Juliette François-Sévigny is a doctoral student in psychology with a clinical psychology of children, adolescents and parents at the University of Sherbrooke. Mathieu Pilon is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Sherbrooke.
The start of the school year is well underway and some parents will find it more difficult than others because of a little-known, but very real phenomenon: their child is “Doubly exceptional”. These are children with both intellectual giftedness and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or another mental health disorder, such as generalized anxiety.
If giftedness is a force, the double exceptionality represents a vulnerability for the child. Although in Quebec it is estimated that there are 20,000 to 30,000 doubly exceptional children, their exact number remains unknown because it is difficult to recognize them. However, their parents know something is wrong.
The latter must in fact deal with adjustment difficulties as well as psychological, social and behavioral problems of their child provoked by this double exceptionality. These parents face many challenges on a daily basis, which exacerbates their level of stress about their parenting role.
Problems at school
Many parents of gifted children with ADHD report being called in by their child’s teacher because of her disturbing behavior in class. In addition to mentioning their difficulties in following the instructions, the teacher will often point out to them that their child’s great agitation distracts many around him.
Even so, although she may point out that their child’s impulsive behavior should be watched closely, she cannot ignore her impressive creativity. Faced with these findings, many parents looking for answers will have to ask for a neuropsychological assessment. With any luck, the correct diagnosis will fall: giftedness and ADHD.
Intense parental stress
While the reality of doubly exceptional children is unknown to the general public and even to health professionals, the stress their parents’ daily life in terms of their parenting role is even more neglected. This stress is explained by the gap between parental expectations and their perception of the resources at their disposal. It is a real scourge among these parents of children who are both gifted and vulnerable.
In addition to being more prone to suffer from physical and psychological health problems such as depression and anxiety, these parents typically experience more marital conflict. Not to mention that their stress harms the social, emotional and behavioral development of the child.
Misunderstood parents
Parents of gifted children often find that the early development of their child sets him apart from his peers. Those of children with attention deficit disorder find that its rate of development may be below average. However, parents of gifted children with ADHD experience these two realities simultaneously, which means that they frequently have to deal with the challenges. prejudices teachers, doctors and family.
It can be difficult to imagine that a gifted child could also have learning difficulties, for example. Thus, the parents of these exceptional but vulnerable children are led to take the advocacy of special needs of their child in the school, community, and even political spheres. It is therefore not uncommon for them to be perceived as perfectionist parents, demanding, demanding, even protesting.
For example, the lack of knowledge about the double exceptionality in some primary and secondary schools leads many parents to have to inform teachers about their child’s condition. They must have it recognized as being just as valid as any other and insist that the intervention plan that was drawn up during their child’s assessment be put in place to meet his or her needs.
A fragile balance between strengths and weaknesses
The double exceptionality is all the more difficult to recognize as it manifests itself in different ways in each child. Indeed, either giftedness is so important that the child obtains good performances which mask the difficulty created by ADHD, or, conversely, the attention disorder is so important that the child displays an underperformance. which masks giftedness. Finally, giftedness and attention deficit disorder also sometimes mask each other. This is called the masking effect.
However, if neither giftedness nor the associated disorder is diagnosed, the child cannot benefit from interventions related to one or the other of his exceptionalities, which are nevertheless necessary for the development of his full potential. Parents’ stress is thus exacerbated, because they are aware that emotional and educational needs of their child are not fulfilled.
A promising future
Double exceptionality is still a taboo subject. It is possible to think that our Judeo-Christian heritage, advocating values such as humility and modesty rather than wealth and success, may have played an important role in our social choices in this area.
Fortunately, the Quebec Ministry of Education and Higher Education published, in 2020, the document Take action to promote the educational success of gifted students. Its purpose is to support teachers, complementary educational services staff, school administrators and parents in their understanding of the needs of gifted students and in their efforts to meet them in the school environment. It presents several ways to maintain the motivation of gifted students and promote the development of their full potential, such as academic acceleration, mentoring, extracurricular activities, etc. It was time !
–
