Twice-Exceptional (2e)

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The term “twice exceptional” or “2e” refers to intellectually gifted children who have one or more learning disabilities such as dyslexia, ADHD, or autism spectrum disorder. Twice-exceptional children think and process information differently. Like many other gifted children, 2e kids may be more emotionally and intellectually sensitive than children of average intelligence. At the same time, due to uneven development (asynchrony) or their learning differences, twice exceptional kids struggle with what other kids may be able to do easily.

Twice-exceptional kids may display strengths in certain areas and weaknesses in others. Common characteristics of 2e students include:

• Outstanding critical thinking and problem-solving skills
• Above average sensitivity, causing them to react more intensely to sounds, tastes, smells, etc.
• Strong sense of curiosity
• Low self-esteem due to perfectionism
• Poor social skills
• Strong ability to concentrate deeply in areas of interest
• Learning difficulties with reading and writing due to cognitive processing deficits
• Behavioral problems due to underlying stress, boredom and lack of motivation

One reason twice-exceptional kids are in danger of slipping through the cracks is that their schools are set up to help kids meet grade-level academic skills, and they may be on grade level, despite their challenges.

“Let’s take bright kids who have a reading disability,” says Adam Zamora PsyD, a neuropsychologist. “When they’re reading, there are words that they don’t know how to decode but they use inferential reasoning and their overall cognitive capacity to kind of figure out what the missing word might be. These kids might go under the radar.”

They may eventually be diagnosed with a learning disability if they hit a wall when they reach later grades and expectations rise, or they may never receive the diagnosis and support they need.

In the case of some 2e children, their learning disability may overshadow their giftedness.