the yellow frying pan

misadventures of a 2e household

Misadventures of a 2e Household

Hi! Thank you so much for dropping by The Yellow Frying Pan!

I’m Leslie, wife of a 2e and mother of a 2e.

What is 2e? It is short for the term twice exceptional, which entered educators’ lexicons in the mid-1990s and refers to gifted students who have some form of learning or developmental disability. These students are considered exceptional both because of their giftedness and because they are disabled or neurodiverse. (Wikipedia)

You will read the term gifted here often. To be clear, gifted here = high IQ or an IQ in the 98th percentile or above. To those of you who want to respond to the term gifted by saying “all kids are gifted,” I invite you to stay and have a (polite) conversation or gracefully move on. YES, many kids have gifts, but not all kids are gifted. And let me be very clear, the term gifted has been used for a very long time-but most of us with gifted children struggle to call it a gift. Giftedness / high IQ means the brain literally functions differently. That means gifted kids and adults are not just capable of learning faster, but of experiencing life differently. Emotions, understanding, socialization – are all areas impacted by this. While learning may be easier, every day life for gifted kids is often harder and more intense.

You will also hear the term neurodivergent here too. That one refers to a person who differs in mental or neurological function from what is considered typical or normal (frequently used with reference to autistic spectrum disorders); not neurotypical.

So why am I here?

This is my space to talk about what is normal in my household, our daily struggles and joys. This is a place for everyone to get a taste of a different normal. There are so very many families like my own that don’t fit the norm. Families who struggle to find camaraderie in there schools and neighborhoods, because many neurotypical people just don’t understand, or in some cases believe, what life is like for them.

Perhaps some of you who find me here will be in a similar stage of life – raising a gifted kiddo with a gifted spouse. Perhaps others of you are gifted yourself and can join in the conversation and share your own stories. Maybe you have a young child – age 1 or 2 and you suspect giftedness and are curious what life is going to look like in a few years… or maybe you are none of those people – and you just like what you are reading.

You are all welcome here. Join the conversation, leave comments and ask questions. I can’t wait to meet you.