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I’m a twice exceptional Profoundly Gifted person who has no collegiate certifications and who barely graduated with a high school diploma. It’s insane to see media depictions of “Geniuses” as being these wunderkind who were identified early in childhood and rapidly advanced in their education to suit their intellectual needs. Having a history of mental illness, having emotional profundity that’s sometimes out of the realm of control, being an ethnic minority, and having interest that are foreign to most people especially age peers and community peers. I was in special education for the entirety of my high schooling and did not learn what 2e or Profoundly Gifted was until I was nearing my thirties (I’m 32). I have horrible mental math skills which sometimes make it hard to be a cashier (I found out I was inadvertently doing the inverse of whatever function I needed to do in my head) yet can converse in multiple languages and analyze situations and people far more than others around me. I remember other peoples lives better than my own yet misplace everything I own that isn’t bolted down lol. I have very low patience for authority, I hate hypocrisy to a degree that I begin hating myself for being human, and my emotions are felt so deeply that I usually get branded as being illogical even though I think critically and in an interdisciplinary way whereas others are wanting. I piece disparate events together to teach my students that I tutor holistically and to look beyond the surface. How to see patterns in governmental foreign policy from Iran Contra affair, the United States involvement in the Afghan-Soviet conflict, and now with the Ukrainians. I then dissect each event and follow the trajectory to events that are pertinent today such as the crack epidemic and violence amongst African Americans and in the case of our supplying weapons to the Mujihadeen the subsequent formation of the Taliban and the 9/11 attacks due to Osama Bin Laden’s involvement in the conflict. This type of interconnected thinking is a deficit in itself when your mind is making connections that it takes others years and access to higher education to come to. Even describing my mental process sounds like self aggrandizement when In actuality it’s a lamentation. I have to seek fulfillment in things that most people find weird or simply don’t understand. I think people need to understand that these gifts come with deficits in the form of loneliness and stigma. Gifted folks are akin to Prometheus being chained to a mountain and chastised for eternity for providing fire to humanity, or even Icarus flying to close to the sun with wax wings. Thank you for your content :) it’s beneficial and needed!!

As a person who is very intelligent, but also very crazy, who was basically left to raise myself and now live what I can only call a wasted life, this really hits hard.

Being 2e is sometimes like being an Olympic runner with a broken foot or it’s like making a doctor defend someone in court, seen as very smart by my peers, struggling in school but not struggling in more difficult subjects, barely not failing art, everybody thinks I’m the next Picasso because I sometimes hyperfocus on not doing my schoolwork and instead draw hyper realistic portraits of class mates, perfect scores in double advanced math, almost failing basic English. I can go from showing super advanced comprehension to not understanding anything, sometimes I’m the next reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, sometimes I’m freaking out crying and being irritable because someone interrupted me I’m usually not sitting just messing around with random stuff, like can I please get a personal assistant that just keeps me off autopilot and from impulses but also can bring me outside so I can go for a run after near falling asleep in class

Four years of special Ed here (couldn’t count past “7” at 6 years old, couldn’t read until 11 years old, never properly diagnosed, still struggling) and now I’m a grad student doing research in a field that requires both dense theory reading and advanced statistical modeling. The quote by this doctor’s 3rd grader client has me in tears! “Special Ed and school just find what you’re bad at and make you do it over and over again.” I paraphrase.

I'm not diagnosed with ADHD, but I'm starting to relate to a considerable amount of traits. The biggest issue for even beggining to consider I might be ADHD is simply that I always did great in school. For the first years I was deeply interested in all subjects and got good grades, was able to focus and I participated actively in class. Final years of middle school I was not interested anymore, I couldn't focus, I wrote endless stories and waited for class to be over. I would procrastinate until late at night before a test, take in months worth of information in a couple hours and succeed. So my attention dropped, but my grades didn't. And then, throughout highschool, I noticed that no matter what I did, I could not bring myself to complete a task on time, and I struggled tremendously to endure long term projects, such as studying for an exam that determines if you'll get into college in my country (you study for it during the entire year, and it covers basically everything you've ever learned in school) so I couldn't possibly study it all in a couple nights and be done with it. But I was still up there at the top part of rankings, so it was a matter of trying a little bit harder right? Well, it's scary for me to realize I function under my actual potential because I can't seem to get things done. I can write and obsess over something for hours straight but if it is to study a subject I know for a fact I'm more than capable of understanding, I feel so overwhelmed I can't even start. I've developed intense anxiety and perfeccionism, and I thought my inability to do stuff was related to lazyness or depression, but even when I'm happy and apparently motivated, it only lasts for so long. But again, I'm still slightly above average in some aspects that can be quantified, so it's not like anyone notices I struggle. It's like playing chess against myself, losing and winning overlapping in a constant state of chaos. But again, not diagnosed.

