Variations²ᵉ Magazine — Fall 2020 issue by Bridges Education Group

No. 5 Fall 2020

At the Heart of 2e Profiles of 22 People to Watch | The Ed Therapy Perspective Rocking a 2e Mind | Critical Recommendations for Parents and Educators

2e News

CONTRIBUTORS Join the Conversation Do you work with 2e students and have insights about research, theory, and best practices? Are you a parent of a 2e child with an informative or inspiring story to tell? Are you a 2e student who wants to tell your story?

Publications about 2e in a World of Cognitive Diversity 2eNews.com and Variations2e magazine provide readers with high-level information and perspectives about twice-exceptional (2e) education and cognitive diversity. We cover a broad range of topics that are essential for all educators,

We welcome contributions from writers with experience and insights about twiceexceptional and neurodiverse populations.

We look forward to sharing your stories with the international 2e community. For editorial inquiries, send an email to info@2enews.com.

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BRIDGES 2e MEDIA

Twice-exceptional kids and adults display gifts, talents, and potential in some areas yet are challenged in other areas. Learning differences can include attentional challenges, autism spectrum disorder, sensory integration issues, and more. Youngsters require both support and enrichment, as well as special counseling to help them grapple with the myriad obstacles that can stand in the way of their success. Children and adults alike benefit from understanding the duality of their needs, the importance of self-advocacy, and the possibilities for accommodations.

CONTENTS 02 Letter from the Publisher 03 Letter from the Editor 04 People to Watch Matthew Cohen Kristina Collins Cameron Curry Austina de Bonte Simone de Hoogh Mona Delahooke Alissa Doobay Matthew Fugate Irene Gottlieb Claire Hughes Sue Jackson Stephanie McCombs Ana Miró Heidi Molbak Seth Perler Sara Renzulli Jade Rivera Michelle Ronksley-Pavia Marc Smolowitz Anne van Roden Sarah Wayland Aida Younis 50 Bagatelles Insight, innovation, and invention 54 Recognizing and Meeting the Needs of 2e Students Critical recommendations for parents and educators 56 The Ed Therapy Perspective An early focus on strengths benefits 2e students and their families 60 Smart Books for Smart Kids Sometimes When I’m Sad Book by Deborah Serani 62 Rocking a 2e Mind Aaron Hagar

PUBLISHER Carl Sabatino

MANAGING EDITOR Chris Wiebe

HEAD OF CONTENT OPERATIONS Jon Baum ART DIRECTOR Heather Lembcke

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Brian Chu Stephanie Coxon Maria Kennedy Stuart Matranga Kim Vargas

COVER Imagine That [design studio] SUBSCRIPTIONS memberships@2enews.com www.2enews.com (818) 506-1091

2e NEWS ADVISORY BOARD Susan Assouline Susan Baum Paul Beljan Kim Busi Kathi Kearney Deirdre Lovecky Marlo Payne Thurman Dan Peters Julia Roberts Ellen Rosen Linda Silverman Meredith Warshaw Variations2e — Not all great minds think alike is owned and published by Bridges 2e Media.

Letter from the Publisher

Movements have many contours and can be defined in many ways. They may come and go in the blink of an eye or endure over centuries as we move toward a more enlightened and just society. What is clear is that movements need commitment. They need interdisciplinary, intellectual acumen as well as many people willing to get out, put boots on the ground, and turn visions into realities.

The kindergarten movement, for example, began in the early to mid 19th century and took more than 100 years to develop, with refinements continuing today. A century before that, a Welsh industrialist and social reformer named Robert Owen was an early supporter of child care and childhood education. He felt strongly that the economic and social conditions under which people lived could dramatically shape their character and ability to learn. His reforms of poor houses for children significantly changed those environments for the better. It was argued at the time that children brought up in his system were generally felt to be “graceful, genial, and unconstrained; health, plenty, and relative contentment prevailed.” Johann Pestalozzi was a Swiss educational reformer who believed that the education of the poor needed to start early and should be designed to strengthen the student’s own abilities. For Pestalozzi, all education began with the child’s abilities, which educators use as the foundation for all future learning. Friedrich Frobel, who coined the term kindergarten, also advanced the benefits of environment, play, and handson activity. Maria Montessori believed in the natural curiosity and creativity of children, and the right of each child to be treated as an individual. Her emphasis on practical and sensory activities, such as repetitive exercises to develop muscular coordination, was critical to the education of the youngest students. Montessori valued formal educational processes for reading, mathematics, and writing, but emphasized that the learning process in young students was born out of the natural curiosity and capacity for the child’s mind to observe, analyze, and discover. There were of course many others, such as Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget, who contributed to the theory and practice of teaching young students. What is most 2

fascinating of all is the interdisciplinary breadth of these particular educators. Owen was an industrialist who saw the impact on individuals of organizational structures and environments in and out of the workplace. Pestalozzi was an educational reformer, but also a student of philosophy. Much of his inspiration came from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the enlightenment philosophers. Montessori was a doctor of medicine.

As you look deeper into the intellectual interests of those who contributed to the understanding and field of education, you find philosophers, anthropologists, psychologists, industrialists, doctors, architects, and more. The work of education as a whole requires interdisciplinary insights and transdisciplinary frameworks in order to reach the depth of understanding needed to effectively work with the most complex of all things: the minds and hearts of children.

With history as a vantage point, we know that there are many people, from many disciplines, involved in the great work that inspires a movement and brings about change. Some participants are loud, some speak softly. Some become famous, others we will never hear of. And as long as there are children in the world with educational needs to be met, there will be people like those on the subsequent pages of this magazine who will rise to the occasion and contribute to the betterment of individuals and future generations.

Carl Sabatino Publisher

Letter from the Editor

Producing this special edition of Variations2e magazine with 22 dynamic 2e leaders was as challenging as it was fulfilling. In January, we put out a call for recommendations through the 2e News Monthly Digest, which reaches an audience of more than 8,000 people among the gifted, special, and twice-exceptional education community. We also reached out directly to major gifted organizations and other nonprofits across the country to generate as broad a pool of candidates as possible.

We received about 100 nominations and then met as an editorial staff to discuss how to narrow the list of candidates who would advance to the next stage of the selection process. Since the spirit of the issue was to learn more about the work of people we were not familiar with, we first identified the “People to Watch” whose work we already had been watching — and admiring — for years, in some cases decades. We reached out to them to let them know that they had been nominated, and that we would feature a short update on their work as a special feature on 2eNews.com. Nominees who moved on to the next phase received a questionnaire that asked them to go into depth about their philosophies, experiences, and contributions to twiceexceptional education. Prompts included, “Why have you chosen to work in the field of twice-exceptionality?”, “In what ways does your daily work positively impact 2e and cognitively diverse learners and their families?”, and “Tell us about your future vision/ambitions for your current organization, program, school, research, and/or practice.”

The nominees’ responses and curriculum vitae were passed along to a seven-person committee made up of members of our 2e News advisory board as well as inductees into the Bridges 2e Center’s Hall of Fame, who have been recognized as pioneers in 2e education. Committee members were asked to rank each of the candidates in each of these categories: • Personal commitment to gifted/2e students and families • Academic background in gifted/2e education • Professional experience in gifted/2e education • Leadership in home program/organization • Presence in 2e networks (conference presentations, publications, speeches) • Substantive, creative, and entrepreneurial work • Broad and expansive impact in 2e community • Future promise

The judges’ rankings produced the list of professionals whose profiles appear on the pages that follow.

It goes without saying that this list is not definitive, and we did not reach all deserving nominees, in spite of our best efforts. In our quest to recognize the extraordinary work of as many professionals as possible, we will follow up this issue of Variations2e magazine with a regular “People to Watch” feature on 2eNews.com. As you and your colleagues continue to work to better the lives of neurodiverse individuals and their families — these days, in especially arduous conditions — please share your achievements and milestones so we can celebrate them with the broader 2e community. Many thanks to the numerous individuals who helped make this issue possible, from those whose recommendations composed the first group of nominees to the committee members who lent their experience and expertise to the task of reviewing the qualifications and materials of our finalists.

Chris Wiebe, Ed.D. Managing Editor In other news ... Bridges Academy, our partner in the Bridges Education Group which has served 2e students for 25 years, is taking its program online beginning in the 2021-22 school year. Over the years we have received numerous inquiries from families outside of our local area, and we are thrilled to be able to bring our program to families across the country. We will begin accepting applications to this college-prep, high school diploma-granting program in January 2021.

hen • •Kristina Cohen KristinaCollins Collins• •Cameron CameronCurry Curry• •Austina AustinadedeBonte Bonte• •Simone SimonededeHoogh Hoogh• •Mona MonaDelahooke Delahooke• •A ne eneGottlieb Gottlieb• •Claire ClaireHughes Hughes• •Sue SueJackson Jackson• •Stephanie StephanieMcCombs McCombs• •Ana AnaMiró Miró• •Heidi HeidiMolbak Molbak• •Seth SethPerl Pe helle Ronksley-Pavia ichelle Ronksley-Pavia• •Marc MarcSmolowitz Smolowitz• •Anne Annevan vanRoden Roden• •Sarah SarahWayland Wayland• •Aida AidaYounis Younis• •Matthew MatthewC urry • •Austina Curry AustinadedeBonte Bonte• •Simone SimonededeHoogh Hoogh• •Mona MonaDelahooke Delahooke• •Alissa AlissaDoobay Doobay• •Matthew MatthewFugate Fugate• •Iren Ir non• •Stephanie StephanieMcCombs McCombs• •Ana AnaMiró Miró• •Heidi HeidiMolbak Molbak• •Seth SethPerler Perler• •Sara SaraRenzulli Renzulli• •Jade JadeRivera Rivera• •Michel Miche •Anne Annevan vanRoden Roden• •Sarah SarahWayland Wayland• •Aida AidaYounis Younis• •Matthew MatthewCohen 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•Kristina KristinaCollins Collins• •Cameron CameronCurry Curr Hoogh Hoogh• •Mona MonaDelahooke Delahooke• •Alissa AlissaDoobay Doobay• •Matthew MatthewFugate Fugate• •Irene IreneGottlieb Gottlieb• •Claire ClaireHughes Hughes• •Sue SueJack Jac ó• •Heidi HeidiMolbak Molbak• •Seth SethPerler Perler• •Sara SaraRenzulli Renzulli• •Jade JadeRivera Rivera• •Michelle MichelleRonksley-Pavia Ronksley-Pavia• •Marc MarcSmolowitz Smolowitz Aida AidaYounis Younis• •Matthew MatthewCohen Cohen• •Kristina KristinaCollins Collins• •Cameron CameronCurry Curry• •Austina AustinadedeBontIrene BontIreneGottlieb Gottlieb• •Iren Ir ooke • •Alissa ahooke AlissaDoobay Doobay• •Matthew MatthewFugate Fugate• •Claire ClaireHughes Hughes• •Sue SueJackson Jackson• •Stephanie StephanieMcCombs McCombs• •Ana AnaMi M raRenzulli Renzulli• •Jade JadeRivera Rivera• •Michelle MichelleRonksley-Pavia Ronksley-Pavia• •Marc MarcSmolowitz Smolowitz• •Anne Annevan vanRoden Roden• •Sarah SarahWayland Wayla Austina de Bonte • Simone de Hoogh • Mona Delahooke • Alissa stina Collins • Cameron Curry • ristina Collins • Cameron Curry • Austina de Bonte • Simone de Hoogh • Mona Delahooke • AlissaDoo Do eb ieb• •Claire ClaireHughes Hughes• •Sue SueJackson Jackson• •Stephanie StephanieMcCombs McCombs• •Ana AnaMiró Miró• •Heidi HeidiMolbak Molbak• •Seth SethPerler Perler• •Sara Sar nksley-Pavia onksley-Pavia• •Marc MarcSmolowitz Smolowitz• •Anne Annevan vanRoden Roden• •Sarah SarahWayland Wayland• •Aida AidaYounis Younis• •Matthew MatthewCohen Cohen• •K tina dedeBonte ustina Bonte• •Simone SimonededeHoogh Hoogh• •Mona MonaDelahooke Delahooke• •Alissa AlissaDoobay Doobay• •Matthew MatthewFugate Fugate• •Irene IreneGottlieb Gottli ephanie tephanieMcCombs McCombs• •Ana AnaMiró Miró• •Heidi HeidiMolbak Molbak• •Seth SethPerler Perler• •Sara SaraRenzulli Renzulli• •Jade JadeRivera Rivera• •Michelle MichelleRon Ro Matthew Cohen • Kristina Collins • Cameron Curry Anne van Roden • Sarah Wayland • Aida Younis • • Anne van Roden • Sarah Wayland • Aida Younis • Matthew Cohen • Kristina Collins • Cameron Curr Hoogh Hoogh• •Mona MonaDelahooke Delahooke• •Alissa AlissaDoobay Doobay• •Matthew MatthewFugate Fugate• •Irene IreneGottlieb Gottlieb• •Claire ClaireHughes Hughes• •Sue SueJack Jac ó• •Heidi HeidiMolbak Molbak• •Seth SethPerler Perler• •Sara SaraRenzulli Renzulli• •Jade JadeRivera Rivera• •Michelle MichelleRonksley-Pavia Ronksley-Pavia• •Marc MarcSmolowitz Smolowitz Aida Younis • Matthew Cohen • Kristina Collins • Cameron Curry • Austina de Bonte • Simone Aida Younis • Matthew Cohen • Kristina Collins • Cameron Curry • Austina de Bonte • SimonededeHoog Hoo ay bay• •Matthew MatthewFugate Fugate• •Irene IreneGottlieb Gottlieb• •Claire ClaireHughes Hughes• •Sue SueJackson Jackson• •Stephanie StephanieMcCombs McCombs• •Ana AnaMiró Miró• raRenzulli Renzulli• •Jade JadeRivera Rivera• •Michelle MichelleRonksley-Pavia Ronksley-Pavia• •Marc MarcSmolowitz Smolowitz• •Anne Annevan vanRoden Roden• •Sarah SarahWayland Wayla stina Collins ristina Collins• •Cameron CameronCurry Curry• •Austina AustinadedeBonte Bonte• •Simone SimonededeHoogh Hoogh• •Mona MonaDelahooke Delahooke• •Alissa AlissaDoo Do eb ieb• •Claire ClaireHughes Hughes• •Sue SueJackson Jackson• •Stephanie StephanieMcCombs McCombs• •Ana AnaMiró Miró• •Heidi HeidiMolbak Molbak• •Seth SethPerler Perler• •Sara Sar nksley-Pavia • Marc Smolowitz • Anne van Roden • Sarah Wayland • Aida Younis • Matthew Cohen onksley-Pavia • Marc Smolowitz • Anne van Roden • Sarah Wayland • Aida Younis • Matthew Cohen• •K tina dedeBonte ustina Bonte• •Simone SimonededeHoogh Hoogh• •Mona MonaDelahooke Delahooke• •Alissa AlissaDoobay Doobay• •Matthew MatthewFugate Fugate• •Irene IreneGottlieb Gottli ephanie tephanieMcCombs McCombs• •Ana AnaMiró Miró• •Heidi HeidiMolbak Molbak• •Seth SethPerler Perler• •Sara SaraRenzulli Renzulli• •Jade JadeRivera Rivera• •Michelle MichelleRon Ro Anne van Roden • Sarah Wayland • Aida Younis • Matthew Cohen • Kristina Collins • Cameron Curry • Anne van Roden • Sarah Wayland • Aida Younis • Matthew Cohen • Kristina Collins • Cameron Curr Hoogh Hoogh• •Mona MonaDelahooke Delahooke• •Alissa AlissaDoobay Doobay• •Matthew MatthewFugate Fugate• •Irene IreneGottlieb Gottlieb• •Claire ClaireHughes Hughes• •Sue SueJack Jac ó• •Heidi HeidiMolbak Molbak• •Seth SethPerler Perler• •Sara SaraRenzulli Renzulli• •Jade JadeRivera Rivera• •Michelle MichelleRonksley-Pavia Ronksley-Pavia• •Marc MarcSmolowitz Smolowitz Aida AidaYounis Younis• •Matthew MatthewCohen Cohen• •Kristina KristinaCollins Collins• •Cameron CameronCurry Curry• •Austina AustinadedeBonte Bonte• •Simone SimonededeHoog Hoo ay bay• •Matthew MatthewFugate Fugate• •Irene IreneGottlieb Gottlieb• •Claire ClaireHughes Hughes• •Sue SueJackson Jackson• •Stephanie StephanieMcCombs McCombs• •Ana AnaMiró Miró• raRenzulli Renzulli• •Jade JadeRivera Rivera• •Michelle MichelleRonksley-Pavia Ronksley-Pavia• •Marc MarcSmolowitz Smolowitz• •Anne Annevan vanRoden Roden• •Sarah 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Alissa Doobay • Matthew erler • Sara Renzulli • Jade Cohen • Kristina Collins • rene Gottlieb • Claire Hughes elle Ronksley-Pavia • Marc ry • Austina de Bonte • ckson • Stephanie McCombs z • Anne van Roden • Sarah ogh • Mona Delahooke • ó • Heidi Molbak • Seth and • Aida Younis • Matthew oobay • Matthew Fugate • ra Renzulli • Jade Rivera • • Kristina Collins • Cameron ieb • Claire Hughes • Sue Before introducing 22 people at the heart of the onksley-Pavia • Marc movement, ry • Austina2ede Bonte •let’s take a moment to reflect on when that term first came to be used. In 1988, Dr. ckson • Stephanie McCombs James Gallagher described a population of students z • Anne van Roden • Sarah with “special intellectual-processing problems — rene Gottlieb • de Hoogh • with learning, Miró • Heidithose Molbak • Seth communication, and/or behavioral disabilities, and • Aida Younis • Matthew that nevertheless, maintain an oobay • Matthew Fugate • extraordinarily high, general ra Renzulli • Jade Rivera • intellectual potential.” • Kristina Collins • Cameron Gallagher was a ieb • Claire Dr. Hughes • Sue scholar and advocate for onksley-Pavia • Marc both gifted and disabled ry • Austina de Bonte • children. His work on the ckson • Stephanie McCombs Marland Report of 1972 z • Anne van Roden • Sarah helped establish gifted and ogh • Monatalented Delahooke • children as a group ó • Heidi Molbak • Seth with specialized educational and • Aida Younis • Matthew needs, and he was a force behind the oobay • Matthew Fugate 1975 passage of • the Education of All Handicapped ra Renzulli •Children Jade Rivera • Act. • Kristina Collins • Cameron “The question,” he asked, ”is how does one ieb • Claire educate Hughes • Sue those twice-exceptional children onksley-Pavia • Marc where adaptations are required in their ry • Austinaeducational de Bontesituation?” • ckson • Stephanie McCombs At the time, many other educators had tapped z • Anne van Roden • Sarah into the existence of twice exceptionality, whether ogh • Mona Delahooke • ó • Heidi Molbak • Seth and • Aida Younis • Matthew oobay • Matthew Fugate •

