These children, often have struggles with debilitating disorders such as ADHD, asperger's syndrome, or dyslexia, to name a few. In addition to their disability, they are incredibly intelligent. For example, a child with incredible math skills can struggle at reading. This child will present in the classroom as being someone behind grade level and in need of remediation, when in fact their grasp of concepts is well beyond that of their peers and they just can't always keep up with the work because of their reading struggles.
In our case, one of my sons has formally been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome and a comorbid diagnosis of ADHD. He also has difficulty with sensory integration, and visual memory processing. This means that even though he is a genius, he struggles to keep up with the class, gets easily distracted, and struggles to advocate for himself. I have other children that present many of the same things, and we suspect that they might also have some of the same issues. However, they are not quite as severe, and we are able to manage them.
My responsibility as a mother is to advocate for these precious, and extremely precocious children so that they can become functioning members of society.
I have learned to also laugh at ourselves as we navigate this uncharted region of existence.