I raised a 2e child. This is extremely difficult. Thank God for special education leaders and great psychologists 🙏

My son is 2e and he has autism. It is not easy but not hard to raise him. He is very sweet and loves to kisses. He has very good memories math, spelling and language. He also loves the music. Things are very easy for him that most people find it’s hard on them but stuffs that easy and simple for the most people seem hard for him. He knew all his Times Tables, Periodic Elements, 100 digets of Pi for a 5 years old. But it’s so hard for him to tie his shoes, he need to work very hard on it for many months. Now he is so obsessed with planets and galaxy 🌌. His language and social is behinds. I am trying to support him as much as I can with a lot of ❤️.

Wow the empathy this doctor speaks with us touching, I wish my gifted younger brother had been screened when he was young. He severely lacked support in both key areas and grew isolated, depressed, anxious and very angry. He has since distanced himself from the family and joined the military. To this day, I know no one with even a tenth of his mental stamina and flexibility.

I homeschool my 2e kids. While challenging, my husband and I knew from the moment we sat through our first IEP meeting that the school had no idea what to do with our oldest, who is gifted and autistic. So we homeschooled him instead and then all the other kids that followed. For us, it was the best decision for our family and especially our 2e kids.

I've been a middle school teacher for over a decade. I have been known to try to see myself in my students. I was classified gifted early on (spatial and linguistic) but no one caught the ADHD until this year when I started floundering from too much responsibility to handle. Now I can see myself in the 2E kids. I'd never seen myself before but now I can. It's crazy how open my eyes are.

This is eye opening, I was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at late age because it wasn't a thing in 90's or early 2000's. As an adult I found myself able to comprehend complex reasoning and logic, and see issues and resolve them at outstanding rate. Not to mention I could be giving a topic and create a whole story with complex characters and plots in minutes. When comes to music, I found myself able to notices when levels are off and things are out of phase (often why I can't do live concerts) and I'm able to remember songs and artist from childhood. I was always told that this was not typical behavior of autistic children but was never given a explanation of why it was or what it could be. So typical me I started researching and after 15 years I came across 2e article in a science journal at work and the light bulb came on. It was all there, all connected and now I don't feel so awkward and different. I feel almost normal now to know there are others like me, that is huge relief.

Wow. I’ve lived my entire life up until now thinking I was never good enough because I wasn’t allowed into the gifted programs at school. Since then, I have talked down to myself, thinking I was not intelligent. I’m a banking Analyst by trade, I’m extremely gifted in philosophy and my sense of humour has always been advanced. I’m *absolutely* 2e! Late diagnosed Aspergers & ADHD (@33). I cannot thank you enough for helping me in my process of understanding why my life has gone the way it has… and that it can get better from here now that I know how to navigate the world better as a 2e/neuro diverse person.