22 People

to Watch or not they were using the term. Since then the field has grown exponentially. Today there are

schools and programs for 2e learners, universities conducting research specific to 2e populations,

training and textbooks for educators who work with 2e students, mental health

professionals who specialize in

2e, and organizations whose

primary mission is to provide parents with resources and

support to help them raise their 2e child.

The persons featured

in the pages that follow

are among the educators,

scholars, program builders,

mental health professionals,

and consultants whose work keeps

the 2e movement thriving.

No “People to Watch’’ feature would be complete without checking in with the people who we

have already been watching and admiring — and will continue to do so in the years to come. We at Variations2e magazine have had the pleasure of

working with and alongside so many talented and committed professionals, and updates about their work will be posted on 2eNews.com.

Matthew Cohen Principal Attorney Matt Cohen & Associates, LLC 6

People to Watch IN 2018, THE ILLINOIS

State Board of Education (ISBE) conducted a “Public Inquiry into Special Education Practices” of the Chicago Public School (CPS) system. The investigation found that CPS “engaged in policies, procedures, or practices that were inconsistent with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2001 (IDEA).” It concluded that families and students in CPS’s special education programs may have been improperly denied various placements, supports, Individual Education Plan (IEP) processes, and accommodations. The inquiry was in response to a complaint filed by approximately 18 special education advocacy organizations and lawyers and resulted in an unprecedented probe, including a three-day public hearing to obtain information from CPS and parents. The board issued an 11-page report detailing multiple violations and outlining corrective actions to be taken over the next few years, marking a landmark victory for neurodiverse students and their families in Chicago. It’s no wonder that Matt Cohen considers ISBE’s orders to be among his proudest career accomplishments.

Cohen, a special education lawyer in Chicago, was one of the lead attorneys in the inquiry. His concentration includes representing children with disabilities and their families in disputes regarding special education, school discipline, and related matters.

“Matt champions gifted rights, which are almost nonexistent in the state for all students — especially 2e,” said Irene Gottlieb, a board member at Chicago’s Midwest Academy of Gifted Education, which recently hosted a legal advocacy training with Cohen. That Cohen’s path led him to special education, gifted education, and 2e advocacy isn’t surprising. His career interests were partly influenced by his parents, who worked as mental health professionals, and in law school, where

he developed a passion for civil rights law and education reform. “It seemed like a natural combination for me,” Cohen said.

Cohen’s involvement in cases often begins when families realize that current services aren’t working. This might involve disciplinary issues, the student being denied access to specific services or accommodations, the

some areas, with accommodation or remedial instruction in others or even accommodation in the area of acceleration,” Cohen said. “Sometimes we’re able to persuade the schools to do that, and other times the schools aren’t willing.” In those cases, families may look for alternative education providers. Or they may coordinate with Cohen to continue fighting for the child’s rights.

“What I find is that there’s a lack of awareness about kids who are onceexceptional and even less awareness about kids who are 2e.” student failing to make progress, or teachers being inadequately trained.

“Problems with the implementation of IEPs are very common. So is disagreement between the school and parents over where the child should be placed — in regular education or special education,” Cohen said. “What I find is that there’s a lack of awareness about kids who are once-exceptional and even less awareness about kids who are 2e.” Cohen often encounters schools accepting the view that a student must be functioning far below average across the board in order to qualify for services. But updates to IDEA in 2004 state that public schools are responsible for dealing not only with academic problems but functional problems, as well.

“A high pattern — high strengths as well as high weaknesses — nicely describes a child who’s 2e,” Cohen said. “The law also states that a child getting passing grades doesn’t mean the child is receiving FAPE [free appropriate public education] mandated by law.” “A typical situation is that the kids need accelerated instruction in

“He is the only lawyer in Illinois that will take on 2e students as clients against powerful school districts, to help get their needs met,” Gottlieb said. “I’ve not seen anyone besides Matt be willing to touch that with a 10-foot pole.”

Cohen lists lack of investment in public education, low standards, and systemic discrimination against children with disabilities and children of color as obstacles preventing equity and equality in education. Cohen writes prolifically for 2e organizations, delivers hundreds of presentations, and is a founding board member of Council of Parents, Attorneys, and Advocates, an organization whose goal is to secure services for kids with disabilities. Cohen has also held a variety of leadership positions for a number of organizations focused on special education advocacy and rights.

“I am committed,” he said, “to helping all students, including 2e students, in getting appropriate educational services, to continuing efforts at systems change in the schools, and to advocating for the rights of all children.”

Kristina Collins Assistant Professor, Talent Development Texas State University, San Marcos

People to Watch EARLY IN HER CAREER AS

a cryptologist, Dr. Kristina Collins was charged with intercepting and decoding messages. The complexities of that task may have paled in comparison to challenges she encountered years later as a teacher in rural Georgia, trying to understand the struggles of her young son in school. One term helped her crack the code: twice-exceptional. “I began to study everything that I could find related to giftedness, learning exceptionalities, and underrepresentation,” she said. “The negative experience that we endured to identify my son as a gifted student in first grade — and the obvious potential that he had exhibited so far — compelled me to make sure I was well informed so that I could make the best decisions possible for him.”

Ensuring that educators and parents are equipped to support gifted and 2e students is now a major part of Dr. Collins’s leadership and program building work. In 2020, Collins became president of Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG), an organization that supports gifted and twice-exceptional individuals and their families through programs, resources, and conferences. Her goals in her new position include expanding SENG’s current resources and accredited homestudy courses for clinicians, educators, and families. She is also working to bring members of the medical community in as partners on SENG’s professional advisory committee. “Even with well-intended stakeholders, there still seems to be a gap in understanding the benefits of neurodiversity, cognitive diversity, and implementation of policies and programs that align with that understanding,” she said.

In 2011, Collins received the Georgia Association of Gifted Children’s Mary Frasier Equity and Excellence Award for her work as a coordinator for a School Within a School magnet program. Building this program involved teacher

training to address the intersectionality of giftedness and learning exceptionalities. It also highlighted the underrepresentation of culturally and linguistically diverse students and perceived deficit-based social categorizations such as race, ethnicity, age, socio-economic status, language, gender, and physical (dis)abilities. This lens of “multi-exceptionalities” is critical to formulate understandings, programs, and policies that are more inclusive and culturally responsible in their strides to serve students, she said.

“‘Learning exceptions that are considered an exceptionality in one space may not be considered one in another space,” she said “When you talk about 2e and don’t consider these other aspects, you’re missing a big part of it.”

districts across the country. She has also served on the master’s thesis committee for teachers, including those who are practitioners in special education with a focus on 2e. She has served as a keynote speaker for many organizations, sharing research, curriculum, and teaching strategies.

Collins said that the biggest challenge in her career is getting educational stakeholders to build on strengths and resist pathologizing differences. Her work has helped stakeholders realize that brain differences are not the result of deficit, disease, or injury, but normal variations in the human genome. “It is difficult to influence a mind shift away from a stigma around learning and thinking differences,” she said.

“Even with well-intended stakeholders, there still seems to be a gap in understanding the benefits of neurodiversity, cognitive diversity, and implementation of policies and programs that align with that understanding.” As a member of the core faculty for talent development at Texas State University, she teaches courses in gifted development, covering topics that include social, emotional, and cultural contexts, as well as curriculum for depth and challenge. In the context of her professional work, she collaborates with diverse groups of education, 2e, and cognitive diversity experts — including the Texas Association for Gifted and Talented, the American Education Research Association, and the National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC). In 2018, Collins co-developed NAGC’s “Understand Me,” a microcredential educational module which has been used for training in school

“Even more difficult is getting some researchers and practitioners to recognize their own traditional cultureblind approaches. There is a need to expand the concept of cognitive diversity and give credit to cultural differences for creative problem solving and innovation.”

The way to crack the code of promoting cognitive diversity, she said, is to “confront the deficit-thinking ideologies that lead to institutional negligence.”

Cameron Curry Chief Executive Director The Classical Academy, Inc.

People to Watch PARENTS ARE THEIR

children’s primary educators. Cameron Curry is just here to help.

That’s the perspective employed by Curry, founder and chief executive director of the Classical Academy group of charter schools. The schools, serving approximately 5,800 students across seven locations in Southern California, are built on strong relationships with parents and personalized education plans for students.

“Parents teach their children how to walk, tie their shoes, say their very first words, and we’re coming alongside to provide everything else they need,” said Curry, adding that parents have a high level of expectation for what Curry’s schools can provide, and the schools likewise have specific expectations for the parents. “We’re here to do great things for kids,” Curry said. “We believe you’re going to do great things for your son or daughter. We’re going to collaborate to make this happen. And the bottom line is that we’re going to hold each other accountable to achieve those goals.” For some parents, those expectations include providing a personalized educational experience for their twiceexceptional learners. But that’s only one of the various populations served by the Classical Academy schools, which support their students in ways appropriate for the specific student. Curry said 70 percent of the group’s students study on campus in some manner, while 30 percent work remotely, supported by a credentialed team of educators. Much of the curriculum is implemented via an independent study model, which can manifest itself in different ways. Some students only work from home, some may come to campus a couple of days per week, and some might be learning at school a majority of the time.

“It’s determined by what they need and the support they need,” Curry said.

Individualized strategies could stem from a student who is unable to attend classes in person. It could also be born of a student’s prospective career. Budding athletes, actors, and the like may need flexibility. Learner profiles also have an impact. Students needing acceleration are provided with those resources. Same goes for students who may need remediation in certain areas. This, of course, could apply to twiceexceptional students. The program “is uniquely designed to provide a personalized education that

“It’s in our DNA as an organization. We don’t know how to do it any differently,” he said. “Our teams are always collaborating on different resources, different materials, different curriculum, because our families’ needs are so diverse. “A lot of families come to us with a specific desire — they’ve already done a lot of their own research. For families that don’t have an idea of what they need, our team works closely and collaboratively with them. So many families have a strong sense of what’s

“We are able to understand individual needs, personalize academic support, and tailor programming that addresses their social and emotional needs.” gives students the flexibility to explore their interests while accommodating their learning differences,” said a parent of a 2e student who attends the Classical Academies.

Curry explains that families of 2e students let the school know of their child’s learning profile during their initial enrollment conversation. This includes whether the student has an individualized education plan (IEP) and “what their uniqueness is as a learner.” Overall, roughly 12 percent of the students across all of the campuses have an IEP.

“We are able to understand individual needs, personalize academic support, and tailor programming that addresses their social and emotional needs,” Curry said. “This can be delivered on campus, in a distance learning format. It can be delivered one on one as well.” Providing personalized education for 5,800 students may seem daunting, but for Curry, other approaches are nonstarters.

available, what touches on specific needs, and what will make a difference.” Curry’s path to charter schools had an unlikely starting point. Working in economic development in Escondido, California, Curry observed the tie between great schools and strong communities. “You need great places for people to work, you need great places for families to live, and you also need those workers to have really great schools,” said Curry, who saw the charter school approach as an opportunity to create something valuable for the community.

Valuable enough, in fact, that Curry’s own children — including a daughter with non-verbal learning disorder (NVLD) — attended the schools. Having a daughter with NVLD and a niece with autism provided Curry with a perspective shared by many parents: a need to access options, professionals, programs, and services that make a difference. “Being able to make that happen for students and parents has been life and career affirming,” he said. 11

Austina de Bonte Consultant Smart is Not Easy, LLC

People to Watch DURING HER 15 YEARS AT

Microsoft, Austina de Bonte realized that it was hard to get cognitively diverse people to work together. She found the key to coaxing her analyticminded engineers to the same place regarding their customers’ needs and emotions was to use the science behind brainstorming and other techniques to show them the value of caring about what their customers thought.

“I still use those skills when I work with parents, educators, and community audiences,” said de Bonte, the president of the Northwest Gifted Child Association and owner of Smart is Not Easy, LLC, a consultancy firm for the parents of gifted and 2e children in Seattle. “Once educators hear the research on gifted and 2e kids, it squares so well with their past experience that ‘aha moments’ are audible throughout a workshop.”

Her main challenge is to gather diverseminded people together to turn “that realization into action and align the larger school district bureaucracy to support change rather than put up barriers.” De Bonte starts with helping parents “play detective” to sort out what’s going on with their kids. Parents are often faced with an array of complex and seemingly contradictory information. But children, she said, “are not trying to be difficult on purpose. They don’t need more discipline, but instead more understanding, support, accommodations, and above all, unconditional love. The parents’ job is to help their children by doing the research, identifying the root causes, and finding some workable solutions in order to emerge stronger on the other side, together.”

She intends to write a book in the near future, “the kind of thing that a parent might buy for all of their kids’ teachers,” she said.

In it, she wants to share the lessons she learned from raising “two very complex 2e kids, completely different from each other.” She found that, for one, accurate diagnoses are easily missed.

“I’ve gotten a strong appreciation,” she said, “for how medical issues — a food allergy, a chronic infection, hormone issues, nutritional issues, sleep issues,

superintendents, administrators, principals, and teachers, alignment on goals and clear communication — the most important factors — are the hardest to accomplish.”

