Twice Exceptional Boys

What happens in schools to children who are 2e? Too often schools place focus on the disability and ignore the giftedness. Because true abilities are not addressed, and such children are placed with other educationally disabled children, the gifted child loses the joy of learning. The light goes out of his eyes. While gifted girls are more likely to "dumb down" to fit in or withdraw into depression, particularly if they are 2e, (and some boys may do the same), more often the 2e boys develop behavior problems where they act out, dramatically underachieve, and engage in risky behaviors because they are frustrated and angry that their learning is stymied. Some of these very bright young men may even end up in the juvenile justice system, definitely the wrong environment for them.As schools in the United States have swung toward an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, the educational literature has taken a swing toward gender fairness as it relates to these fields. Recent discussions include the fact that girls and women are underrepresented in STEM advanced coursework, college degree programs and careers. Because the discussions often focus on the reasons girls are excluded-or why they sometimes exclude themselves from these endeavors-boys are rarely mentioned. The focus on girls has taken attention away from the fact that boys are experiencing equally troubling issues in school, sometimes more so than girls.According to the 2019 Digest of Education Statistics by the National Center for Education, boys:? Were more likely to receive an out-of-school suspension.? Were expelled 2 1⁄2 times more than girls.? Were more likely to use illicit drugs.? Were twice as likely to be in a fight at school.These inequalities also cross racial boundaries, and appear to be more dramatic for minority boys.? Black boys were threatened or injured with a weapon at school more often than White boys.? Twice as many Black boys were expelled from school as compared to White boys.Boys from minority and low-income backgrounds are underrepresented in gifted education and over-represented in special education.

Just because a child is gifted doesn't mean they don't have other types of neurodivergence, like ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and more. Conversely, even children with one of these diagnoses can be cognitively gifted. Raising Twice-Exceptional Children provides you with a road map to understand the complex make-up of your "gifted-plus," or twice-exceptional, child or teen. The book helps you understand your child's diagnosis, meet their social-emotional needs, build self-regulation skills and goal setting, and teach self-advocacy. It also shows you effective ways to collaborate with teachers and school staff, and it offers advice on finding strengths-based strategies that support development at home. For too long, these kids have fallen through the cracks. This book provides key information on how to best support neurodivergent children by leveraging their strengths while supporting their struggles.

The future of our society depends on our gifted children—the population in which we’ll find our next Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, or Virginia Woolf. Yet the gifts and talents of some of our most brilliant kids may never be recognized because these children fall into a group known as twice exceptional, or “2e.” Twice exceptional kids are both gifted and diagnosed with a disability—often ADHD or an Autism Spectrum Disorder—leading teachers and parents to overlook the child’s talents and focus solely on his weaknesses. Too often, these children get lost in an endless cycle of chasing diagnostic labels and are never given the tools to fully realize their own potential. Bright Not Broken sheds new light on this vibrant population by identifying who twice exceptional children are and taking an unflinching look at why they’re stuck. The first work to boldly examine the widespread misdiagnosis and controversies that arise from our current diagnostic system, it serves as a wake-up call for parents and professionals to question why our mental health and education systems are failing our brightest children. Most importantly, the authors show what we can do to help 2e children, providing a whole child model for parents and educators to strengthen and develop a child’s innate gifts while also intervening to support the deficits. Drawing on painstaking research and personal experience, Bright Not Broken offers groundbreaking insight and practical strategies to those seeking to help 2e kids achieve their full potential. Diane M. Kennedy, author of The ADHD-Autism Connection, is a long time advocate, international speaker/trainer, and mother of three twice-exceptional sons. Rebecca S. Banks, M.A., co-author of The ADHD-Autism Connection, is a veteran educator, national speaker/trainer, and mother of two twice-exceptional children. Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is a professor, prolific author, and one of the most accomplished and renowned adults with autism in the world.

Twice-Exceptional Gifted Children, Second Edition provides informed recommendations for improving screening, identification, and services for gifted students with disabilities. This essential resource equips educators with an overview of who these students are, how teachers can tap into their strengths and support their weaknesses, and educational strategies to help them succeed in school and beyond. Thoroughly revised and updated to reflect the latest research and advances in the field, the Second Edition includes new content outlining the positive and negative impacts of Response to Intervention (RtI) on twice-exceptional learners and recommends comprehensive assessments to identify their strengths and challenges, determine significant discrepancies in abilities, and evaluate any impacts on their learning and academic performance. This new edition also includes revised recommendations for screening and identifying twice-exceptional students, critical insights for understanding and supporting mental health issues, and updated analysis from the DSM-5 for Autism Spectrum Disorder, Specific Learning Disorder, and ADHD. Ideal for teachers, coaches, and administrators looking to better understand their most talented learners, the fresh strategies, updated definitions, and comprehensive assessments included in this book will ensure that twice-exceptional gifted students don’t just survive in the classroom, but thrive.

When Smart Kids Underachieve in School: Practical Solutions for Teachers takes a look at the 10 most common reasons why some smart, advanced, and gifted students do not reach their achievement potential. Reasons for underachievement range from social-emotional needs, lack of proper programming, not being challenged, and potential learning disabilities. Each chapter discusses a different cause and three practical strategies that can be used to overcome it. Useful for teachers, counselors, gifted coordinators, and administrators, this book is an easy-to-read, must-have resource for any educator looking to identify, understand, and reverse underachievement. Grades K-12

When parents need the most authoritative information on raising gifted kids, they can turn to Parenting Gifted Children: The Authoritative Guide From the National Association for Gifted Children, a gifted education Legacy Award winner. This comprehensive guide covers topics such as working with high achievers and young gifted children, acceleration, advocating for talented students, serving as role models and mentors for gifted kids, homeschooling, underachievement, twice-exceptional students, and postsecondary opportunities. The only book of its kind, this guidebook will allow parents to find the support and resources they need to help their children find success in school and beyond. Written by experts in the field of gifted education and sponsored by the leading organization supporting the education of gifted and advanced learners, this book is sure to provide guidance, advice, and support for any parent of gifted children. Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented 2011 Legacy Book Award Winner - Parenting

A groundbreaking approach to understanding and parenting children who frequently exhibit severe fits of temper and other intractable behaviors, from a distinguished clinician and pioneer in this field. What's an explosive child? A child who responds to routine problems with extreme frustration--crying, screaming, swearing, kicking, hitting, biting, spitting, destroying property, and worse. A child whose frequent, severe outbursts leave his or her parents feeling frustrated, scared, worried, and desperate for help. Most of these parents have tried everything-reasoning, explaining, punishing, sticker charts, therapy, medication--but to no avail. They can't figure out why their child acts the way he or she does; they wonder why the strategies that work for other kids don't work for theirs; and they don't know what to do instead. Dr. Ross Greene, a distinguished clinician and pioneer in the treatment of kids with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges, has worked with thousands of explosive children, and he has good news: these kids aren't attention-seeking, manipulative, or unmotivated, and their parents aren't passive, permissive pushovers. Rather, explosive kids are lacking some crucial skills in the domains of flexibility/adaptability, frustration tolerance, and problem solving, and they require a different approach to parenting. Throughout this compassionate, insightful, and practical book, Dr. Greene provides a new conceptual framework for understanding their difficulties, based on research in the neurosciences. He explains why traditional parenting and treatment often don't work with these children, and he describes what to do instead. Instead of relying on rewarding and punishing, Dr. Greene's Collaborative Problem Solving model promotes working with explosive children to solve the problems that precipitate explosive episodes, and teaching these kids the skills they lack.