Hi, Very apt description. I have ADHD, ASD, a language based learning disability, an articulation disorder, and a processing speed deficit. When I went through the diagnostic process, I was certain that I was below average intelligence. (An intelligence evaluation is one of many tests in the process). Normally, the diagnostic process should last approximately 2 days. However, I needed 4 days due to some now obvious reasons. The golden standard in the United States for an intelligence test is known as the Wechsler test. Intelligence is not solely defined by this test but makes it easy to identify learning disabilities due to its design. When he explains how strange it is to be on opposite ends of the bell curve, I feel as though it's almost an understatement of how odd/uncommon that is. For that to occur, you must have gifted level scores in one or more of the 4 Intelligence categories while simultaneously having well below average scores in one or more of the 4 Intelligence categories. I was tested as a child and again as an adult a few years ago. As a child, I was unaware of the purpose of the process, so those scores are lost to time. However, my adult scores utterly baffled me both as a person and as an engineer. (The four categories of the Intelligence test are verbal intelligence, perceptual intelligence, working memory, and processing speed. ) In verbal intelligence and perceptual intelligence, I scored in the high 130s (136 & 138 respectively). In working memory and processing speed, I scored in the low 80s (84 & 82, respectively). For clarity, average or normal would be a score of 100, intellectual disabilities start in the 70s (I'm pretty sure), and genius level intelligence starts around 140s to 160s depending on the metric. To the non-math people, normally, the 4 categories have a similar value and are usually within about 5 points of each other. The far left of the bell curve are severe intellectual disabilities and the far right of the bell curve are epic geniuses. The center of the bell curve is the average population and the majority of where people end up scoring. So if you want to know what my scores look like in real life, it this: I received multiple offers from R1 research institutions to pay me to get a PhD at their university (currently attending PhD program in engineering). But at the same time, I cannot break down words by individual sounds, had to learn to read by singing, failed the second grade twice, barely graduated high school, and will not understand what you are talking about unless it's mostly based in literal meaning. My life is odd but interesting, and I'm happy with it.

This is absolutely valid i am a gifted adult who was underachieving all my life I Q test are not all inclusive to intelligence. I say " genius with a headache" if this was implemented in school it will be so evolutionary

Excellent video. Just diagnosed now, and I'm 55, with autism and "giftedness" (146 IQ). I was a very introvert child and bullied by my teacher when I was 5 to 6. Bullied again at 13-14, and by my bosses as an adult. I was the best at drawing and writing, and very good when I studied fashion design. I have worked as an illustrator and a designer, but as I am divorced with two childs, I need money. In Spain, creativity means NOTHING unless you are famous. I struggle with mental health, sensory issues, melt downs and shut downs. I ended up working in a shop and earning only 1.000€/ month. And now I discover that I'm very gifted. Oh, yes. Look at me. 😔

Could you do a video on specifically ADHD and how it effects a child who is exceptionally gifted. My son has an I.Q. of 162 and has adhd and I don’t quite understand his perspective. He’s also 17.

I was diagnosed with ADHD in my early 40’s. I was included in a gifted program while in elementary school based on aptitude tests and teacher’s observations of my intelligence, but my grades were awful. I would have been kept behind a grade each year if it weren’t for my apparent intelligence. I struggled through school and made it through to eventually get a Masters in Engineering and and MBA, but none of it came easy. I dropped out of University early on and was only able to resume later when a neighbour wrote to the Dean to vouch for my abilities, quite literally saying I was intelligent but faired poorly in school due to boredom. It’s a torturous way to live, being constantly recognized for intelligence yet consistently failing to do the things that people tend to value. I’ve gotten by, and done well, by “not caring” and periodically doing exceptional things people value. Since learning I had ADHD I’ve managed to fine tune my talents and can objectively speak to my “apparent” deficiencies, but its a constant uphill battle and I continue to struggle with burnout and depression.

I found school hell because they kept repeating the same stuff for weeks that was clear after they were halfway through the first sentence. The teachers loved to humiliate me when they recognized that I dozed off with questions that were so stupid that I thought it was a trick question and I just said nothing. Now at 54 I recognize that lots of things about ASD resonate strongly 🙄

Private schools ABSOLUTELY still fail to identify and handle gifted kids 100%. I’m in my 20s now, just finishing college (boy has that been a ride). Truth is, I had an IQ/giftedness assessment done before entering preschool/elementary school. Results were very high…you’d think that meant that I would have been singled out for extra assistance considering said private school had a wealth of money and is specifically designed for talented/gifted kids. Except I was not, and simultaneously sucked at multiplication tables while reading multiple grade levels ahead. Of course I got mocked by other students for both my exceptionality and my less than exceptional performance. By the time I reached high school, it was largely too late - I was heavily masking gifted traits and had learned to keep my head down. I had no peer group other than my cross country team and performed distinctly average…like 3.6-3.7 GPA.