Her strategy is to make “consensus visible.” A general agreement is often not enough. The way to organize for effective change, said de Bonte, is to make sure that “everyone is not just bought in, but everyone has to believe

“Everyone has to believe that everyone else is also bought in. That is crucial if you want to get a large organization to change its habits.” any of these and more — can easily cause enough symptoms to trigger a learning disabilities diagnosis, and yet very little progress is made until the root cause is unearthed and addressed.”

that everyone else is also bought in. That is crucial if you want to get a large organization to change its habits.”

“One thing that modern neuroscience has made really clear,” she said, “is that the gifted or 2e brain is measurably different. We don’t fully understand all the implications of those differences yet, but it’s no longer a question or a matter of belief about whether giftedness is a real thing. The science has answered that.”

De Bonte’s influence continues in her consulting practice and in the many conference presentations and professional development workshops she runs on the social, emotional, and intellectual needs of gifted or highly capable children. She credits innovators in the field such as psychologists Linda Silverman and Dan Peters, brain researcher Barbara Arrowsmith-Young, and giftedness guru Miraca Gross for helping in her growth, as well as her husband, two children, two cats, and “approximately” seventeen chickens.

De Bonte’s education at Massachusetts Institue of Technology enabled her to examine the neuroscientific evidence for observable behaviors such as overexcitabilities, executive function delays, and dramatic mood swings.

As with computer engineers, it has been hard to get education stakeholders to the same place in order to meet the needs of gifted and 2e students. “Even with the best intentions of everyone involved,” she said, “large organizations with many layers of management have characteristic problems and miscommunications. In school districts, with layers between

One of her proudest accomplishments is that she was able to work with her local PTA to expand the gifted program in her Northshore school district. Recently, she spearheaded a drive to increase the testing of students for giftedness, particularly those in underrepresented groups.

“For the record,” she said, “it’s hard to count chickens; they are never all in the same place.”

Simone de Hoogh Founder and Director PowerWood

People to Watch AN EXPERIENCED LIFE

coach, Simone de Hoogh started her career in the corporate world coaching managers to develop business practices to address the strengths and weaknesses of their employees. The skills she developed around looking for strengths and supporting weaknesses proved to be an excellent grounding for later work in twice-exceptional education. In 2007, when she moved with her family to the United Kingdom from The Netherlands, she began studying to be a specialist in gifted education in an attempt to better understand her own children and their experiences in school. She studied twice-exceptionality, which helped her make sense of some of the challenges she had faced in the school system. During an assignment to write about the provisions for highly able children in specific educational situations, she was surprised to notice that the sort of children she identified as highly able were dismissed as having emotional issues or behavioral problems, or as underachieving. It became clear to de Hoogh at this point that the children’s twice-exceptionalities were preventing their abilities from being recognized.

Amidst the challenges of supporting her own twice-exceptional children, de Hoogh realized that unless she put her academic work to use, her efforts had no value to anyone outside of herself. This placed her on the path of supporting young individuals and families going through similar types of challenges. She set up PowerWood, a not-for-profit, community-driven organization, to raise awareness about neurodiversity as a positive force for change in society. De Hoogh offers consultancy and coaching sessions, as well as opportunities for families experiencing similar challenges to come together as a community. Many of the families de Hoogh works with were initially unaware that their children were twiceexceptional. They often doubted

their child’s intelligence as they saw them struggle with an inability to regulate their emotional reactions. Such emotional responses in schools also prevented others from seeing their high abilities. De Hoogh sought to reframe the narrative, fostering an understanding of high ability and twice-exceptionality in which regulation issues, overexcitabilities, and certain other personality traits are also a part of a student’s neuropsychological profile. This mindset shift enabled her to connect with parents whose children had behaviors that masked their strengths and talents. In her work, de Hoogh takes on distinct but related roles. As an

PowerWood’s online community, also training PowerWood-approved coaches to set up and facilitate “Talking Circles.” These would be safe, affordable, and supportive online communities where parents and individuals can regularly connect and discuss whatever is challenging to them, moderated by experienced, trained facilitators to keep the participants on track. De Hoogh is proud of her work with PowerWood, which has empowered families and children to develop their strengths and talents. She was driven to create Powerwood as a place where any parent faced with a challenging child could find resources and support. She is

De Hoogh realized that unless she put her academic work to use, her efforts had no value to anyone outside of herself. educational consultant and family coach, she supports children and their parents, providing information, practical tools, and strategies. These resources allow individuals and children to steer their heightened energy, sensitivity, imagination, and emotional depth toward positive outcomes and outlets. She also helps parents understand the innate psychological differences between them and their children. She further helps parents focus on growing their understanding and recognition of their children’s behavior as an expression of being overwhelmed — and not to take said behavior personally.

De Hoogh is also a prolific writer, and her academic articles have appeared in many publications, including the European Council of High-Ability News; Labyrinth, a magazine for the members of the German Association for Gifted Children; and the Mensa Research Journal. Over the next five years, de Hoogh hopes to expand

grateful to the many contributors who freely give their time to the organization, supporting people who might otherwise have felt isolated and misunderstood. She is working to extend PowerWood’s reach to impact more families.

De Hoogh encourages parents to take charge of their own emotional reactions and not to shy away from uncomfortable feelings; when they do that, she says, eventually their children will also. She also points out that self-compassion is key, because we cannot be more compassionate to others than we are to ourselves.

Mona Delahooke Clinical Psychologist Profectum Foundation

People to Watch DECADES AGO, DR. MONA

Delahooke visited a classroom to observe a young student named Eric. Having seen Eric in her practice as a child psychologist, Delahooke knew him to be a sweet boy who always aimed to please. But his school had identified Eric as a behavioral challenge. Delahooke observed the child “misbehaving,” including inadvertently pushing an aide’s arm as he tried to get her attention and eventually becoming so distressed at being ignored that he fell backward off his chair.

His teachers had been trained to ignore what they deemed “non-preferred behaviors.” But Eric wasn’t intentionally misbehaving. Rather, he had movement challenges and an atypical learning profile; his teachers misunderstood him.

“Sitting in the back of the classroom that day, I vowed to write a book that would help teachers and other professionals understand and recognize the difference between stress responses and misbehavior,” Delahooke said. “It would integrate brain science into behavioral educational models in order to reduce the kind of needless suffering I had seen Eric and many other neurodivergent children experience.” This led to Delahooke’s book Beyond Behaviors: Using Brain Science and Compassion to Understand and Solve Children’s Behavioral Challenges, which is now in the hands of many educators and parents and, she hopes, will change the lives of children like Eric. The book challenges outdated perspectives that are more likely to punish vulnerable kids by encouraging readers to investigate the underlying causes and motivation of children’s behavior in order to respond in more helpful and supportive ways. Delahooke currently works in a private practice in Southern California as a pediatric psychologist. She also serves as a trainer consultant to the Los Angeles Department of Mental

Health and a senior faculty member, trainer, and West Coast Conference cochair for the Profectum Foundation, which is dedicated “to advancing the development of all children, adolescents, and adults with autism and other developmental and mental health challenges.” In addition, she is a consultant and staff trainer for Villa Esperanza Services, which serves children and adults with intellectual/ developmental disabilities, including autism and Down syndrome. A frequent writer, speaker, presenter, and interviewee on neurodiversity and understanding behaviors,

“I consider attuned relationships as the backbone of education and I enjoy supporting joyful engagement in all relationships in a child’s life.”

Delahooke’s passion for working with neurodivergent learners began during her time as an infant mental health specialist. In this capacity, she began to learn about neurological differences. “I began to work with young children with developmental differences and loved it,” she said. “My specialization helped me integrate brain science into neurodevelopmental educational models.” The work became more personalized when one of Delahooke’s children suffered developmental challenges.

“I had the firsthand experience of navigating the support she needed,” she said. “The heart of my work lies in the children and families I have had the

privilege to know and support.” A key in supporting these children, says Delahooke, is to identify the child’s strengths as early as possible. Additionally, the child’s team needs to understand behavioral challenges as “adaptations of a child’s autonomic nervous system.”

For Delahooke, strong relationships and understanding — plus communicating said understanding — are the keys to supporting neurodivergent populations. For her work with these populations of learners, Delahooke has been honored as a First Five Los Angeles Champion for Children and has received the Villa Esperanza Guardian Angel Award and Stanley Greenspan Humanitarian Award. Said a colleague of hers, “Her particular gift is understanding and communicating [through her practice, books, articles, podcasts, and other media] the behaviors that 2e kids and adults exhibit.” Another colleague described her as being “a rock star.”

Dehalooke says she enjoys training, speaking, and advocating for change in education, motivated by the belief that neurodivergent and 2e children with behavioral challenges are misunderstood and underserved.

“I consider attuned relationships as the backbone of education and I enjoy supporting joyful engagement in all relationships in a child’s life,” said Delahooke, who believes relationships, understanding, and respect can effect positive change. “Relational safety sets the stage for a student’s creativity, problem solving, social and emotional development, and all learning.

“When we presume competence and respect children’s individual differences, we can develop customized roadmaps for learning and success to help them blossom and reach their full potential.”

Alissa Doobay Supervisor of Psychological Services Belin-Blank Center at the University of Iowa

People to Watch DR. ALISSA DOOBAY FIRST

encountered the world of twiceexceptionality during her early training at the University of Iowa’s Belin-Blank Center. The center provides programs, resources, and services for gifted and 2e students.

“I quickly fell in love with the work,” she said. “I enjoy the intellectual challenge of helping 2e students, families, and teachers understand a student’s strengths and needs.” Since then, her role within the center has grown. Now, as supervisor of psychological services, Doobay’s primary work involves evaluating 2e students to identify their areas of strength and need, and creating learning supports and opportunities that help them reach their full potential. She also provides one-on-one counseling for 2e students and helps families advocate for their children’s needs. “I love the individual work I do with my clients and find this to be the most fulfilling part of my job,” she said.

Doobay described this feeling as “pride in small moments.” She recalled an experience working with a talented young woman with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The student came to the center, in part, due to conflict over her grades in school. She struggled to put effort into work that she did not find meaningful. Over the course of her work with the center, however, the student developed her talents as an artist, soon selling her art and installing a sculpture in her hometown. She went on to create a children’s book and gain acceptance into a prestigious art school. Most recently, the student was recruited for a coveted internship in fashion design.

Doobay’s role at Belin-Blank also includes helping graduate students work with gifted and 2e populations. She presents critical topics during workshops for educators, psychologists, medical professionals, and parents.

Recently, she was invited by a gifted support organization to help mental health service providers in Silicon Valley begin thinking through a 2e lens. The all-day workshop started at the macro level with identification and traits before homing in on specific exceptionalities such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other learning disorders.

“One of the things that I really like to do is demonstrate through showing,” she said. “It’s such a unique population and, if you haven’t been exposed to them, it doesn’t really make sense until you see it. If you don’t have a context for why a 2e student’s presentation might be the way it is, then it’s often difficult to know how to respond.”

dyslexia and twice-exceptionality for the Decoding Dyslexia Conference.

Doobay is encouraged by recent neuroscientific research into cognitive diversity.

“It’s exciting because it’s new and different and in some ways gives more weight to the research with other scientists who may not view educational research as being of the same caliber as medical research,” she said. “So it helps us reach other groups of people who may not have come across the educational literature.” With regard to her own research possibilities, Doobay is interested in exploring links to anxiety and

“I enjoy the intellectual challenge of helping 2e students, families, and teachers understand a student’s strengths and needs.” In addition to her work as a practitioner and speaker, Doobay has conducted research and scholarship. Her doctoral dissertation compared assessment profiles of high ability students with and without ASD. In collaboration with Belin-Blank colleagues, she co-authored a piece for Gifted Child Quarterly about profoundly gifted girls and ASD. She has spoken frequently about twiceexceptional students at conferences for the National Association for Gifted Children, presenting strategies for successful educational outcomes. Other topics include using assistive technology, and establishing a research agenda, as well as providing guides for parents and educators of 2e students. At Iowa Gifted and Talented Association annual conferences, her presentations have explored how to understand 2e learners and examined the myths, facts, interventions, and outcomes of gifted students who are bullied. In 2017, she discussed intersections between

depression in 2e students to build more qualitative research in that area. “I see so many kids who are labeled as behavior problems and the focus is just on changing the behavior, and not recognizing the fear, the stress, the sadness, the emotion that is causing the behavior.” Among her future goals, she wants to expand training on the topic of 2e through supervision of doctoral students and postdocs in psychology, also bringing professional development to teachers and psychologists, and conducting parent training. “It is my hope that 2e identification and support become more mainstream in schools, which could reduce disparities in access to that support,” she said.

Matthew Fugate Assistant Professor and Assistant Chair of Urban Education University of Houston–Downtown

People to Watch CURRENTLY AN ASSISTANT

professor and assistant chair of urban education at the University of Houston– Downtown, Dr. Matthew Fugate has personally experienced the challenges of growing up with undiagnosed learning differences. Though a good student, he was “acutely aware that it was harder for him to focus and learn than most of his friends, without knowing why,” he said. Like many twice-exceptional adults, Fugate’s early experiences in school took on increased significance in retrospect, once interpreted through the 2e lens.

Since being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Fugate has often wondered how his life may have been different had his teachers and parents known about twice-exceptionality. This vantage point shaped his early years as an elementary school teacher and gifted coordinator for the Houston Independent School District. His thorough understanding of the challenges students faced encouraged him to delve deeper for solutions. Fugate recalled an experience that became the turning point in his career. One of his second-grade students, whom he had first encountered as a gifted kindergartener, called himself “stupid” because he could not read as well as his peers in the class.

“I was brought to tears hearing this,” said Fugate, shocked that a child he knew to be so gifted could possibly see himself as “stupid.” Fugate continued to support the student that year and beyond, collaborating with teachers and administrators to build strategies that worked for the student and ensured learning continuity. When the student was in third grade, Fugate experienced a proud moment.

“One spring afternoon, he came to my door to tell me that he passed the third-grade state reading exam on the first attempt,” Fugate said. “The look of

excitement and pride on his face is one that I will carry with me for a lifetime.”

This experience and others shaped Fugate’s own education. He chose to pursue his master’s degree in educational psychology with a focus on gifted education from the University of Connecticut, and his doctorate from Purdue in gifted, creative, and talented studies with a focus on twiceexceptionality. Fugate’s work as a scholar has contributed to advocacy efforts for 2e students. In a 2013 study, he compared the creative thinking skills of gifted students with ADHD to their neurotypical peers, revealing evidence of higher creativity among 2e students. For his doctoral dissertation, he conducted a case study of five girls identified as gifted with ADHD, the first study to look exclusively at this population. He has published several

and international audiences on issues related to the education of 2e students. Fugate wants to shift general perspectives in the way gifted students with ADHD are identified and labeled. He has proposed removing language such as “deficit” and “disorder” and updating the diagnosis to attention divergent hyperactive gifted (ADHG).

“The idea of ADHG is to refocus the minds of educators on the strengths of students who are gifted with ADHD, despite their challenges,” he said. “More importantly, it is intended to change the mindset of the students themselves, who often lack self-efficacy and selfesteem due to their differences from their neurotypical gifted peers.” Shifting attention from the students’ areas of weakness also encourages teachers to focus on a strength-based approach.

“More importantly, [ADHG] is intended to change the mindset of the students themselves, who often lack self-efficacy and self-esteem due to their differences from their neurotypical gifted peers.” articles and chapters related to 2e students, and in the fall of 2020, Fugate released a book on twice-exceptionality that he co-edited, bringing some of the top voices in gifted and special education together in one volume.

“These students need to see themselves as motivated individuals with strengths, perseverance, and resilience — innate qualities that make them special.”

As an educator, Fugate works to shape preservice teachers’ understandings of the characteristics and needs of twiceexceptional learners. His graduate seminars focus on aspects of equity in gifted education, including issues related to gifted students with special needs. He has worked with educators from Texas to Kuwait and has served as an advocate for local, state, national,

Irene Gottlieb Founder Midwest Academy for Gifted Education

People to Watch WHEN IRENE GOTTLIEB

was a child, she was asked to identify the color of an apple.

