Where Strengths Shine, Futures Grow: Unlocking the Potential of Twice-Exceptional (2e) Learners

Parents of twice exceptional (2e) learners often notice early on that their children understand things deeply, even when everyday tasks don’t come easily. Conversations can move quickly into big ideas or detailed interests, yet school participation may be inconsistent from one day to the next. Many families spend time trying to make sense of how both can be true at once. After decades of working closely with highly gifted and 2e families, I have watched this same pattern emerge again and again. The same child who resists one kind of work may stay absorbed in another when the level, pace, or topic fits how they think. What first looks like inconsistency starts to come into focus. When learning meets the learner’s strengths, interests, and preferred ways of thinking, engagement follows.

When Ability and Learning Environment Don’t Match

Supporting 2e learners often requires looking beyond the academic level itself. Parents frequently notice that a child’s engagement changes depending on their environment. How safe a child feels, whether they experience real connection with others, how manageable the sensory surroundings are, and whether their interests are taken seriously all shape their willingness to participate. When these elements come together, learning naturally occurs. When they do not, it is usually a sign that the environment still needs adjustment so the learner’s strengths can take the lead.

When Strengths Are Given Room to Grow

I think often of Evan*, whose parents first described him as extraordinarily sensitive and easily overwhelmed in his elementary school classroom. From a very young age, Evan’s intellectual curiosity was unmistakable. At three years old, he asked his parents to explain negative numbers. He had a natural sense of rhythm, an intuitive grasp of mathematical ideas, and an early fascination with how physical systems worked. None of these strengths was visible in his school setting. What teachers noticed instead was a child who became upset easily, struggled with emotional regulation, and shut down under pressure.

By second grade, the disconnect had become painful. Evan’s teacher told his parents that he might someday be strong in math if he could just memorize his math facts for the timed tests. His mother, also an educator, eventually recognized that Evan’s strengths could not shine in that environment because the constant noise, distractions, and pacing of the classroom were overwhelming his nervous system. His parents eventually made the difficult decision to withdraw Evan from school and begin homeschooling, where the learning environment could better fit his sensory needs.

Once his learning setting changed, Evan’s strengths emerged quickly and clearly. With learning offered at his own pace and depth through private instruction and small-group classes, Evan soared in mathematics. He soon discovered a deep passion for physics and began taking college-level coursework by the age of ten. Today, Evan is in graduate school studying physics. 

I also think of Veera*, a child whose creativity was evident early, even when it was misunderstood. In kindergarten, Veera was frequently corrected for coloring people in rainbow colors. One moment stayed with her for decades. A teacher, frustrated by her choices, asked her in front of the class whether everyone could agree that her mother did not have blue hair. Years later, when Veera recalled this moment, she quietly added that blue was her favorite color and that it made her happy to use it when she was drawing pictures of people who felt joyful to her.

Veera was never identified as gifted in school. She struggled academically in ways that were later understood as stealth dyslexia, not discovered until college. Her grades were unremarkable. She never participated in gifted programming. And yet, when she was given space to create, her strengths were unmistakable. Veera’s parents enrolled her in local art classes, where she found social belonging amongst other “creative” friends. 

Summer art camps continued to expose Veera to new art forms, where she discovered an interest in abstract painting. One of her instructors, impressed by the depth of her work, encouraged her to enter her first showing at a local library. These affirmations boosted Veera’s self-efficacy. Her parents followed Veera’s lead, supporting her as she sought other art showings and contests. Though she did not win every contest, her motivation and resilience grew with these experiences. Today, one of her most affirming childhood memories remains seeing her abstract painting displayed at the state fair, ribbon attached.

Those moments mattered. They communicated that the way Veera saw the world had value, even when other parts of school felt inaccessible. Veera went on to study art and design in college, finally with supports in place that made learning workable. Today, she works as a designer for a Hollywood studio. Looking back, it is clear that Veera’s strengths just needed recognition and encouragement during the years when identity and confidence were forming.

Then there is Jonah*, who insists even now that he had no motivation whatsoever as a student. As he describes it, school felt uniformly dull. Learning meant worksheets, tests, and assignments that bore little relationship to anything he cared about. His parents, thoughtful and loving, offered opportunity after opportunity, yet Jonah felt largely indifferent.

What Jonah did care deeply about was gaming. Throughout high school, he spent most of his free time immersed in narrative-driven history games set in medieval Europe. He analyzed political systems, debated historical accuracy, and compared game mechanics to real historical events, often spending hours talking online with other players about how faithfully the games represented history. At the time, none of this was recognized as learning.

After high school, Jonah described himself as having no particular ambition. When his parents encouraged him to try a single online college course, he chose world history simply because it aligned with his gaming interests. What surprised everyone, including Jonah, was how quickly he excelled. Years of immersive gameplay had given him a deep contextual foundation. He earned top scores, engaged actively with the material, and found himself lingering in virtual office hours to talk with the professor. That professor encouraged him to major in history.

Jonah went on to complete his associate degree and then a history major at a highly respected university, graduating with close to a 4.0 GPA. Today, he is a second-year law student. In hindsight, Jonah’s engagement grew once learning aligned more closely with his interests.

What Evan, Veera, and Jonah share is not a single profile or outcome, but an experience familiar to many 2e learners. In each anecdote, their strengths fell beyond what traditional schooling was prepared to recognize or nurture, but their families recognized these strengths and found opportunities where they could be celebrated. This is often referred to as “positive niche construction,” constructing an environment that best matches our unique learners, rather than expecting these learners to fit into mismatched learning environments. 

Building Opportunities for Strengths to Shine 

For many 2e learners, strengths become apparent when we pay close attention. You may already see it in your child: the way they stay absorbed in an idea, the intensity of their questions, or the depth they bring to something that truly interests them. Paying attention to those patterns often tells us far more about how they learn than any test or checklist ever could.

In some families, this understanding unfolds gradually through observation and conversation over time. In others, it helps to pause and gather those patterns more intentionally. When families want that added clarity, Sequoia Gifted partners with them to develop affirming, strength-based learning profiles using the Suite of Tools,™ — a research-informed framework designed to illuminate the strengths and learning patterns of 2e learners. Through positive conversations with the parents, teachers or other caregivers, and the child themself, we look at how a learner thinks, what genuinely engages them, the conditions in which they do their best work, and how they approach complexity and challenge. When those insights are brought together into a clear learning portrait, families are better equipped to shape school, homeschool, and after-school environments that intentionally nurture their child’s strengths while supporting growth across academic, social, emotional, physical, and creative domains.

Helping families shift from asking how their child can better fit school to asking how learning environments can be shaped to better fit the child often changes what becomes possible. When strengths are recognized and nurtured, confidence has space to build and engagement becomes more sustainable. Over time, children see themselves as capable and curious rather than perpetually misaligned. And when strengths are given room to shine, a love for learning is able to grow.

*Names and identifying details have been changed to protect privacy.

Lisa A. Jobe, JD, is a leading national educational specialist working with profoundly gifted (PG) and 2e learners and their families; She is also completing her doctorate in education with a focus in PG and 2e learners. Lisa is the founder of Sequoia Gifted and Creative, an educational consulting and school advocacy practice supporting gifted and 2e families. She is also the co-founder of Sequoia Gifted Academy, the first homeschool umbrella created specifically to provide educational support for PG and PG-2e homeschoolers. Lisa is an international speaker and author whose work centers on strength-based, individualized learning pathways. She looks forward to meeting families at the Reel2E Strengths Fair on March 8. You are also welcome to reach out at sequoiagifted@gmail.com.