"My child is incredibly bright, but getting ideas onto paper is a daily battle." If this sounds familiar, your child may be experiencing dysgraphia—a neurological difference that affects written expression. Dysgraphia is much more than "messy handwriting." It impacts the brain's ability to efficiently communicate ideas through writing, making even simple written tasks exhausting. As pediatric occupational therapists, we often meet children who can explain complex ideas verba

Every year, as summer winds down, we start making lists. School supplies. New backpacks. Schedules. Forms. Meet-the-teacher nights. All of these things are important. But before you begin preparing for the school year, I'd encourage you to pause and ask yourself one simple question: How do I hope my child feels by the end of this school year? Not what grade you hope they earn. Not what class you hope they get into. Not even what skills you hope they master. How do you hope th

A Familiar Scene A 19-year-old passes every exam, debates philosophy with professors, and reads at a college level — but ends the semester with a mediocre grade because half the homework never got turned in. That same young person forgets to eat lunch, can’t answer an email that’s been sitting for three weeks, and has a full shutdown when the laundry isn’t done on time. How can someone this capable be this stuck? This is daily life for many twice-exceptional (2e) youth — youn

I spent my childhood convinced I was from another planet. Decades later, I stood in my own kitchen saying, "Please don't pretend to be a dog." My child looked up, offended. "Coyote,” he corrected me. Then he howled—not in anguish, but with the strained urgency of a creature trying to cross a communication barrier I had not, until recently, known existed. A few months earlier, we had both been identified as autistic, six weeks apart—a revelation that reframed my own childhood

As a pediatric occupational therapist, one of the most common questions I hear from parents of twice-exceptional (2e) children is: "Why does my child have such big reactions when they're so incredibly smart?" Twice-exceptional children are those who are both gifted and have one or more learning, developmental, or neurological differences such as ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dysgraphia, anxiety, or sensory processing differences. These children often possess remarkable creativity

Your teen can debate philosophy with a professor, and still can't remember to eat lunch. It's not a contradiction, it's a scaffolding gap. ADHD therapist and coach Danielle Park joined REEL and Parents Helping Parents to unpack why twice-exceptional and neurodivergent youth hit a wall between adolescence and adulthood, and the practical scripts, science, and mindset shifts that help close it.

Your kid held it together all day. They answered questions, navigated the social minefield of the cafeteria, and made it through class after class without saying a word to anyone about how hard everything felt. And here's the thing… they may not have even known how much they were holding in. For many gifted and 2e kids, the effort is so constant and so automatic that they don't have the language for it, or even the conscious awareness. They just know that by the time they wal

When Even the Best Plans Fall Apart My 18-year-old sister and I planned what was supposed to be the perfect New York City summer adventure. By day two, we were fighting every single day, and I could not figure out why we kept ending up in the same place. After a fun day at The American Museum of Natural History, we were exhausted and needed to take a break. Our next plan was to end the day by watching the sunset at Summit One Vanderbilt. But every “perfect” plan has its own f