“I could confidently point out almost every color in it, but I limited my answer to the major three,” she said. “I could tell they were disappointed that I didn’t just say it was yellow. But I was disappointed that they wanted me to provide them with a known generalization and that we spent each other’s time in ways that were unwelcome.”

Later, after she became the mother of three gifted children, she realized a similar disappointment in that most schools in Chicago at the time were not prepared to accommodate people who see things differently. “I found that there is just not enough support for 2e children or their families, not academically, not socially, not emotionally, and least of all, financially,” she said. “I realized that basically it’s up to the parents to work together to make a change.”

In addition to working as a full-time parent, Gottlieb also has served as a consultant and project manager for start-up businesses. She soon applied those skills to advocating for 2e policies in Chicago’s public schools and starting the Midwest Academy for Gifted Education (MAGE), the only private, not-for-profit, gifted school for Grades K-12 in the city of Chicago. The school features low teacher-student ratios and differentiated learning plans for each of the approximately 25 students in the physical space with more students working online. There are many similarities between starting a school and starting a small business, said Gottlieb.

“Both are exciting with potential and possibility. Both require creativity, perseverance, grit, and patience from the team.” The difference is that, unlike businesspeople, “a 2e child might be able to tell you what they need if you

can show them you know how to listen.” Getting adults to listen has been the real sticking point for Gottlieb. In addition to MAGE, Gottlieb has spearheaded efforts to reform the Chicago Public School system, the third largest in the nation, regarding gifted and 2e education. She sees this as an equity issue as well because many children in the public schools live in poverty. Further, the gifted are inadequately identified because of a lack of multiple diagnostic measures. Labeling herself and her team as “disrupters,” Gottlieb wanted to

several hundred accelerated students in the district. Gottlieb attributes this success to “focusing on small steps forward that can be a yes or a maybe — not an automatic no” and to taking the long-term approach. Education policies, she said, are “not something that can be changed overnight.” MAGE also organizes workshops for parents on issues around giftedness and 2e, especially when it comes to diagnostic tests.

“Each child is different in what they need,” she said. “The common ground is

“Each child is different in what they need. The common ground is to teach to the strengths and to scaffold any challenges.” get the financially beleaguered district to recognize giftedness and to “fill the gaps for all students, gifted and not, by creating outstanding enrichment and scholastic opportunities.”

At a public hearing on acceleration in the school district, for instance, “we used the district’s own data to point out how many dollars would be saved by allowing students to skip grades. Acceleration is actually a cost savings. If you can matriculate a student in 11 years instead of 12, it doesn’t cost more, it costs less. “I remember sitting in the hearing and literally looking up the per-year cost per student, doing calculations on my phone and raising my hand, listing the numbers, and watching the raised eyebrows of district staff,” she said. “You could see it clicked.”

Due in part to Gottlieb’s efforts in advocating for the 2017 Accelerated Placement Act in Illinois, Chicago public schools are required to provide early entry to kindergarten and first grade if a parent or teacher requests it and to allow students to skip a grade or a subject, if warranted. There are now

to teach to the strengths and to scaffold any challenges. The child’s ‘happiness meter’ should guide the approach. Or, if you will, what gives the lowest amount of anxiety and helps the child want to participate in learning, as opposed to shutting down.”

Just as apples are not simply red or yellow, 2e children are not simply one thing. The “Holy Grail” of Gottlieb’s efforts is to help parents and teachers identify the “strengths in every child, 2e or not.” From her experience with her own children and those in her school, Gottlieb warned that “a diagnosis should be a guiding light, but it should not define the child or limit the child’s potential.” Rather than give in to the fear of the “stigma” of having an exceptional child, she said, parents should “expect to be surprised all the time by the beauty and power of the human mind.”

Claire Hughes Associate Professor of Elementary/Special Education College of Coastal Georgia

People to Watch CLAIRE HUGHES FIRST

started working in the field of twiceexceptionality by accident. While getting her master’s and initial certification in special education at the University of New Mexico in the early 1990s, she asked her professor for a student to tutor. Hughes was introduced to Morgan, a highly gifted student who struggled with reading. “It became apparent to me that neither special nor gifted education had strategies to help her, but that a blended approach was needed,” Hughes said.

This led Hughes to pursue a doctorate in both special and gifted education and into the field of twice-exceptionality. Hughes has both personal and professional experience with twiceexceptionality. She was a gifted child with undiagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and her husband was gifted with undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Their two children are also 2e — one diagnosed with ASD at age 2 and the other with Tourette’s and ADHD. “We are a family well used to surfing these waters,” Hughes said.

Professionally, Hughes taught twiceexceptional children for three years and continues to speak at IEP meetings and to teachers. While working at the Department of Education in Virginia, she trained many special education teachers about twice-exceptional children. In 2010, Hughes toured her book Children with High-Functioning Autism: A Parent’s Guide and met many parents who humbled and inspired her. Drawing from both her professional and personal experience, the book offers parents advice and information to help them with their child’s autism. She describes the first signs of autism and explains how to understand the diagnosis, as well as how to find support networks and fill

out paperwork. Her explanations of the various types of therapies available and her insights into planning for adulthood have proved invaluable to parents, many of whom she met through her book tour.

“It was immensely humbling and exciting to see how parents are trying to help people understand their children and help them grow,” she said. “I have also seen how my students learn from my book and share it with their parents. There is a wonderful ripple effect that I have gotten to be part of.”

different groups within and between the fields of gifted education and special education rarely work together, she said. More communication and writing, including studies and research, is required to bridge those gaps.

Hughes also hopes twice-exceptionality gains more awareness and traction among the mainstream journals and educational entities. Toward that end, she plans to continue working on a second edition of her book, teaching neurodiverse students, and advocating for this community.

“A child who is gifted with autism is not to be treated as a series of disconnected educational experiences, but as a child with a very unique outlook.” In her current role as associate professor of elementary education/ special education at the College of Coastal Georgia, Hughes teaches teachers. In the program, graduates earn a dual certification in both special and general education. Hughes’s training motivates teachers to look for talents and abilities in all students and “ignore labels to focus on what the child needs — to accelerate, to enrich, and to provide structure and support.”

“I wish that everyone could learn from each other and find mutual points of respect, science, and creativity.”

The result is a teacher who sees students as individuals defined by strengths and abilities rather than by limitations and deficiencies. By using these “positivistic views,” Hughes encourages professionals to see children with ADHD or autism as having a different way of learning.

“A child who is gifted with autism is not to be treated as a series of disconnected educational experiences,” she said, “but as a child with a very unique outlook.” Hughes hopes that, in the future, organizations that focus on twiceexceptionality will have a more unified and collaborative approach. Currently,

Sue Jackson Founder, Therapeutic Director Daimon Institute for the Highly Gifted

People to Watch SUE JACKSON IS AN EXPERT

in the exceptionally and profoundly gifted, a group that is incredibly neurodiverse and represents less than one percent of the world’s population. In her work with these students, Jackson has observed that they exhibit some of the most remarkable skills and talents, but often struggle with “significant learning disabilities, various neurodevelopmental disabilities, and significant mental health issues that preclude them from learning and growing optimally.”

Jackson’s work supporting this population includes direct psychotherapy with clients around the world and across a wide range of backgrounds and ages, from 2 to 90. She founded the Daimon Institute for the Highly Gifted in British Columbia in 1992 and serves as its therapeutic director. She has logged more than 60,000 clinical hours working exclusively with the exceptionally and profoundly gifted. In 2017, she created Daimon International to further broaden her reach to meet their educational and social-emotional needs. This includes an eight-year-old boy with an IQ of 170. Jackson describes him as “a gentle, alert, and inquisitive child with extraordinary gifts in visualspatial processing, mathematics, computer science, science, literature, and psychology.” When Jackson first started working with him, however, he was “prone to violent outbursts and burdened with high anxiety and major depression.” Jackson began a course of therapy based on the Integral Practice for the Gifted (IPG), a model she developed. After a year, he has become “delightfully expressive, both verbally and emotionally,” Jackson says. “He is whole again.”

The IPG model integrates “all aspects of human experience,” including advanced cognitive development and social, emotional, moral, physical, intellectual, and spiritual awarenesses. This approach, which builds on Kazimierz Dabrowski’s theory of positive

disintegration, enables Jackson to help clients holistically by developing all parts of themselves. By acknowledging asynchronicity, IPG allows profoundly gifted individuals to focus on different parts of themselves and on how they interact together like interconnected threads. Jackson also helps clients manage their overexcitability, and the

“Even within the gifted field itself, there is insufficient recognition of just how different their needs are and how differentiated all programming and psychological health response needs to be.”

disintegration that accompanies it, in a process of autopsychotherapy. Taken together, Jackson’s methods and the IPG model have proven to be successful for many profoundly gifted individuals. Jackson recounts her first intervention with a profoundly gifted student, Michael, as her proudest professional moment. She describes Michael as very bright and cognitively exceptional. As Jackson puts it, “He scored the maximum level on every subset of any cognitive assessment he undertook. Michael hit the ceiling on any test he took.”

mental health fields. Even within the gifted field itself, there is insufficient recognition of just how different their needs are and how differentiated all programming and psychological health response needs to be. The profoundly gifted child is as different from the mildly gifted child as the mildly gifted child is from a child with severe cognitive delays.”

For Jackson, the lack of awareness and understanding of the profoundly gifted has led to a lack of services for them, as well. Jackson aims to solve this in several ways. She is designing a 10-part master class for educators and mental health practitioners on both the educational and mental health components of the profoundly gifted. As an online class, it will have global reach and maximum impact. Jackson is also currently writing a book entitled Excuse Me, Where Do I Park My Whale: The Extraordinary Journey of the Exceptionally and Profoundly Gifted. Combining both research and Jackson’s experiences, the book will be published internationally later this year or early next year.

Beneath the accolades and impressive list of accomplishments, Jackson’s true devotion and commitment to working with twice-exceptional and profoundly gifted children and adults is clear. She cares deeply about advocating for and working with these groups. As she puts it: “This is my life’s work and my mission: to support this neurodivergent group fully.”

Yet he suffered from severe depression. Jackson’s experience with Michael catalyzed her professional career.

“Too many Michaels,” she said, “are utterly misunderstood, overlooked, and mistreated, in both the educational and

Stephanie McCombs Middle School Gifted Education Teacher Bunger Middle School & Hoover Middle School

People to watch DISCOVERING THE WORLD

of twice-exceptionality had a transformative impact on Stephanie McCombs’ pedagogical mindset. Like many teachers, she had fallen into the belief that addressing students’ challenges was more important than cultivating their strengths. As she learned more about twiceexceptionality, she realized that she needed to change her way of thinking and adopt a strength-based approach to better support these students.

“Looking back, I can see that I was an inflexible teacher,” she said. “I feel like I missed many kids throughout my early years because I was in a deficit mindset. I also had a lack of knowledge and strategies, which was a big stumbling block during that time in my career.” This realization ignited a passion in McCombs to train teachers and advocate for the twice-exceptional population. Her first opportunity to do this work came in 2015 when Waterloo Community School District (WCSD) in Iowa received funding from several donors — most notably the Waterloo Schools Foundation — to establish district-wide twice-exceptional programming.

Through her roles as a core member of Waterloo’s 2e team and twiceexceptional district coordinator, McCombs developed procedures for identifying and supporting 2e students in WCSD. The team researched how to approach twice-exceptionality in public school settings by studying other districts’ 2e manuals and visiting 2e schools.

This extensive research equipped them with the knowledge to write a 2e manual for their own district. In addition to this resource, McCombs and her team continue to train teachers during WCSD’s summer institute to maximize the number of educators with knowledge of what 2e looks like and how to best support these learners. Over the years, McCombs has witnessed an increase in awareness and advocacy in response to her team’s work.

“Every year more and more teachers are acknowledging and understanding the importance of 2e and how to let student strengths shine,” she said. “Classroom teachers are more frequently reaching out for support to better understand and help their 2e students.”

Apart from providing resources and training for teachers, McCombs also leads parenting classes for 2e families where they can connect with one another and learn that they are not alone. For many parents, this newfound community and support has been lifechanging. “When Waterloo began rolling out the 2e program in 2015, many parents would become emotional at our initial

plans to help students gain the skills they need to succeed.

Even still, McCombs knows that there is much more work to be done. For instance, though she has made significant strides in identifying 2e students in her district, most of the students identified are white males.

“I have identified some English language learners and minority students, but I know that we have many more who are not receiving the support they need,” she said. “As I continue my growth in multicultural gifted education and the way giftedness is demonstrated in our BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and people of color] families, I am also interested in how poverty and trauma affect our gifted students. Hopefully,

“Every year more and more teachers are acknowledging and understanding the importance of 2e and how to let student strengths shine. Classroom teachers are more frequently reaching out for support to better understand and help their 2e students.” meetings because someone finally saw the strengths in their child,” she said. “I have also had phone calls with parents who only heard from the school when their child did something wrong but are now getting calls pointing out the positive things their child is doing.”

For McCombs, the most meaningful part of her job is working directly with 2e learners every day. Her current role as a middle school gifted/talented education teacher involves guiding a 2e class toward developing their strengths, interests, and relationships with one another. She also advocates for 2e students in the general education classroom by showing teachers how they can increase opportunities to utilize student strengths and develop

with continued support from the professional community, we will figure out how to better identify and serve these populations.”

When looking back on her accomplishments thusfar, McCombs said, “The biggest thing I have learned is that each and every twice-exceptional student is unique. When I think I know who a twice-exceptional child is and what their strengths are, they surprise me with something new every single day. But the most important thing I’ve learned is that intelligence is demonstrated in a variety of ways and will shine if given the opportunity.”

Ana Miroó

Coordinator and Principal Investigator, AFEECTo Project ó Piedras College of Education, University of Puerto Rico, Rio 30

People to Watch WITH A POWERFUL

commitment to education and social justice, Ana Miró has spearheaded the development of twice-exceptional education in Puerto Rico. Before entering the field of 2e, Miró worked in special education for two decades. After observing her daughter struggle to fit into traditional learning settings despite her gifts and talents, she combined her special education background with an interest in gifted education.

“At that moment, I realized the field of giftedness was meant for my family,” Miró said. “When I merged the two fields, I recognized the complex profile of 2e learners and I fell in love with the fascinating field of twiceexceptionality.”

Currently a professor in the College of Education at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, Miró has a doctoral degree in curriculum and special education and 40 years of experience. She focuses her expertise on researching and working with the 2e population. “I have encountered many learners who have taken my breath away when I have seen that they might have all the strikes against them,” she said. “However, they also have the intellectual capacity and the talents needed to succeed, if given the right stimuli. They, along with their families, have motivated and prepared me to continuously find new ways to help them learn with enthusiasm.” As coordinator of the AFEECTo Project, the only program in Puerto Rico aimed at serving 2e learners and their families, Miró has seen both challenges and triumphs (the acronym translates as Twice Exceptional: Supporting Families, Students, Schools, and Community through Interdisciplinary Teamwork). Her program offers direct support to families and children by accompanying parents to IEP meetings and helping them prepare to actively participate in the educational process. Miró organizes support groups and

designs, implements, and evaluates direct interventions with students that emphasize content areas blended with social and emotional skills. The program also conducts case studies to determine the effectiveness and appropriateness of the educational processes and offers educational and clinical recommendations.

“I have encountered many learners who have taken my breath away when I have seen that they might have all the strikes against them. However, they also have the intellectual capacity and the talents needed to succeed, if given the right stimuli.”

“Each unique and diverse experience, each joy, and each achievement confirms that our continuous work with this population has a positive impact,” Miró said. “Through our support and empowerment group, we have helped families consciously advocate for 2e learners.” Miró’s work in Puerto Rico is especially critical because the field of 2e is in its nascent stages there. “The biggest challenge has been opening doors to a totally new area in Puerto Rico and to raise momentum in favor of 2e students and their families.”

