Or better to say, Twice Exceptional.
This is less an article than it is points I have uncovered that explain a great deal about why I have become the person I’ve become, and why I strongly feel that more effort should be taken to help those like myself in their early years, rather than let them become like me.
The term twice-exceptional was coined by James J. Gallagher to denote students who are both gifted and have disabilities (Coleman, Harradine, & King, 2005, p. 5). We have known about twice exceptional students for thirty years; however, identification and program strategies remain ambiguous (Krochak & Ryan, 2007). These students need remediation for their learning deficits and enhancement for their strengths to achieve (Krochak & Ryan, 2007). Twice exceptional students are considered at risk because they are hidden within the general population of their educational environment, and usually viewed as either under-achievers or average learners (Nielson, 2002 & Krochak & Ryan, 2007).
Such Children are often found to be gifted later or not at all. In my case it wasn’t untill I was in a remedial class in high school that a teacher noticed my abilities. I will assume it’s because she had seen the same thing more than once. Another clear sign to me, that the school system needs a lot of work.
Some of the signs of a gifted child with a Disability are:
# Exceptional Vocabulary
# Difficulty with written expression
# Ability to understand complex ideas
# Easily frustrated
# Wide area of interest
# Highly sensitive
# Creative
# Stubborn and opinionated
# Specific areas of strength
# Inconsistent academic performance
# Highly developed sense of humor
# Curious and inquisitive
I fall into every single one. I have read at a college level since 2nd grade, but I have a tendency to skip detail in order to get to the heart of a matter when writing.
I do understand complex ideas fairly well, and have no problem picking up complicated scientific theorem, however I lose interest in the details.
I get frustrated extremely easy.
I do have a wide area of interest, but tend to get bored and change the things I’m doing frequently.
I am extremely sensitive to light, loud noises, crowds of people, any kind of teasing, insults, and the like.
I am incredibly creative, able to develop complex ideas in a short period of time, however as with everything else, once I have the bigger picture taken care of I lose interest in the details.
Considering some of the stuff I’ve put on this blog, I don’t think anyone can doubt that I am stubborn, and highly opinionated.
My specific areas of strength, are creative pursuits, observational psychology and intuition, maybe others, but those I am aware of.
Very inconsistent academically. I can learn, and use just about anything, but the more detail oriented it becomes, the more bored and less likely I am to do it, as such I never had good grades, preferring to use my energy for my own pursuits.
A highly developed sense of humor can be interpreted many ways, but I will say I enjoy a variety of comedians, from the intellectual to the vulgar.
I have always been curious and inquisitive, although the things I went through in school damaged that.
One of the main challenges a Twice Gifted person may deal with is isolation. It is my main burdan. I do not have many ties to my fellow humans, and I tend to eventually fall away from the ones I do have. In truth I don’t undertand people, and once I start opening my mouth most don’t understand me.
Perfectionism is an issue for many gifted individuals. For the more successful one it manifests as having high standards, the drive to succeed, and high levels of responsibility. This is Healthy Perfectionism. I have a degree of all of these.
Unhealthy Perfectionism is unfortunately where most of mine lays. Although I have areas where I am at ease with what I do, for the most part I fear failure far too much. I hold myself to levels of success that are unlikely at best and impossible at worst. This creates a metal atmosphere wherein, I have a hard time performing. I become anxious, lose confidence, and procrastinate. I have been shy for as long as I can remember, but after all the things I went though in school, I am habitually a loner and have a very hard time in social interaction.
Another problem is that since I tend to hold others to the same standards as I do myself, most of the people I meet fall a good distance short. This creates disdain for people in general, however since I see others with far less talent than myself succeeding, it also produces disdain and self loathing for myself, as I am unable to do better than those I see as inferior, which also feeds my self doubt.
D. E. Hamachek identified six specific, overlapping types of behavior associated with perfectionism. They include:
* Depression
* A nagging “I should” feeling
* Shame and guilt feelings
* Face-saving behavior
* Shyness and procrastination
* Self-deprecation.
This feeds directly into the commonality of the gifted; including myself, being underachievers. In my case I am prone to severe depression, self-doubt and even self-sabotage. I have also wondered if I might be dyslexic to some degree, but was never diagnosed as such, because I was always able to “shore up my weaknesses”. If that is the case It would explain some of my difficulties in many of my academic pursuits.
All in all I’d say the school system really needs to get some methods in place to spot gifted kids early, and help them through those difficult early years. I know I would be a far more happy, and successful person if I had been placed into areas of learning that I naturally excelled at, rather than being forced to endure the same garbage over and over again, year to year.
Well that’s what I have on that topic, and feel free to leave comments and sign up to use the forum. I always look forward to a good conversation.
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