For over a dozen years, I’ve been the moderator of the Denver Area Twice-Exceptional support group. “Twice-Exceptional” (also 2e or 2E) refers to gifted children with some type of learning difference. Ours is a low-key, open group. Most members are parents of 2E kids, but it is open to anyone interested in Twice-Exceptional kids and the joys and challenges of neurodiversity. Many of the kids are on the spectrum; others have quirky wiring. All are highly or profoundly gifted.
We meet on the second Wednesdays of every month at 11:30am. Meetings typically last two hours. The general format is that each person gives an update on their 2E kid, and if anyone has experience with those issues or problems, they offer ideas or suggestions. The location changes; please contact me for specifics.
At the November 2016 Denver Twice-Support Group, we put together a list. It was the things we wished we had known when we started this journey with our kids. Some of the things we wished someone had told us include knowing that…
- We are not alone.
- Connecting makes you feel less alone.
- We need to let go of expectations and ideas of what is “right.”
- Speech therapy can take years. Maybe decades.
- The odd, British-sounding voice is a hallmark of autism.
- Preschoolers, even babies, can experience depression.
- I’d be a firm believer in Integrative Medicine and would wish we had explored it earlier.
- A student can simultaneously navigate both the Special Ed and Advanced Placement/Honors tracks in high school.
- Medications that don’t work may work a few years later.
Please, feel free to join us!
Susan Wroble 