Her research-oriented service project, which aims to help professionals and parents understand 2e learners better, was developed “without resources or professionals in Puerto Rico that could offer training.” Miró recruited volunteers who were passionate and serious about twice-exceptional education and throughout the years other professionals and families have joined the cause.

In 2019, Miró organized the first symposium in Puerto Rico on twiceexceptionality. The event included 15 speakers from Puerto Rico and the board of directors of the Association for the Gifted. Topics included identifying gifted and twice-exceptional students, parenting strategies, research-based interventions, creativity, socialemotional development, and behavior modification. Geared toward teachers, administrators, therapists, nurses, and social workers, as well as families and parents, the symposium drew more than 400 participants, representing a major step in the development of the 2e field in Puerto Rico. In the future, Miró hopes to increase collaboration between organizations to advance the field of twiceexceptionality.

“This would lead to more knowledgeable people who can raise awareness of this population’s needs and serve them according to their particular profiles,” she said.

Miró is also in the process of creating a college-level professional certification in gifted and 2e education in Puerto Rico. This certification would prepare “more professionals interested in 2e education who are capable of envisioning a rich, relevant, and sensitive education.”

Miró intends to continue conducting more longitudinal and interdisciplinary research to create profiles of students and families with the eventual goal of developing public policy. 31

Heidi Molbak Founder and President Seed Starter Educational Consulting

People to Watch “I HAVE FOUND THAT HELPING 2e individuals has brought me the deepest professional and personal satisfaction, challenge, friendship, honor, and meaning that I could imagine. I’m able to alleviate suffering and bring joy.”

Heidi Molbak cares deeply about helping 2e students learn to understand and accept themselves. Founder and president of Seed Starter Educational Consulting, she assists families searching for the right schools, programs, or other services for their gifted and 2e children. Seed Starter specializes in finding placements in boarding schools and therapeutic programs for gifted and 2e students, many of whose needs are nuanced and complex.

Molbak has seen firsthand that twiceexceptional individuals are often “severely misunderstood, misidentified, misdiagnosed, and mistreated, leading many of them to have feelings of depression, anxiety, and hopelessness.”

She seeks to alleviate these struggles by connecting 2e students and their families to opportunities where they can thrive. She has amassed a sizable inventory of programs that she has personally vetted, touring more than 380 day schools, boarding schools, and therapeutic programs, both in the United States and abroad. She recalled visiting a school in Miami located on a fully rigged, 210-foot long sailing vessel. “Each 2e individual is unique and no one school or therapeutic program is right for every student,” she said. “Who knows, there may be a 2e student out there who would thrive sailing a ship across the Atlantic!”

Molbak spent the early days of her career as a music teacher, working with younger students at the elementary school level. She became motivated to explore educational settings more broadly after researching schools for her three gifted sons and feeling a “deep personal calling to this work.”

She experienced a turning point in 2012 while working toward her master’s degree in clinical mental health. “I remember sitting in a small seminar taught by Dr. Justin Levitov,” Molbak said. “There were 10 or so fellow students around the table and he said to me ‘Heidi, don’t get me wrong, but you will find yourself drawn to working with complex people.’”

Molbak’s clinical background has proven essential to assessing her clients for social-emotional issues, and she looks to formal assessments among a wide range of evaluations to provide valuable insights to help inform

She is in the process of developing a comprehensive database of schools and educational opportunities for twiceexceptional and gifted students, which will be available to families all around the world, enabling them to make well informed decisions about placement. She is surveying schools and programs to gather information that will populate the database and then work to share the database with the broader public.

At her core, Molbak sees her work with families as being a part of helping gifted and 2e students find an educational experience that is aligned with their personal values as they journey to adulthood.

“Each 2e individual is unique and no one school or therapeutic program is right for every student. Who knows, there may be a 2e student out there who would thrive sailing a ship across the Atlantic!” her choices about the programs she recommends.

Molbak recently delivered a presentation titled “Now What, Now Where? When your 2e Child Needs Help Away from Home” at the Let’s Talk 2e Virtual Conference in August 2020. She has been a frequent presenter for Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted conferences, as well as for the National Association for Gifted Children. Over the past 15 years, Molbak’s work as an educational consultant has been primarily conducted on a one-to-one basis. As such, she is always looking to expand her reach to help and support more families, especially those with limited resources. It is toward this end that she offers training, workshops, seminars, and presentations at conferences, an effective way to impact and reach more parents and other educational professionals.

“By seeing a child’s strengths, and meeting their social, emotional, intellectual, and learning needs,” Molbak said, “we can walk with them as they find their meaning in life.”

Seth Perler Executive Function and 2e Coach Founder, The Executive Function Online Summit

People to Watch SETH PERLER IS A COACH.

It’s his passion and it shows in every word he says and every thing he does — from his many videos for parents, students, and teachers in the 2e world to the Executive Function Online Summit, a conference he runs every year. “I like helping complicated kids figure out their strengths,” said Perler, who is based in Boulder, Colorado. “I like helping them learn to work through challenges to be able to push themselves to learn new things.”

Raised in Ohio and feeling like he never quite fit in, Perler spent years believing he was a failure because he “wasn’t able to access learning in the way it was presented.” He “floundered” through school.

“It was as if the other kids got an instruction book on how to be a student that I was never given,” he said. Surprising even himself, Perler graduated from high school and went on to enroll at Ball State University in a remedial program and on academic probation. The only college class he managed to do well in was, ironically, study skills.

“I was always able to make it look like I had things under control,” he said. He didn’t make it look good enough, however, and ended up flunking out of college, moving back home, and thinking of himself as a total failure. Then he started working at an afterschool program in Indianapolis for a woman named Candy Hammond, and that turned his life around.

“I would watch in awe as she artfully listened to the students on a level so deep, it was almost spiritual,” he said. “She attuned to the kids, she saw what they really needed.”

Hammond’s approach motivated Perler, and from that point he decided to dedicate his life to helping kids.

That was 27 years ago. He went back to school but struggled to stay in the game, often finding himself re-reading texts a dozen times before comprehending the content. Gradually, to help himself study more effectively, he developed key executive functioning skills, which he often thinks of as “tricks.” “I learned every trick I could think of to make learning easier,” Perler said. “I didn’t know it, but I was coaching myself.”

navigate their education successfully. Kids don’t have to suffer. They can be successful in school and most importantly, happy in life.”

Perler warns against looking for a quick fix.

“It takes time, patience, and persistence,” he said, explaining that schools need to see students holistically and build upon strengths. “Left-brained students often navigate the system

“It’s all about taking time to really listen to kids, to see them, to understand them, and to teach them about their own learning styles.” After earning a degree in elementary education from Indiana University and a master’s in gifted education at the University of Northern Colorado, Perler worked for years as a teacher in elementary and middle schools in Colorado. He saw issues in the school system, especially for gifted, learning challenged, and twice-exceptional students.

“Dealing with red tape in the system holds kids back because teachers and school administrators often don’t ‘get’ these kids,” he said.

Since he started his coaching company in 2010, Perler has focused on what he sees as the key to maximizing the educational experience for almost any child: executive function, those study skills that he had been praised for back in college.

“It takes two solid months of effort for a young person to really build a habit,” he said. “The brain is literally changing at that age. Neurons are building new networks to manage the overwhelming amount of details we expect kids to manage. Because I’ve had to overcome many learning challenges myself, I’m committed to empowering kids to

just fine because the school system aligns with their strengths. Many rightbrained, outside-the-box thinkers, however, don’t fit the mold as easily. The fact is, when struggling students are properly understood and educated, they shine.”

For Perler, seeing students make even a small step toward overcoming their fears and anxieties — and organizing an effective and “fun” approach to school and studying — “is probably the best feeling in the world.” Like all good coaches, Perler realizes that there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to making meaningful changes.

“Coaching,” he said, “requires creative approaches that are carefully tailored to individual situations.” He wants to help other students turn their lives around just as Candy Hammond helped him. “It’s all about taking time to really listen to kids, to see them, to understand them, and to teach them about their own learning styles. More than that, it’s about how to be a kind, loving, and compassionate human being who uses their strengths to give back.”

Sara Renzulli Assistant Professor of Counselor Education University of Connecticut

People to Watch DR. SARA RENZULLI HAS

very personal reasons for going into the field of twice-exceptionality. The daughter of Joe Renzulli and Sally Reis, scholars well known to the gifted community, she struggled academically and was diagnosed as 2e in the fifth grade. As she became more acquainted with her strengths and learning needs, she became the major driver of her own education. She navigated the challenges of college by choosing a small school and classes that she knew would help her succeed. And she did not stop there. She moved on to pursue a master’s degree in counselor education and educational psychology and earned her doctoral degree from the University of Connecticut.

“I became obsessed with learning about twice-exceptionality from a research perspective and did not want students to have to go through the experiences I had in my secondary education,” she said. “I quickly learned that little research has been done on effective counseling or support service strategies specific to the twice-exceptional population, and that has been an area which has kept me interested in developing new techniques and strategies in the field.” After earning her doctorate, Renzulli worked as the director of learning services and lead academic counselor for UConn athletics for five years. In this role she helped students who may not have had to confront and address their areas of need because of their giftedness as athletes.

“When you are successful as an athlete at a major Division I university, anything can be weaker than your superstar performance,” she said. “My role was helping them really think about building their self-efficacy in their academic realm.” Toward this end, among her many strategies, she used her studentathletes’ interests as entry points

to academic work. She talked them through their thoughts about how to make things more approachable and create an academic plan that highlighted their strengths.

“Every athlete has individualized needs,” she said. “When they have the perseverance to develop their talent in a sport, they also have this resilience and grit that really is exceptional. So, in a sense, they come to me with a skillset that, as a practitioner, I can work with. It then becomes about finding other applications for their skills, as well as a common language that we can use.”

“Counselors have to have more multidisciplinary training to work with the complex students they encounter every day,” she said.

Renzulli feels that the key to working with 2e students and teaching about twice-exceptionality is the notion of the importance of being a life-long learner. “I don’t think there will ever be a time when more knowledge about education, learning, creativity, or 2e is a bad thing” she said. “I think it’s our job to disseminate knowledge to as many students and parents as possible.”

“Many graduate students are not aware of what a twice-exceptional student is before I present to them. I feel fortunate to have the ability to share this information with so many individuals who will be working in public schools.” More recently Renzulli’s focus has shifted toward training future school counselors. She believes that many programs for training counselors do not adequately prepare them for working with both special education and twiceexceptional populations. There are specific stretegies to be learned. “Many graduate students are not aware of what a twice-exceptional student is before I present to them,” she said. “I feel fortunate to have the ability to share this information with so many individuals who will be working in public schools.” In her research, Renzulli is exploring the common requirements and curriculum related to special populations in training programs for counselors. There are many skills that will help counselors support their students. Her goal is to establish best practices that will bolster a counselor’s ability to serve these students.

For students who are just beginning to understand their own twiceexceptionality, as she was decades ago, she has this advice:

“It’s a journey. Bad days aren’t the ending point, they are a part of the journey. Every struggle and bad day, as well as every good experience, has helped make me, ultimately, more successful. You have to view everything as a continuing course.”

Jade Rivera Founder/Lead Educator Sunnyside Micro-School

People to Watch AS A YOUNGSTER, JADE

Rivera was aware that she thought differently from her peers, often finding connections between seemingly unrelated topics. She recalls noticing the similarity between intricate bare tree branches and the laced patterns of arteries and veins around a heart diagram that she completed in biology class. Her mind constantly made abstract connections and inferences among her academic subjects. However, throughout her early educational experiences, teachers and adults in authority told her that her “compulsive thought process, as well as the need to share it,” would be her downfall. “I remember the sinking feeling in my own heart that something was wrong with me,” Rivera said.

Years later, as an adult, Rivera discovered her twice-exceptionality as an explanation for some of the early challenges she experienced in school. Now educated and trained as a chemist, this former Fulbright Scholar dedicates much of her time to encouraging others to open microschools for twiceexceptional students.

Rivera said she is “fascinated by how humans create and learn,” and the first twice-exceptional students she taught demonstrated marvelous and unique approaches to both learning and creating. From that experience, Rivera knew she had found her life’s purpose. In 2018, she opened Sunnyside Microschool in Oakland, California. In addition to founding the school, Rivera serves as lead teacher, designing dynamic and personalized learning environments for her students. She has been inspired and driven ever since to lead the cause for twice-exceptional children to receive an education that “sees and values them.” Rivera wrote about microschooling in her book MicroSchools: Creating Personalized Learning on a Budget. The book maps out a process for designing and maintaining these distinct learning

environments. She also offers a threemonth online summer institute about microschooling. In her ambition to guide others, she strives to ensure that microschools for 2e children are equitable by design.

“There are two truths demonstrated for me over and over again in my work,” she said. “Those are that education and learning are not the same thing — and for learning to take place, students must first feel safe and seen. Holding these two truths as guiding forces

“The critical conversation that needs to take place is helping people move their personal thoughts and feelings about education from a deficit-based perspective to one that is strengthbased.”

behind my design of microschools for twice-exceptional children has allowed me to approach my work creatively while maintaining its relevance to 2e learners.” In pursuing this passion, a particular challenge Rivera encounters is the misconception adults have regarding special populations. “The critical conversation that needs to take place is helping people move their personal thoughts and feelings about education from a deficit-based perspective to one that is strength-

based,” she said. Rivera views twiceexceptional children as a “kind of indicator species.” In other words, their well-being reflects what is working and not working within society. Rivera, who is pursuing her Ed.D. at the Bridges Graduate School for Cognitive Diversity, is steadfast in promoting the strengthbased, talent-focused approach as the most effective and successful method for complex learners. During speaking engagements, workshops, and parent consultations, she clarifies that a strength-based education does not ignore students’ areas of need.

Educational organizations have noticed Rivera’s insights and contributions on the topic of cognitive diversity. She has been a guest speaker on many podcasts, including the Bright & Quirky podcast in 2018, and she actively participated at the Vision and Leadership 2e Symposium hosted by Bridges Academy in 2019. Rivera also co-presented with Dr. Susan Baum and Tabitha Mollett at the National Association for Gifted Children’s 67th Annual Convention in November. Rivera is humble about her accomplishments, citing that it is student feedback that she values most.

“Once in a while, a student will say or do something that reveals their true feelings about the learning environments I design,” she said. She recalls a student who would look for any excuse not to go to his former school, pleading with his parent to go to Rivera’s school because he didn’t want to “miss out on all our fun” for a day. These seemingly small things affect Rivera deeply and personally. She is committed to helping twice-exceptional children feel safe to demonstrate what they can do in learning environments designed for them.

Michelle Ronksley-Pavia Lecturer, Professional Experience & Special Needs Griffith Univ. School of Education & Professional Studies

People to Watch SINCE STARTING HER

career in academia, Dr. Michelle Ronksley-Pavia has been determined to make a difference in the field of twiceexceptionality. As a university lecturer and researcher at Griffith University in South East Queensland, Australia, Ronksley-Pavia seeks to bridge the gap in Australia’s understanding of 2e students:

“In Australia in particular, the existence of children who are twice-exceptional is poorly understood,” she said. “It is my aim to increase awareness, knowledge, advocacy, and support for twiceexceptional learners.” Ronksley-Pavia noticed this gap in the understanding of twice-exceptionality while working toward her master’s degree in gifted and talented education at the University of New England in Australia. This motivated her to write her master’s thesis on the educational experiences of a twice-exceptional student, which drew her career trajectory toward supporting 2e students.

She found an opportunity to delve further into this topic while working toward a doctoral degree at Griffith. Her thesis explored the lived experiences of twice-exceptional students and their parents’ experiences working with the education system. Ronksley-Pavia currently is involved in a number of research projects that aim to positively impact the recognition and understanding of twice-exceptional learners and their complex needs in a school context. Her research in twice-exceptionality is related to her work as an educator and artist. Born in England, she spent many years studying in Belgium and was awarded student of the year at the École des Beaux Arts in Brussels. She emigrated to Australia in 1994, where her interest in surrealism and Jungian symbolism led her to pursue studies in how the mind works and the influence of education on young people.

