Gifted LD and Parents as Advocates
The #1 protective factor in the lives of children who are twice-exceptional is ongoing parental understanding and support. Lest you think you have to leap tall buildings in a single bound, read on.
What can twice-exceptional parents do?
- Be involved in your child's school program.
- Identify attributes of giftedness.
- Identify behavior disruptions, learning struggles, or poor academic success in the face of high ability.
- Be aware of a mismatch between your child and his or her school placement.
- Provide emotional support and professional counselling as needed.
- Provide opportunities for involvement in extracurricular activities that will help develop self-esteem.
- Learn about the options available to address your child's giftedness as well as his or her learning disability.
Children who are twice-exceptional will have ongoing needs, demands and pressures as they move through important life transitions. It's easy for exceptional parents to get bogged down in working out the details of an IEP at each age and stage. But parents and teachers also need to be mindful of the exceptional skills the child brings to the table, and work twice as hard at developing those.
A list of studies on which this Research Reflections is based may be obtained by emailing requests to: epedit@aol.com.