Gifted & Twice-Exceptional
Can a 10-Year-Old Have an Existential Crisis?
My son Will can’t control the fate of the entire animal kingdom, and he knows it. But he can control what is on his plate, and this is why he became a vegetarian when he was 10 years old. It hadn’t come out of nowhere. Since he was five or six, he’d regularly talked about…
Read MoreBehind the Behavior: Executive Functioning in Teens
Your teen can explain a complicated concept, master the strategy behind a new game, and remember an astonishing amount of information about their favorite subject. Then they forget to submit the assignment they already completed, lose their water bottle for the third time this week, and appear genuinely surprised that the science project is due…
Read MoreHelping Your Gifted Teen Speak Up for What They Need
If you’re parenting a gifted teen, you may be very familiar with the strength of their voice. They can explain exactly why a rule doesn’t make sense, find the one loophole you missed, or offer a surprisingly convincing argument for why bedtime should be later. And yet, that same teen may freeze when they need…
Read MoreWhat “Giftedness” Is (And What It Isn’t)
As a psychotherapist who specializes in working with gifted individuals, I see how much confusion surrounds the term “giftedness.” That confusion isn’t limited to parents of gifted children. Many gifted adults are also trying to understand what giftedness means and how it affects their lives. Being gifted in a particular area can certainly make some…
Read MoreTwice-Exceptional Students: When Strengths Hide Struggles
When I was in graduate school, I completed a fellowship at a nonprofit where I evaluated children and adults who suspected they had a reading disorder. Again and again, bright and capable people would sit across from me and say, “I must be stupid because I can’t read well.” Dyslexia isn’t related to low intelligence.…
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