Through the initial teacher education course she teaches at Griffith, RonksleyPavia uses her expertise to educate preservice teachers about the existence of twice-exceptional learners and how to support them socially, emotionally, and academically. She does this by incorporating critical pedagogical strategies in her curriculum, such as differentiated instruction, Universal Design for Learning, and personalized learning. She hopes that strategies shown to be beneficial for twiceexceptional students can also be more commonly and broadly taught in preservice teacher training programs. “My future ambitions are to ensure that the education of twice-exceptional children is included in all initial teacher preparation courses across not only my university, but also across Australian and international university courses

Garnering support to make inroads in schools and education policy has been the most challenging part of RonksleyPavia’s career. Despite these challenges on the bureaucratic front, she and her colleagues have made significant strides in increasing teacher awareness of twice-exceptionality. “I have noted that the recognition of this population of learners has increased among teachers in the last two years, which is a testament to the work of many of us who continue to advocate for 2e students,” she said.

Ultimately, Ronksley-Pavia hopes that her research will help inform action agendas to equip schools with foundational tools and knowledge that will better accommodate the learning needs of their twice-exceptional students.

“Parenting and advocating for twiceexceptional children is frequently a full-time ‘job’ that is often stressful and traumatic for parents, families, and twiceexceptional children.” that educate preservice teachers,” she said. “By fostering awareness and teaching the best practices for educating twice-exceptional students, I hope to enable a future of support for these learners throughout their educational journey.”

Another driving force behind RonksleyPavia’s work in this field is her own role as a parent of a twice-exceptional young person. “Parenting and advocating for twiceexceptional children is frequently a full-time ‘job’ that is often stressful and traumatic for parents, families, and twice-exceptional children,” she said. “This needs to be recognized and support needs to be provided by governments.”

“Many twice-exceptional learners are highly creative and intelligent individuals, and school systems are often not designed for them to be able to demonstrate what they know, what they can do, or be successful,” she said. “As a university lecturer and researcher, it is my role to address this inequity. I believe it is incumbent on all of us to ensure that we advocate for twice-exceptional learners at every opportunity.”

Marc Smolowitz Founder, CEO, Producer, and Director 13 Gen 42

People to Watch MARC SMOLOWITZ IS A

multiple award-winning independent filmmaker, producer, and director. Through his films, he has engaged in activism related to a wide range of social issues, including post traumatic stress disorder, LGBTQ rights, HIV/ AIDS rights, marriage equality, and mental health awareness.

Smolowitz was first introduced to the term twice-exceptional in 2014 when he started research for a film called The G Word. As he explored twiceexceptional narratives, he noticed that oftentimes giftedness was interwoven with trauma in the narratives of many kids.

Having himself survived traumatic narratives as an openly gay/queer person living with HIV and as the descendent of Holocaust survivors, he felt drawn to the diverse gifted and twice-exceptional population and their stories, which is a central feature of The G Word documentary. “It became immediately apparent that many in the official ‘gifted community’ felt they had been burnt in the past by outsiders and journalists who took hold of their stories and used them to reinforce stereotypes. For this reason, I’ve spent significant time being a visible force of positivity inside these communities, talking directly to stakeholders in large and small groups, and creating safe and supportive feedback mechanisms for community members to engage with me directly.

“This sort of honesty and transparency is central to how I work at every turn of the filmmaking journey.” Currently in post-production, his ambitious documentary undertakes the challenging and sprawling topics of gifted, talented, and neurodiverse education in the United States. The film probes questions of equity and upends the myth that most gifted people are wealthy, white, and will do fine on their own. To understand

and portray complex issues in his films, Smolowitz said he commits to becoming an expert in each field. His work has always centered on what he calls a “trauma-informed approach” to storytelling, presenting powerful stories that highlight solutions, community empowerment, and resilience.

The G Word includes significant focus on all aspects of twice-exceptionality, illuminating the challenges of growing up as a neurodivergent person. It

“While making The G Word, I have proudly embraced the dual role of filmmaker and passionate public advocate who is working hard to advance the public’s overall understanding of giftedness, 2e, and neurodiversity.”

highlights innovative schools as well as leading experts in the fields of 2e education, mental health, intelligence theory, neuroscience, and educational advocacy. While building strong relationships with gifted/2e communities across all fifty states, he became a 2e advocate advancing the public’s overall understanding of giftedness, 2e, and neurodiversity. He feels the documentary can go a long way to altering the stigma and prejudice faced by the twiceexceptional community.

Smolowitz plans to use the numerous interviews recorded during the filming of his documentary to create a video on demand platform that would include original curriculum modules, lesson plans, advocacy and empowerment conversations, and the opportunity for teachers, education specialists, and therapists to receive continuing education units and hours toward their university degrees. He sees the 2020s as the decade where society will mainstream neurodiversity and twiceexceptionality in unprecedented ways.

Smolowitiz made his directorial debut in 2011 when he completed The Power of Two, a film about Japanese twin sisters that premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Since then, he has produced more than 40 movies and is currently directing two films. Once featured in San Francisco Magazine’s top 30 under 30, he has been a guest on podcasts focused on gifted, twice-exceptionality, intelligence, and neurodiversity. He also has delivered keynotes, conference presentations, and workshops around the United States.

Anne van Roden Co-Founder Gifted Together, LLC

People to Watch ANNE VAN RODEN WAS LED

to her work as a marriage and family therapist by a desire to help support healthy relationships. Gradually, she realized that she was primarily working with highly gifted individuals and with families who almost always had a twiceexceptional family member. Over time, working with this population became the most rewarding part of her job. “I realized that the complexity and uniqueness of each twice-exceptional child or adult was a beautiful puzzle for me,” she said. “I greatly enjoyed figuring out how to find a way to bring healing and wholeness to each unique situation.” As a psychotherapist, van Roden helps 2e children and adults understand, accept, and learn to love themselves and each other as they are. Her goal is to unlock transformational change based on seeing, understanding, and using gifted abilities and strengths to “work around” challenges.

“I invite my clients into a paradigm shift because my work is about meeting underlying needs in appropriate ways so that challenging behaviors reduce naturally rather than through coercion or rewards,” she said. “One metaphor is that my work acts as a kaleidoscope, bringing many complicated, apparently disparate ‘fragments’ or ‘inexplicable pieces’ of the individual and the family together and into focus as a unified, beautiful picture that allows for positive integration on every level — individual, family, and community. “Each gifted or 2e individual forms an utterly unique, incredibly intricate, and complexly integrated image once the kaleidoscope comes into focus.” Much of van Roden’s work is informed by her own experiences as a twiceexceptional student. In first grade, she was placed in special ed where she felt like she was a “pariah,” but she transferred into the gifted program in fourth grade where she became the “teacher’s pet.”

“I was the same child,” she said. “The change in placement and understanding made all the difference.” Parenting a highly gifted, 2e son has also shaped van Roden’s practice.

“My journey in learning who he is, what he needs, and how to help him allows me to deeply relate to the 2e individuals I serve,” she said.

“There’s nothing wrong with you or your child — here is what you need to know in order to understand your core identity as a gifted person.”

Van Roden began working exclusively with the gifted and 2e populations 10 years ago. She has become a key leader in the twice-exceptional movement in the Pacific Northwest. From her involvement in organizations such as Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted, to providing resources, training, and workshops for parents and professionals, van Roden has made significant strides in building a well-connected twice-exceptional community in the Seattle region.

Last November, she organized “A Gifted and 2e Symposium,” which drew over 100 parents and professionals to learn about topics such as anxiety and perfectionism, diagnosis and treatment, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and medication, spectrum disorders, occupational therapy, and school options. The symposium was a major step forward in building a strong network of 2e professionals in the Pacific Northwest who can share information and resources.

“Our goal is to enhance each others’ knowledge and understanding of 2e while also working together to provide wrap-around care to the whole 2e family,” she said. “We want to shift away from the current paradigm of 2e kids being sent to a variety of professionals who never communicate with one another and aren’t on the same page.”

Toward this end, van Roden also co-founded an organization of psychotherapists with her colleague, Gloria Sanford, called Gifted Together, LLC. Sanford and van Roden established a central location near Seattle where gifted and 2e individuals and their families can access information, treatment, care, resources, professional referrals, training, support, and community around the issues that impact their lives.

“The 2e life experience is often one of isolation and feeling ‘different’ without any explanation for the differences,” van Roden said. “Without understanding core gifted traits, many are left with the question ‘What is wrong with me?’ or ‘What is wrong with my child?’ We answer that question with, ‘There’s nothing wrong with you or your child — here is what you need to know in order to understand your core identity as a gifted person.’” For van Roden, the most gratifying moments of her job come when she witnesses a child or parent make this shift in understanding.

“It leads to an ability to build tools for self-care that really work to reduce anxiety and create new patterns of growth and health,” she said. “In the same manner, increased understanding allows parents to provide their child with the support they need.” Ultimately, van Roden is continually guided by the belief that this shift in mindset can change her clients’ lives, as it “empowers individuals to accept themselves, find their people, and have a community that supports them.”

Sarah Wayland RDI-Consultant, Parenting Coach & Trainer Guiding Exceptional Parents, LLC

People to Watch DR. SARAH WAYLAND’S

doctoral work in cognitive psychology explored spoken language processing problems after a traumatic brain injury. Little did she know how important this training would be as she sought to support her own gifted children who were experiencing expressive and receptive language delays. She was introduced to the idea of twiceexceptionality and connected with the organization Uniquely Gifted, becoming a co-moderator for a parent discussion group. “Reading the stories of the parents who posted there and watching them support their children, I learned a lot about parenting in general, and what really worked in supporting complex kids with both gifts and challenges,” Wayland said. “My passion for supporting these children and their families grew to be a calling.”

This calling led her to open Guiding Exceptional Parents, an organization that offers services, coaching, workshops, and community connections for parents supporting children with disabilities. Wayland serves in multiple roles, helping parents determine the appropriate supports for their children through medical, educational, and communitybased programs, as well as developing and implementing specific strategies in response to challenging situations and behavioral issues. She also works as a consultant, guiding parents whose children struggle with social communications to learn to create and maintain positive interpersonal relationships.

In addition to working directly with families, Wayland has presented workshops, hosted online training sessions, and helped to develop training programs for educators, clinicians, and employers. Recently, she co-hosted an Online Parenting Autism Summit, interviewing 32 of the world’s autism and parenting experts. Summits like these provide much needed support and resources for

parents on the most effective parenting approaches and strategies for kids with high-functioning autism. Wayland said parents need to be mindful of their personal health in order to support their children.

“You can’t care for your child unless you first put on your own oxygen mask,” she said. “I hated it when people told me this when my children were young. It felt impossible. But as I got older, I realized it was literally a matter of life or death.”

Wayland loves what she does. She sees it as a privilege to be able to make a difference in the lives of children, parents, and teachers. In the future, she plans to continue to host the Parenting Autism & ADHD Online summits. She is also working with her colleague Penny Williams to create an online program called “The Behavior Revolution” to provide training to support adults so that they can help their children while also feeling supported. Wayland is also a prolific writer. Her book Technology Tools for Students

“You can’t care for your child unless you first put on your own oxygen mask. I hated it when people told me this when my children were young. ... But as I got older, I realized it was literally a matter of life or death.” Parents should also work like detectives, investigating any changes they observe in their children. If they say something or do something that is unusual for them, Wayland encourages parents to investigate until they understand what happened and why. Most importantly, she said, parents need to take time to listen.

Wayland said parents should prioritize areas to work on with their children rather than trying to address all of their apparent issues at once. This small-steps approach enables them to maintain their sense of value and achieve success in stages. Wayland counsels parents to avoid taking their children’s actions personally, instead realizing they are having a hard time, not trying to give their parents a hard time. “No child wakes up wanting to make their parents, teacher, or friend angry,” she said. “You have to quit taking it personally.”

with Autism offers an in-depth look at technologies and supports for learners with autism to enable them to fully participate in their classroom and community. The book serves as a valuable handbook for all teachers because it demonstrates how using technology effectively enhances the educational experiences of students with autism. She also writes numerous papers that she presents at scientific meetings around the world.

Wayland is also a member of the GT/ LD Network in Montgomery County, Maryland, a board member of the Gifted Different Learners Association in Howard County, an online discussion moderator and occasional board member of Prince George’s County Talented And Gifted, and a board member of the Special Education Citizens’ Advisory Committee of Prince George’s County.

Aida Younis Specialist & Researcher of Giftedness & Twice-Exceptionality British University in Dubai, UAE

People to Watch DURING HER TEACHING

career, Dr. Aida Younis was not afraid to take on leadership roles as she developed integrated curriculum and honed instructional methods for gifted students. Twice-exceptional learners, however, were a mystery to her. While teaching economics, world history, and business to high school students in Dubai, she noticed that some of her students struggled in some subjects due to certain identified learning disabilities, but they were also extremely bright in other areas. She was intrigued by their learning profiles.

These students seemed “psychologically exhausted as if they had been through a tough and overwhelming journey,” she observed. Fast forward to today, and Younis has launched an advocacy campaign through mass media to raise awareness of twice-exceptionality in Lebanon and has become known to some as “The Ambassador of Twice-Exceptionality in the Middle East.” Her own journey started with those psychologically exhausted students.

Some of the students had labels and perceptions associated with learning disabilities that weighed them down. But as Younis worked closely with these students, she began to understand the complexity of their learning profiles and identify their extraordinary gifts and formidable challenges. When a colleague in the United States explained this phenomenon as twiceexceptionality, Younis shifted her focus from general gifted education to the twice-exceptional population as she worked toward her doctoral degree. As is often the case for professionals who go into the field of twiceexceptionality, Younis realized that she had a personal connection to 2e individuals. Using the lens of 2e, she reflected on the challenges her cousin had growing up as a gifted pianist, performer, and composer who also showed signs of high-functioning autism. He was initally misdiagnosed

by a psychologist and did not receive support due to the taboo a diagnosis can bring to the family. Cultural factors also discouraged him from pursuing a career as a pianist. So his musical ability was not celebrated or encouraged by his family, who pressured him toward science-oriented careers like medicine and engineering.

beyond the UAE involved an immense amount of time. Translating between English and Arabic also hampered her process, as Arabic words to describe twice-exceptionality are unclear and in flux. Variations in regional dialects between countries further complicate disseminating information about 2e effectively.

Having now completed her doctorate, Younis is engaging with organizations that support twice-exceptional students. She is the first doctoral student to examine twice-exceptionality in the Middle East, leading to the “Ambassador of 2e” moniker. Her work is transdisciplinary in nature, applying ideas drawn from her business and economics background to the field of education. She had two studies about gifted education in Dubai published in the West East Institute Journal in 2018 and 2019, and her work was shared with the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children in 2019. In general, her research in 2e also includes studies about dyslexia, dysgraphia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and cognitive differences.

For now, Younis is working in Lebanon but plans to collaborate with media outlets throughout the Middle East to pursue advocacy efforts. This work has been bolstered by the support of the Access Foundation, which originated to support education, livelihood, and entrepreneurs in emerging countries. Her work with this foundation led to the installation of a special education center at a local orphanage. She conducts workshops on giftedness in schools to raise awareness of twiceexceptionality and is designing a system to identify and support the education of twice-exceptional students. Over the long term, Younis is working on developing and implementing an outreach awareness program for parents, educators, and policy makers throughout the Middle East.

“As a 2e advocate, I am seeking transformation in the education and place of twice-exceptional children in society.”

Younis, who is fluent in English, French, and Arabic, had to push through with her passion, vision, and the trust of her doctoral advisor to pursue her transdisciplinary, transformative research because there was no literature available about twice-exceptionality in the United Arab Emirates. Soliciting media channels for her 2e advocacy campaign within and

The families that were part of Younis’ doctoral research had received support because of parent initiative, effort, and concern, not because of a teacher referral. Culturally, no teacher would ever bring “shame” to a family by mentioning a child’s learning challenges. For students whose disabilities are identified, educators would focus on the student’s weakness, even if that student were twice-exceptional. In these situations, accurate diagnoses can be delayed or missed entirely.

