Conversations on Twice Exceptional Homeschooling
My son C loves the macabre. He’s a sensitive boy; he can’t watch Finding Nemo, but strangely can watch Iron Man. And he’s not too fond of history when it doesn’t involve trains.
But even still, we have managed to find resources to get him engaged and interested in history – through the macabre. Continue reading “Macabre History”
What can I say about the post, ‘My kid is average and I am oh so proud‘ ?
I can say that it makes me feel deeply uncomfortable. Maybe it’s the passive aggressive tone, maybe it’s the conflation of their child’s achievements and their own ego. I’m not sure.
What I think is damaging and breath-takingly dangerous about this post, is that it reinforces stereotypes that encourage discrimination and prejudice. Even if the opposite was the author’s intent. Which I’m not sure is the case.
Continue reading “My Kid is NOT Average, and Pride Has Nothing to Do With It.”
My little girl, J is a funny girl sometimes. Recently, when we took C to his physio session at the hospital, we had to share the room with another therapist and patient. J loves these ‘go Doctor’ sessions, as she calls them – there’s lots of cool toys, and she usually has Mummy running around after her while C ‘plays’ with the therapist. This time, she spent her time watching the other patient – a teenage girl with motor problems – grab toys from one location and crawl to another to put it in a circle. Suddenly J wasn’t next to me, but had raced forward to join the other girl – grabbing toys and putting them in the circle. I quickly sped forward and scooped her up, exclaiming,
‘I know it looks like a lot of fun, but it’s the big girl’s turn now.’
The other girl and therapist laughed and J went back to playing with her toys and copying and bugging her brother.
It was only after the session that it hit me. This is J’s normal. She has spent her life going in and out of doctors’, therapists’, and specialists’ waiting rooms. It’s been like that from the very beginning, even in the womb.
Continue reading “Normalising Disability”
In this third part on our convoluted journey to homeschooling, I’d like to talk about what twice exceptional means – and a bit about what it feels like to parent such kids!
This is not meant to be a definitive guide for people trying to discover more about twice exceptional kids. This is just our personal journey, and a few of the curious signposts along the way.
Continue reading “Homeschooling My Gifted Kid, Part 3: The Twice Exceptional Wrinkle”
It’s been a while since my last post. Mainly because we’ve been busy with what I like to call the ‘diagnosis soup’ – seeing all the specialists who have a stake in helping C with his disabilities. As well as learning how to integrate all the home therapy into our daily routine. With all of C’s and J’s diagnoses, if we did all that each Dr recommended – there would be no time for eating, sleeping …or living!
Continue reading “Dealing with Diagnosis Soup”