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Profile

Join date: Feb 15, 2022

About

ABBY KIRIGIN, Ed.D. 

Executive Director​

Abby worked in tech and startups as an interaction designer for several years before pivoting to education as a result of raising her own twice-exceptional children. Abby received a doctorate from the Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education, where she developed a curriculum to support neurodivergent middle schoolers in strengths-based career exploration. She holds a Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon and a BA from NYU. 


CALLIE TURK

Co-Founder, Board Chair

Callie is the mom of three teens, one of whom is 2e. Callie draws on her 15-plus year career working with ed tech companies and school districts at the cutting edge of educator professional learning. Callie received her MBA from Stanford University and BS from Miami University (Ohio). She is also a doctoral student with the Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education. ​


YAEL VALEK

Co-Founder, Board Secretary

Yael has two 2e sons in middle and high school. Yael co-founded start-ups in the parenting community and children's creativity spaces. She has served on the board and advisory committees for several education-based non-profits. Yael received her BS and MS in Computer Science from Stanford University.


Posts (110)

Dec 26, 20252 min
A Look Back at 2025: REEL’s Top 10 Most-Read Articles
A Look Back at the Resources That Helped Our Community Thrive As we wrap up 2025, I want to take a moment to reflect on the stories, guides, and resources that have supported our community this year. These articles were bookmarked by families, shared by educators, and revisited by caregivers time and again. Together, they reveal what our community values most: clarity, connection, and strengths-based support for twice-exceptional learners. Below is a roundup of the top 10 articles that...

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Dec 10, 20256 min
When Autism Isn’t the Whole Story: Understanding Twice Exceptionality (2e)
When Autism Doesn’t Explain Everything When my son was two, he was only using a handful of words and had only begun walking at 18 months. Because he had more than one delay, we were encouraged to have him evaluated. The diagnosis at the time was PDD-NOS, which was later updated to autism. But that diagnosis didn’t explain everything I was seeing. It didn’t explain how he spelled the word airplane in foam letters on the bathtub wall at age two, or how when I told him there was no dessert at...

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Dec 10, 20251 min
Intro to 2e: Understanding Bright Students Who Struggle
Watch this discussion about the twice-exceptional (2e) learner. You’ll get an inside look into these children’s experiences and learn specific strategies to help them thrive. Speakers will talk about how to reframe the situation, reduce stress, work with unexpected behaviors, and help neurodivergent, 2e children feel supported.

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REEL Team

REEL Team

Admin

Executive Director and Co-founders of REEL

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