“As a 2e advocate, I am seeking transformation in the education and place of twice-exceptional children in society,” she said.

Just Bagatelles...

A bagatelle can be a board game, a pastry, or a short piece of music. In any of its uses, the term usually refers to something amusing, on the small side, light, and mellow in character. Music dictionaries define bagatelle as a “short, unpretentious, instrumental composition of a light style with no specific form,” with the term dating back to 1717 and baroque composer François Couperin. Beethoven probably wrote more bagatelles than anyone else. We can’t compete with Beethoven, but we at Variations2e are pleased to bring you a few bagatelles of our own. Enjoy … but only a little. They’re just bagatelles!

bagatelles

WHAT DO YOU SEE? Jean Piaget, one of the most famous educational psychologists and contributors to the theory and practice of education, is credited with a remarkably insightful thought: “What we see changes what we know. What we know changes what we see.” No doubt this quote has all sorts of interpretations and applications. But in the cognitively diverse world of 2e learners and others, it holds special importance. When we know how a child is cognitively diverse, we see a different student in front of us. We see a child with potential, hope, and aspirations. As educators, training our brains to practice this type of interaction between knowledge and observation is key to helping 2e students succeed.

LAYING THE GROUNDWORK & BUILDING CONNECTIONS

EDUCATION REFORM MOVEMENTS Well, we tried to do a “bagatelle-style” (short, minimal depth, for fun) research project on educational reform movements around the world. As it turns out, it is impossible — a bagatelle has its limits. However you define an “educational reform movement,” you are going to find hundreds if not thousands of major and minor reforms to education over the last two centuries. Many movements are centered on increasing access and equity in school systems. Others are driven by the desire to change curricula and pedagogy. What is apparent is there is a lot at stake, and a lot of people taking part in the discussions. Hopefully, benefiting students is front and center.

“Learning and the Brain” has become a hot topic in education over the past 20 years. With advances in neuroscience imaging and research, this frontier is only just opening up. One aspect of this field is affective neuroscience, which deals with the neural networks and mechanisms of human emotions. A bagatelle-style retrospective into the subject finds physiologist Sigmund Exner, psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, and French physician Israel Waynbaum as early pioneers in the field. Though lacking the brainmapping tools and anatomical science we have today, they developed a workable neural network theory of emotion by the early 20th century. Subsequent work examining the limbic system contributed immensely to the field. If you are interested in how this work relates to education, there are many people who have applied affective neuroscience in the classroom. Spend some time researching and reading. You will find it fascinating and useful as a teacher or parent.

RECOGNIZING POTENTIAL The 2019 Global Teacher Prize winner Peter Tabichi believes that developing the potential of both teachers and students is a goal of all educational systems everywhere. As a science teacher at Keriko Mixed Day School in Pwani Village, Kenya, Tabichi has been praised for his achievements at his school, challenged with crowded classes and limited textbooks. After starting a talent nurturing club and expanding the school’s science club, his pupils have been successful in national and international science competitions, including winning an award from the Royal Society of Chemistry in the U.K. He wants pupils to see that “science is the way to go” for their futures and raise aspirations for them to become world-renowned scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs.

PURPOSE, MENTORS, AND COMMITMENT Although Johanna Mansfield Sullivan Macy, better known as Anne Sullivan, grew up in exceptionally difficult circumstances, her fierce determination drove her to graduate at the top of her class at Perkins School for the Blind. Having learned how to fingerspell from Laura Bridgman, the first person with deafblindness to receive a formal education, Sullivan was particularly well positioned to tutor Helen Keller. Her teaching methods were guided by Keller’s interests, which helped Keller quickly expand her vocabulary and capacity for language. Sullivan went on to mentor and tutor Keller for the next 39 years of her life, helping Keller earn a bachelor’s degree and publish 12 books. Together they worked for the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) to advocate for the blind and deafblind populations. Their relationship is a prime example of what is possible when a student has a passionate and dedicated mentor.

bagatelles

INSIGHT, CREATIVITY, AND PEDAGOGY Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel was a 19th-century German pedagogue who laid the foundation for modern education based on the recognition that children have unique needs and capabilities. He was among the first people to highlight the importance of early years in a child’s development and believed that children learned best through self-activity, talk, and play. He felt children needed to be nurtured and caringly tended to like plants in a garden. Hence, he founded an early education program for young children, which he called kindergarten. It was a place where children could develop and flourish freely through self-directed play under the guidance, not direction, of the teacher. More than 90 kindergartens were opened in Germany over the course of his lifetime.

VISION, PASSION, AND GRIT You probably wouldn’t believe us if we told you it is possible to open a school for the same price as a pack of gum. But in 1904, Mary McLeod Bethune did just that. With $1.50, Bethune opened a school for African American girls in Daytona, Florida, which later merged with the all-male Cookman Institute to become what is now Bethune-Cookman University. She became president of the school in 1923 and thus the first Black woman to hold that role at a college in the U.S. Driven by a strong commitment to racial justice and women’s rights, Bethune founded numerous organizations, led events, and later became a leader in FDR’s unofficial “Black cabinet.” Her work laid the foundation for future educators and activists to continue the fight for equality.

Recognizing and Meeting the Needs of 2e Students

CRI TI CAL RE COMME NDAT IO NS FO R PAR E NT S AND E D U CATO RS by Danika Maddocks

YOU MAY HAVE HEARD

stereotypes about gifted students — that they are verbally precocious, academically capable, and intellectually quick. But not all gifted kids match these stereotypes, and gifted kids with learning differences (twice-exceptional or 2e) often defy them. Most people familiar with 2e students know that some gifted students read slowly, forget math facts, or struggle to express themselves in writing. Perhaps because they often don’t fit the stereotype of a gifted child or a student with a learning difference, some experts believe 2e students go unrecognized or aren’t identified until late in their academic careers.

When it comes to cognitive abilities and academic skills, how are 2e students different from gifted students without a learning disability, and how do they differ from their neurotypical peers? These are the questions I sought to answer in my recent research study, “Cognitive and Achievement Characteristics of Students from a National Sample Identified as Potentially Twice Exceptional (Gifted with a Learning Disability),” published in Gifted Child Quarterly in January 2020. The goal for the study was to help educators, parents, and psychologists more accurately recognize and support 2e students. The study used a nationally representative group of students in Grades K-12 who completed a standardized set of cognitive and achievement tests: the Woodcock

Johnson IV Tests of Cognitive Abilities and Academic Achievement. Students scoring in the top 10 percent on general, verbal, and/or reasoning ability were classified as potentially gifted. Students with a deficit in processing speed, working memory, long-term memory, or auditory/ phonological processing who performed worse than expected in one or more academic areas given their cognitive ability were classified as potentially twice-exceptional. Another subset of students was classified as potentially average ability because they had overall ability scores in the average range and no clear academic weakness. The study compared the 2e group to the average-ability and gifted groups to determine whether 2e students had notable strengths and weaknesses compared to their peers. As expected, 2e students’ verbal abilities were just as strong as those of their gifted peers, but the group also displayed deficits in processing abilities more frequently than the other groups. Surprisingly, almost half of the 2e group had a deficit in processing speed specifically, meaning they processed information and completed tasks more slowly than their same-age peers. As a group, the 2e students earned a lower processing speed score than either comparison group. The most defining characteristic of 2e students, though, was their heterogeneous performance across tasks. In the general population, cognitive abilities are positively

correlated with one another; people who score high in one aspect of intelligence tend to score high in others. With the 2e students, however, notable cognitive deficits existed alongside notable cognitive strengths — not only strengths in reasoning and verbal skills but also in some processing abilities. For example, a 2e student with belowaverage processing speed who thought more slowly than others could also have above-average long-term memory abilities that would allow them to learn and remember more than their peers. Alternatively, a 2e student with an auditory processing deficit might have difficulty sounding out words and spelling yet have very quick thinking speed overall.

These students also had particularly large discrepancies between their cognitive scores, where relatively consistent performance is the norm. The average discrepancy between verbal and reasoning abilities for the 2e group was almost 24 points — over 1.5 standard deviations — compared to about 11 points for neurotypical peers and 17 points for gifted peers. The discrepancy between 2e students’ processing speed and their verbal or reasoning scores was similarly large, between 22 and 26 points. Even though composite intelligence scores such as the full-scale IQ are traditionally considered the gold standard for gifted identification, these scores actually obscure 2e students’ specific strengths and weaknesses because the scores illustrate the average level of

performance instead of showing the 2e students’ remarkable highs and lows. Perhaps because they often don’t fit the stereotype of a gifted child or a student with a learning difference, many 2e students go unrecognized or aren’t identified until late in their academic careers.

Academically, 2e students as a group performed only slightly better than the average-ability group on most academic tasks. On timed tests of reading, math, and writing, they did not outperform average-ability peers and sometimes performed worse, likely because of their slower processing speed. As with cognitive abilities, though, 2e students’ academic performance varied. Despite poor performance in one or more areas, 2e students often excelled in their areas of strength. More than 40 percent of 2e students performed in the top 10 percent in at least one area of academic achievement, and 13 percent performed in the top two percent. Some students excelled and lagged in the same domain, depending on the task. For example, some students were able to solve math word problems above their grade level but completed math facts slowly or inaccurately. Clearly, these students need to be supported or accommodated in some areas and challenged academically in others.

It is important to note that although some common themes were identified in the cognitive and academic performance of these students, there was no single 2e profile nor even several profiles to easily classify students by a pattern of strengths and weaknesses. Instead, variability was the rule. Based on the results of this study, I recommend that parents, teachers, and other providers: • De-emphasize speed. Almost half of the 2e students had deficits in processing speed, and as a group they performed poorly on timed tasks,

even when they were able to excel on untimed tasks in the same subject area. As much as possible, avoid speeded tasks to identify or instruct students who are gifted or 2e.

• Pursue additional testing. If teachers and parents notice students who have discrepancies in abilities or uneven performance on tasks, such as a student with strong conceptual understanding who has difficulty keeping up with work, or if they suspect that a student may be gifted, have a learning disability, or be twice-exceptional, the next critical step is to pursue additional testing. A psychoeducational evaluation is the best way to understand a student’s cognitive and academic strengths and weaknesses. Such evaluations are sometimes available through a student’s school or through a community mental health center, university, or private practitioner. • Examine performance in specific areas. Because 2e students’ performance is so variable, it is critical that educators and evaluators examine students’ performance in specific areas of ability and achievement to ensure that individual strengths and weaknesses are identified instead of obscured. For example, teachers should consider reading accuracy, reading comprehension, and reading speed as three separate skills and look for students with notable gifts or deficits in any one. Psychologists and school psychologists should follow the recommendations of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC, 2018) and use cognitive ability scores that focus on specific ability domains (e.g., verbal, fluid reasoning, or nonverbal reasoning) instead of focusing on the more traditional summary IQ score. • Develop dually differentiated educational plans. Twice-exceptional students have real academic strengths and require academic challenges that meet them at their level. At the same time, these students have real cognitive deficits that make some academic tasks

difficult or unnecessarily demanding. Provide accommodations and assistive technology to reduce frustration and support achievement in students’ areas of disability. The results of this research suggest that 2e students can sometimes excel in areas of strength without remediation of basic skills, particularly if appropriate accommodations are made. References National Association for Gifted Children. (2018). Use of the WISC-V for gifted and twice exceptional identification.

Danika Maddocks

Danika Maddocks earned her doctorate in school psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to her doctoral studies, Danika taught elementary and middle school and earned a master’s degree in developmental psychology at San Francisco State University. Her research interests include intelligence, assessment, students who are gifted or twice-exceptional, and the role of motivation and emotion in teaching and learning. Danika’s clinical experience includes individual, family, and group therapy; school consultation; teacher coaching; and assessment, including collaborative/therapeutic assessment. 55

The Ed Therapy Perspective AN EARLY FOCUS ON STRENGTHS BENEFITS 2E STUDENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES

PARENTING IS A COMPLEX

job that becomes even more so when one or more children are twice-exceptional. “The term twiceexceptional describes someone whose learning patterns have characteristics on both ends of the scale,” including learning disabilities and high abilities (Baum, et al., 2017, p.7). There is no authoritative guidebook that parents might consult regarding their 2e child’s paradoxical needs at home or at school. With a wealth of knowledge about their child, parents are the experts — but they need resources and suggestions in an atmosphere of mutual trust, respect, and open communication. Finding such an atmosphere can be a challenge.

by Marcy Dann

This article explores how parent intake meetings, guided by principles of educational therapy, can establish meaningful alliances with parents and support a satisfying, solution-driven discussion about how their child’s intellectual, creative, social-emotional, and physical needs can be met in their homes, schools, and communities. Unlike a mid-semester parent-teacher conference, an educational therapist’s (ET) parent intake meeting is held prior to meeting the child to collect parents’ observations of their child’s strengths and challenges. For many parents, these meetings reinforce the importance of their

knowledge and experience with their child. They also set the stage for future collaboration, fruitful home-school partnerships, and productive working relationships with allied professionals who may also be on their child’s team of specialists. This is especially critical for parents of 2e children, as their issues are complex and can be easily misunderstood. It is important to take the time to finesse the language that accurately describes their child. A review of the literature reveals the need for teachers to purposefully partner with parents during a parentteacher conference in order to meet student needs (Driscoll, 1944;

Vignette: Jeff’s Parents Both of Jeff’s parents seemed preoccupied prior to the start of our meeting. I could sense from their body language and facial expressions that they were stressed. Seeking to ease their stress, I reassured them that this would be an enjoyable meeting in which, through shared inquiry, we would proceed to create their 2e child’s learning profile. I asked about Jeff’s strengths, talents, and interests, and listened to his parents’ observations. They each readily responded to my follow-up questions. Even as they spoke about Jeff’s strengths, they had inadvertently shifted to a focus on his weaknesses. To maintain a strength-based inquiry, I guided them to consider under what conditions Jeff was able to experience success. Patterns emerged. Aha moments followed. After the meeting, the parents were visibly enthused. They shared that they had never before attended a meeting where the discussion clarified their own understanding of Jeff’s 2e asynchronous profile. They had been anxious at the start of our meeting due to their history of tension and confusion with administrators and educators in past school meetings. Yet after this initial parent meeting, their enthusiasm, relief, and gratitude were a result of the trust we had established. Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2003; Lemmer, 2012). The literature explores ways to diminish the participants’ perceptions of being blamed. “In short, parents and teachers approach conferences apprehensive about being criticized” (Pillet-Shore, 2016, p. 6). The parent conference is an occasion to establish cooperation between the family and school, and the partnership is dependent on the teacher communicating about their student’s performance in class.

However, while everyone agrees that the parent-teacher conference is a critical occasion, the skills of how to run meetings must include taking care to recognize different perspectives without tension.

The Initial Parent Meeting The driving principles of a parent intake meeting led by an educational therapist are predominantly set to ensure open and trusted communication that focuses on the child’s complex learning profile. The training of an ET develops the skills to recognize and manage differing perspectives among students, parents, and teachers as they work to cultivate the student’s

cognitive and social-emotional growth. Having this ability equips the ET with a holistic vantage point free of the hindrances of any single perspective. “How educational therapists perceive the child, parents, and the ecocultural contexts of that child’s life may differ from the manner in which the client and/or school perceives a specific situation or meeting” (Ficksman and Adelizzi, 2018, p. 5).

