maximizing strengths and addressing weaknesses.

Your child might be 2e if he or she:

1. Is not achieving in school the way you believe she or he should

2. Seems “bright but lazy”

3. Gets easily frustrated and melts down often

4. Has attention and organizational problems that undermine her or his achievement

5. Struggles with social skills and making and maintaining friendships

6. Fails to hear correctly, see correctly or is overwhelmed by sensory stimulation (i.e., noises, sounds, smells, bright light, textures)

7. Has difficulty with sound/symbol relationships, reversals, spelling, and writing, but manages to power through reading using contextual clues and unusual effort

8. Shows high verbal ability but extreme difficulty in calculation skills and rote memory

9. Isn’t able to show what he or she knows on tests

10. Worries all the time and refuses to try new things

Dan Peters, Ph.D., is co-founder of the Summit Center (http://summitcenter.us/), which provides psychological and educational assessments and counseling for children and adolescents, specializing in the gifted, creative, and twice-exceptional.