I was gifted and number dyslexic and didn't know in my scho years in the 90s

High functioning autistic. I have such keen senses that I was totally overwhelmed as a child, almost crazy, and very withdrawn. In high school I worked at NIH in Bethesda, and tested my vision and hearing. I could see way into the ultraviolet range, and could hear frequencies way above normal hearing levels. The hearing thing is sort of a problem, the vision isn't. Ultraviolet light, on the spectrophotometer, just looked like dark violet, so it is just a color as far as I am concerned. I have lots of emotional and social problems, but also exceptional abilities in music, chemistry, languages, and other subjects. On a practical level, I function, but just barely. I am not a practical person, but am always chasing my latest obsessions down some rabbithole. I have never before heard the term asynchronous development, but have been aware of this in myself all of my adult life. The closest I ever came to being diagnosed was my kindergarten teacher calling my parents and telling them that I "didn't have all my beans." I guess psychiatric lingo has changed since then.

I was tested at 4 and branded "gifted," so they disregarded the autism. That was over 40 years ago, and I was just diagnosed last year. I never became anything but a disappointment. I have a hard time with the word gifted. Wish I could go back. I struggled my whole life. Guess I'm a late 2e.

precocious development, combined with one-sided deafness. struggling and excelling at the same time: very recognisable. fifty-one years old. hi!

Its so hard to go thru alone and misunderstood

Thank you for posting this! So incredibly helpful!

Identified as "gifted" at 7, diagnosed with ADHD at 37: "Twice exceptional" may just be the most poetic way the English language has ever been molded to say "f*%(3d."

Dan Peters, noted here! Excellent interview.

This is exactly what I have been suffering through.

Glad that the studio of koffietijd finally got a international career

What do you do when you are an older person. I am just finding out now all the complexities of my brain. ???????????????

I liked the talented and gifted (TAG) program growing up. But when I hit 12 and I noticed all the girls who were in the program … found it very confusing. My other issue with TAG was I got annoyed that we had to do work during this time. The way I saw it: why was I being punished because I was smart? I just wanted to play with my friends. Also the program ended before high school… my god I could have used help then.

My hometown has a phenomenal tax base and still doesn’t have a gifted student program.

What can someone who is gifted and grew up in a low-income community do as far as learning to navigate life?

Wow never knew i was a 2e student until now

As someone who has ADHD, I think the IQ test is really stupid. They give us a shape and ask which one of these answers would fit it, c'mon, we can imagine a thousand patterns for every answer able to match with the question. LOL.

I have a friend that have a child that can read and wright in both language at the age of 4. (Before even going to school) I did tell them to look into it, but the school didn't know what to do with him. What should they do?

How about directing your videos toward 2e children instead of the parents?

Both of my kids are gifted n both have different dad's

I am an OT working with 2e kids. They need good/great handwriting instruction early. No child keyboards at 6 or even 7, but by then they have developed low self esteem and poor habits that are difficult to change. Please refer these kids at 4 to an OT that can test visual-spatial-motor skills (most of us) at this age. Then use Handwriting Without Tears from a therapist that has done ALL the trainings. I get great results with kids but I have 20+ years in this area.

What about the 6 to now 14 year old that you say “no” to viewing certain content online or you attempt to establish family rules with and the child continuously breaks those rules and tries to hide it? Has the emotional moments after being caught. It’s seems that every “no” means “yes” to the mind of this child… Please provide feedback. Thanks,

How to know or who diagnose 2e? My son 4yo on waiting list for autism assessment, he's verbal but not conversational. but he can read since 2,5yo, have strong memorizing and can count to a thousand and writing numbers and some words. I really lost, he's my first child 😢

My 2E ass was in GATE and college preparatory programs majority of my educational life.

Success is not a measure of gifted. William Sidis was not successful in society. But gifted could be measured by deficit in society.

Is there any research into what happens in a 2e child when there's abuse in the home?

Is it possible that giftedness can be hidden during Young Childhood Like 10 & Younger ? Can it become more present at a later stage like 13 or older?

Omg me

Yup that's all me 😄🙃😐

Gifted people are hyper focused and don’t have to separate emotion from logic.

"click and subscribe" ey?

The description of giftedness is disappointing and inaccurate. There is far more involved and as being gifted I find the information shared to be undermining and stereotypical. Gifted and ASD share many common traits. The information is misleading.

I think I am a Neanderthal/Cro-Magnon, mixed homo sapiens race

IQ test for 4 year old children? There are not in the original range 4 yr old kids. For some diff. reasons. Or are your doing R. Hubbard scientology stuff making up "IQ" stats?

I have zero interest in being in sync with people who think with their emotions.