Educational therapists consult with parents throughout the year as they work on individualized, intensive, and ongoing bases with schoolaged students in clinical practice. In addition, “ETs continually reassess their perceptions of the process in order to ensure effective communication and outcomes through collaboration, helping to reframe perceptions in a more positive light when necessary” (p. 6). While the student is the focus, the parent’s perspective is integral. “This partnership is key in moving the client from one level of learning and functioning to the next, allowing the client to experience incremental positive changes and success that will provide their enthusiasm to approach

the next challenge” (p. 12). Kass writes about the educational therapist’s role, “All things being equal and the therapist is competent to deal with the client’s particular issues(s), the primary factor regarding whether or not the ET works with the client will be the therapist’s personality, sensitivity to the issues faced by the parent and child, and the ET’s ability to build initial rapport with both the parent and child” (p. 32). While the focus of a parent-teacher conference is to involve the parents in their child’s education, by comparison, a parent intake meeting allows for deep discussion around a multitude of academic and social-emotional issues. “The ET also needs to ask the right questions in order to formulate several possible hypotheses about the child and the family. At the very least, the ET must obtain information about the presenting problem, school history, intervention history, the social context of the child and the family, and the sense of the parents’ ability to partner with the ET” (p. 34).

Building Bridges Creating an enjoyable atmosphere is integral to the success of the parent meeting where attendees feel empowered to contribute to their child’s learning profile. The ET sets the tone and models sensitivity and warmth. Eager anticipation is palpable.

Educational therapists use family counseling theory to build bridges with parents. This prioritizes a shared inquiry, solution-focused approach to identify where change is needed and coordinate the support efforts of the family, school, and educational therapist. This discussion about different developmental expectations invites lasting collaboration as a 2e child presents asynchronous skills that change over time. As a “knowledgeable, experienced, helpful, and empathic” professional, the ET demystifies complex situations to prioritize the academic and curricular demands, social-emotional needs, and parental expectations (Kass, 2018, p. 34).

Stages of Communication According to Briggs (1998), there are four phases of communication strategies used in a parent meeting that enable an inquiry-based, solutionfocused approach. In the first phase, the goal is to achieve shared meaning. The ET invites the parents to tell their story about their observations of their child. The ET asks questions for further inquiry and mirrors comments to ensure that the parents have been heard. The ET might offer developmental guidance that their child is delayed, advanced, or within expected limits. The parents are seen as the expert and provided with hope and reassurance. The ET restates the parent’s concern or question before moving on to the second phase.

Phase 2 is focused on seeking solutions. If the parents describe the undesirable actions of their child, then the ET asks the parents to identify exceptions. Are there any times at which their child is successful? The ET reframes comments as needed for the accurate use of terminology or clarity. Scaling is helpful when the ET asks the parents to rate the behavior from 0 to 5 on a scale showing concern. Phase 3 is about selecting strategies that allow the change to take place. The ET creates an initial positive question for the parents to answer and asks the parents to identify what they would expect their child’s growth to look like with change. These expectations vary from parent to parent.

Phase 4 focuses on planning future contracts. The ET asks the “miracle question,” challenging parents to envision the most positive outcome possible. In addition to the words expressed, the ET recognizes tone of voice and body language, which can communicate intense feelings and messages beyond what is spoken. Throughout the meeting, the ET listens intently. They listen for the order in which stories are told — sequence matters. The most important comment might be shared first, or at the very 58

Vignette: Jim’s Parents To set the visibly distressed parents at ease, I assured them that the purpose of the initial parent intake would be discussing their child’s strength-based learning profile. I started to ask about their observations of their child’s talents, strengths, and interests, but the parents wanted to begin with their overriding concerns. They wanted me to know about his poor grades and behaviors at home and at school. They were perplexed by his seeming lack of interest in learning and were growing concerned about his anger management issues. Yet they insisted that he was smart. Exhausted even by the telling of it all, they seemed helpless with the daily disappointments and ensuing arguments with Jim. They wondered if their parent-child relationship would ever recover, and even if it were possible, they didn’t know how to begin thinking about making any changes without anticipating further strife. I listened intently and made sure that I had captured their exact words, without judgment, asking pertinent follow-up questions to clarify my understanding. I was beginning to connect the dots and create hypotheses about Jim’s patterns. Rarely do I find that both parents have the same concerns about their child and when they do, they often differ in intensity. However, these parents were in sync and in despair. As we discussed their child, I learned valuable information from the things they shared. So much so, I had to refocus our discussion in order to cover additional areas such as school history and their observations of their child’s traits and temperaments. Juggling the set of questions that are typically asked, I was aware of the passage of time that we had set aside. I noticed that any signs of earlier stress were gone in the focus we placed on their child. Strategies had been selected. Even though the change would occur within the family, by telling their story and investing their time meeting with a specialist, they seemed to feel heard and understood. By the end of the meeting, the parents, visibly relieved, shared that our meeting wasn’t what they had been expecting given their history of team meetings in previous school settings. Yet, trust had been established through a mutual understanding of their child’s learning profile. When weaknesses were brought up as they shared their child’s strengths, the parents were provided with a perspective that allowed them to understand why or how these patterns occurred along with suggestions on how to approach upcoming scenarios which they were sure would spring up again in the daily routines of school and family. As we reached the end of the meeting, the parents were visibly moved with tears in their eyes. They looked at each other, agreeing that they had never had a meeting in which their child’s asynchronous profile was understood even with the perceived academic failures, social-emotional concerns, and behavioral problems. I was glad that my training as an educational therapist prepared me to meet these parents’ needs, effectively assist their understanding of their child, and make suggestions for home and school. I wished parents did not seem so isolated in their concern and confusion. What can we ask, say, and do, to meet the needs of parents with 2e children?

end, nearly missing the chance to be expressed at all. There is specific meaning in word choice and phrases if they are spoken once or repeated. The ET listens carefully for what is not shared, but might be present, given the context. The parents may be uncertain, but may be willing to risk sharing vulnerable information. If the conversation veers into other psychological issues outside the realm of an ET’s area of expertise, then an appropriate referral may be made.

2e Student Profiles To create a 2e client profile, the information that is gathered in a parent intake meeting is reviewed, along with any previous formal assessments, teacher comments, and any input from an allied professional such as, but not limited to, a psychologist. Additionally, traits of temperament, multiple intelligences (Gardner, 2006), and personality preferences (Baum & Nicols, 2004) are identified through formal and informal assessments, with parent and teacher involvement. All together, an understanding of the client’s strengths, interests, and talents emerge. “When we shift away from their deficits to focus on their strengths, 2e students begin to succeed academically. Their sense of self becomes more positive, and that helps them to become ‘emotionally available’ for learning” (Baum et al., 2017, p. 194). The strength-based learning profile of a 2e student supports the development of a talent-focused plan and program. The necessary components for a comprehensive plan require flexibility and include talent development, challenging curriculum, differentiated instruction, and compensation strategies including accommodations, social-emotional support, and targeted remediation where warranted (Baum, et al., 2017. p 144). It is imperative to seek talent development opportunities for clients at school, at home, and in the larger community. Given there is much to gather, consider, and prioritize in an intake meeting, the educational therapist relies on the parents as experts, even as the

parents rely on the ET as an expert in the field. Comprised of the efforts of the parents, teachers, and other professionals, the 2e client profile reflects an accurate snapshot of the child in a moment of time and becomes a reminder of positive development as the child matures. As such, when parent perspectives are identified and supported, the joyful result is an ongoing collaboration that takes time to develop, but the positive outcomes are felt exponentially at home, at school, and in the community for the foreseeable future. References Baum, S.M., Schader, R. M., & Owen, S. V. (2017). To be gifted and learning disabled: Strength-based strategies for helping twice exceptional students with LD, ADHD, ASD, and more. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press. Briggs, Margaret H. (1998). Families talk: Building partnerships for communicative change. Topics in Language Disorders (18), 71-84.

Ficksman, M. & Adelizzi, J. U. (2018). The clinical practice of educational therapy: Learning and functioning with diversity. NY: Routledge.

Marcy Dann

Marcy Dann has been in clinical practice for 35-plus years. She is currently the coordinator for the master’s and post-master’s certificate programs in educational therapy at California State University at Northridge, as well as an instructor and supervisor. Marcy is the educational therapist at Bridges Academy, a school for twice-exceptional students in the Los Angeles area. She was president of the Association of Educational Therapists from 2010 - 2012 and was honored by AET as a fellow for her exceptional work performed on behalf of the profession of educational therapy.

Kass, K. (2018). Developmental stages of the educational therapy process. In Ficksman & Adelizzi (Eds.), The clinical practice of educational therapy: Learning and functioning with diversity (pp. 27–44). NY: Routledge.

Pillet-Shore, D. (2016). Criticizing another’s child: How teachers evaluate students during parent-teacher conferences. Language in Society, 45(1), 33-58.

SMA RT BO O KS FO R S MART KID S

S O ME T IME S W HE N I ’M SA D BY D E B O RAH S ERAN I, P sy.D. A book review by Bob Seney

In both my writing and speaking engagements, I have suggested that one of the very positive aspects in the current development of gifted education is the growing emphasis on the social-emotional growth of gifted individuals. Fortunately, this is now trickling over into concern for the social-emotional well-being of all students, and it is certainly a special concern in working with 2e individuals. It is even more crucial during this time of pandemic and social isolation. Our children are hurting. Fortunately, authors and professionals in the fields of education and psychology are publishing much needed highquality resources to fill this vacuum. Among these resources are books written for children that help them begin to make sense of their feelings and emotions. One great example is Sometimes When I’m Sad, written by Deborah Serani, Psy.D. and illustrated by Kyra Teis. Serani’s narrative follows a young lad who describes how he feels and what he does when he is sad. He meets a counselor who helps him navigate through and cope with his sadness. The counselor reassures the boy that his feelings are valid, but advises to not let his sadness consume him, saying, “It’s okay to cry … It’s okay to hide, but not for a long time.”

The major message of Sometimes When I’m Sad is that it is okay to be sad, but “sometimes sadness can get so big that it takes up all the space where happiness should be.” The narrative is simple, yet very direct, and wonderfully portrays the reality of sadness in children’s lives. The book is listed at a second-grade reading level, but with its high-quality writing and the sensitive illustrations, it can easily be used with a wide variety of ages.

Sometimes illustrations in picture books simply provide decoration; sometimes they support and enhance the text. Other times illustrations are a sophisticated and integral part of telling the story and provide information not articulated in the text. It is in this third sense that the illustrations in Sometimes When I’m Sad bring this striking book to life. The execution and media of the illustrations stem from Kyra Teis’s

unique artistic approach. Teis describes her art as a digital collage, which involves a process of scanning blotted papers and layering the scanned papers to create digital textures. Her illustrations beautifully render the young lad’s various facial expressions and give the reader a deeper insight into his emotional journey throughout the story.

Another significant element of Sometimes When I’m Sad is the endnotes section provided by the author called “Helping Children Through Sadness: A Guide for Caring Adults.” This resource includes sections on “How to Spot Sadness in Children of Differing Ages,” “Ways to Reduce Sadness in Children,” “When to Seek Professional Help,” and a “Resource List” with additional books for teachers, parents, and students.

These seven pages alone are well worth the price of the book. I highly recommend this book, as it is an important resource for guiding our children in meeting and responding to the sadness they may be experiencing. Happy reading!

Bob Seney, Ph.D., professor emeritus of Mississippi University for Women, has worked in gifted education for over 45 years as classroom instructor, district administrator, head of private schools, and university professor. He was the director of graduate programs in education and the primary instructor in the gifted studies master’s program at Mississippi Univ. His recent publications include Bob Seney on Books, A Collection of Columns from the 2eNewsletter, and he is co-author of NAGC’s “Needs and Approaches for Educators and Parents of LGBTQ Students.” He is most well-known for his work with gifted readers, earning him the unofficial title: The Book Guy.

Rocking a 2e Mind AARO N HAGAR

Interview by Stuart Matranga

Exceptionality proves the rule in the case of Aaron Hagar. He survived a fragmented education, a heart attack at age 33, and being the son of a rock star to forge a life of creativity and purpose. At 50, happily married, and a father of three, Hagar has a thriving vocation as the impresario of Rat Runners Garage in Lake Tahoe, California, where he resurrects classic cars, restoring them to glory while still preserving the hardearned patina from their long lives on the road. This is an apt metaphor in the case of a person who spent the early years of his childhood living in a Volkswagen Bug while his father, the pre-Van Halen Sammy Hagar, struggled to sing for their supper in early ‘70s San Francisco. After a few false starts and wrong turns, Hagar found his own way. What role did school play in your development as a person? I grew up through the Waldorf School system and free-range parenting, but when I got older, because my family was touring most of the year, I was sent to a boarding school in New York that was more of a farm. It helped me claim some independence. We grew, raised, and slaughtered our own food, did our own laundry, cooked for ourselves, and had a lot of responsibilities. It was not until I got to high school that academics got in the way of life. I went to high school in Pebble Beach, California, but would drive down to Los Angeles every weekend to work on independent films, doing everything from sets to prosthetics. I loved it. I moved my school schedule around to accommodate my film work. I’d leave on Thursdays and get back on Mondays — without sleeping. Then I’d be more often working on zombie heads than my schoolwork. The theater program got to utilize some of those skills in their productions, and that was really fun. In that sense, school didn’t get in my way, except for subjects like math and history or things that I had to remember a lot of information. I guess my 2e brain was distracted, but I made it work.

How did your father’s career affect you? He grew up really poor and has been hardened by life. He eventually had success but played it very conservatively throughout. He has a very different relationship to money than I do. That’s where we don’t see eye to eye. I see money as a tool of necessity, not something I count on. He just doesn’t see the world from my point of view. My father always says you have to be the master of one thing and be the best in the world at it. He criticizes me for turning opportunities away. He says, you only get one shot and you have to take it. I’ve always disagreed with that. I never got one shot. I got four shots, five shots, 10 shots, and continuously see more. I turn opportunities away sometimes because I don’t need to make the compromises. I don’t need to be a rock star. I have a wonderful life and part of that is because I have time and space. Privilege has helped that, it’s opened a lot of doors, but I earned my way. I’ve worked corporate jobs, I restore cars, I do commissioned artwork, I play music, I’m working on a children’s book now. I’m skilled at many things and am always learning and growing, and never

feeling like I’m at the top of anything. That keeps me hungry, too. It’s more important to me to be versatile and adaptive and not be rigid.

How does that get passed on to your three kids? My son has my brain. Call it twiceexceptional, or just different. He’s got a mechanical brain and a creative brain where he sees things differently. My daughters are a bit different than that. But most of what I say to my kids flies over their heads. I don’t think it’s necessarily an ADHD thing. It’s just that life has so many distractions now. That doesn’t stop when you get out of school. Although, I really wish I knew more about my wiring when I was growing up so that I could have had a better understanding of my place in this big world. You have to know yourself to know how you fit in. What’s the hardest thing you had to deal with? I had a heart attack at age 33. It was 100 percent stress related. I had no pre-existing heart conditions. The emotional stress of my first marriage was really taxing. What I was trying to do to appeal to someone who did not

understand me created a huge conflict. It literally killed me. I didn’t know I had a heart attack. By the time I got to the hospital my heart had stopped. I was resuscitated on the table after my brain had been deprived of oxygen for some time. It did some damage. It’s better now, but for the first few years it was rough. I still have a really hard time drawing up memories in my life. I managed to recover through getting back to nature and art and that gave me a profound sense of being. I got married again to a wonderful woman. I started this business.

Looking inward, trying to find out why I died, it’s made me a little liberated, given me less baggage in life, more of a childhood sense of wonder and excitement. The most profound thing I learned is the responsibility of how we affect others. When I had the heart attack, it helped me be more present and to see my life as a life of service. I realized that if you can chase things that aren’t ordinary, you can have a very special and fulfilling life and share that with others and it adds a certain drive to your life.

Because not all great minds think alike Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education

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Bridges Graduate School inspires and develops innovative leaders of positive change. The majority of courses are completed online, with in-person summer residencies on the Bridges Academy campus in Studio City, CA.

Faculty are scholars, researchers, authors, experienced teachers, and professionals in gifted and special education, psychology, talent development, creativity, neuroscience, and leadership. For more information, visit graduateschool.bridges.edu Questions? Email gradschoolinfo@bridges.edu

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