This episode is sponsored by Wondrium. Stick around to the end of the video to learn more about it.
Hello Brains! Do you ever feel like you shouldn't
I do. All the time!
But that's not really how it works.
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A lot of people with ADHD, autism or learning disabilities also qualify as gifted.
In terms of capabilities they fall on both ends of the bell curve.
They're exceptional, outside the norm, in terms of their strengths
They're twice exceptional.
According to our How to ADHD dictionary, "twice exceptional" (adjective) refers to gifted students who have a coexisting disability.
This is often abbreviated as 2e.
Imagine someone is incredibly smart and they're also blind.
They'll probably do best in classes designed for intellectually gifted students like them.
And they're gonna need visual aids or textbooks written in Braille.
In this case it should be fairly obvious that someone's strengths and impairments don't cancel each other out.
The fact that they're blind doesn't make them any less smart.
And the fact that they're smart doesn't make them any less blind.
They're both which means they need support for both.
But for those of us with cognitive disabilities it isn't always so obvious.
More often than not, 2e students with cognitive disabilities end up getting less support
than someone who is only gifted, or who only has a disability, if they get any support at all.
Why? Often their giftedness lets them perform well enough in certain areas
that their disability isn't recognized or isn't taken seriously,
or their disability gets in the way enough that their giftedness isn't recognized, or taken seriously.
Imagine a student who's creatively gifted but also has dyslexia.
Maybe they turn in an amazing project but get marked down because they misread the instructions.
Or a physically gifted football player who doesn't perform as well as they could
because they can't remember the plays.
If we're looking at performance alone,
both students might seem rather unexceptional which is one reason it can be hard to identify 2e students.
In both of these cases it's easy to see an average student instead of one who is gifted in some areas and has impairments in others.
Why is that a problem?
Strengths and impairments don't cancel each other out.
It's not that the student has ADHD which is
associated with difficulties regulating attention, hyperactivity and impulsivity
but they're gifted so it's a wash.
Instead that student has ADHD
which is associated with difficulties regulating attention, hyperactivity and impulsivity,
and
which
A gifted student with ADHD might look like they're doing fine.
But under the surface, they're likely going to struggle with both being bored
because the material isn't challenging enough,
in terms of planning, prioritizing, staying focused.
Because they're struggling with both, they're gonna need support for both:
a class that is challenging enough for them
But often, what they get is punished.
Discipline for things like not sitting still or being unprepared for class
because they should "know better".
Or called lazy or unmotivated for not reaching their potential.
That football player who forgot the play might get benched
for not taking this seriously, as if it's intentional.
Because they have the potential to perform well because they're gifted,
they're blamed when they don't, and in turn blame themselves.
A lot of people expect
like verbal ability to represent cognitive ability overall
when it's actually more like a mixing board.
Those with ADHD and autism tend to have more spiky profiles
being stronger in one thing and weaker in another.
I can relate to this.
By the third grade I was scoring post-high school on reading comprehension on standardized tests
which qualifies as exceptional.
I also have an exceptional amount of trouble organizing my thoughts, doing paperwork and keeping track of deadlines.
So, even though I was a gifted student, I never made it to a university.
I was too impaired to plan ahead and prioritize which schools to attend,
hit the deadlines for applying, and sign up and study for the SAT's without support.
But I didn't get that support because people assumed I didn't need it
because I was smart and I never asked for accomodations because
I
Or worse, that needing them would mean I wasn't actually smart.
My entire sense of self-worth depending on whether or not I was smart: also common in 2e students.
I struggle with everything else. Smart was all I got.
I went most of my life knowing I had potential and blaming myself for not reaching it
as if being smart should have made it so I don't have ADHD?
To be clear: being smart doesn't make it so they don't have ADHD.
And those who are twice exceptional have just as much a right to accomodations and support for their disabilitites as anyone else.
While being gifted might allow us to get by longer than we would have been able to otherwise,
people perform their best when they're in an environment that addresses all of their needs, not none of them.
One that supports their challenges
And it's not just true for 2e students.
The truth is, gifted or not, we all have strengths
So if we want our students, or anyone, to reach their potential,
we need to give them opportunities in line with their strengths,
and address and accommodate their disabilities, not punish them for having one.
Speaking of exceptional, Wondrium has been exceptionally supportive of our channel.
If you haven't heard of Wondrium: Wondrium is the rebrand of The Great Courses plus
and it's designed for curious Brains.
Whenever I wanna learn something in depth, I check there first.
Because they have a ton of courses and anything I wanna watch is included in my subscription.
How-tos, tutorials, documentaries...
Wondrium is where you can find the answer to pretty much everything you've ever wondered about.
And they're constantly adding new stuff.
This week I watched this lesson on assessing health and science news.
Digital media literacy has always been really interesting to me
and I'm always trying to do better, both in terms of how I share information
as well as how I evaluate the information shared with me.
The professor did a great job of explaining how the research process works step by step,
how to tell if the news article talking about a recent study or new treatment is accurate,
and reasons why it's good to be weary about anecdotes about people's personal experience with treatments,
and not just accept it as proof that a treatment works.
One of the things I love is that the courses come with guide books you can download.
This one had a whole section that included trustworthy sources of health information online.
I love nerding out over stuff like this.
If you'd like to check it out, Wondrium is offering a free trial right now.
And again, they're regular supporters of this show
so by supporting them, you're also supporting us.
If you'd like to try it out, go to wondrium.com/HowtoADHD
or click on the link in the description below to start your free trial today.
Thank you to my Brain Advocates and all my Patreon Brains for supporting content like this
so that more students who are twice exceptional can be recognized for both.
Like, subscribe, click All the Things, and I will see you next video.
Bye Brains!
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