{"id":1392,"date":"2018-11-26T12:23:00","date_gmt":"2018-11-26T12:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metrokids.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/26\/how-to-help-twice-exceptional-learners-succeed\/"},"modified":"2018-11-26T12:23:00","modified_gmt":"2018-11-26T12:23:00","slug":"how-to-help-twice-exceptional-learners-succeed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metrokids.com\/how-to-help-twice-exceptional-learners-succeed\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Help Twice Exceptional Learners Succeed"},"content":{"rendered":"
When a bright college freshman from an extremely academic family flunked out of college by the midterm of her freshman year, she felt ashamed. She always felt like the smartest person in the class, but somehow couldn’t turn her homework in on time. An evaluation determined that she had a 140 IQ, but also had attention-deficit\/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Once her ADHD was treated and she was able to concentrate on her homework, she went back to college and graduated with an A average.<\/p>\n
She is one of an estimated 350,000 children in the US between 5 and 18 years old who are considered twice-exceptional — both gifted and with a special need or disability, says Peter Wiley, a psychologist in Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia<\/a>’s Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences as well as in its Center for Management of ADHD.<\/p>\n These students typically have an IQ of about 130 — the top 2 percent — but may have retention problems with reading or math due to ADHD, for example. Dyslexia can inhibit their reading; autism can affect them socially.<\/p>\n “We don’t ever want to say that a child who is gifted, but who is not doing well, is lazy if the real explanation is she has a learning disability or ADHD,” says Wiley. “That just knocks the child’s self-esteem even lower.<\/p>\n “Conversely, if they have ADHD or a learning disability, it should not preclude them from being in the gifted program.”<\/p>\nHow gifted students are identified<\/strong><\/h3>\n