Are You Twice-Exceptional?

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Hmm, perhaps. I guess that depends on who you ask, or what standards you would use to discern such things. When I was eight years old, my teachers would remark that I have a way with words. Later, around seventeen years, a woman offered to write a recommendation letter for certain literature courses on the condition that I enter this slam poetry competition. She had heard a few of my poems, and thought that I stood a good chance.

Creativity has always been my strongest area. The ability to improvise, come up with new solutions, and invent new worlds in my head. As a child, I had a paracosm. It was incredibly detailed, some might say obsessively so. My visualisation abilities are quite strong. I have hyperphantasia. Whenever I write a story, I imagine myself there and take in all the sights, smells, tastes, and textures of the imagined surrounding.

Typically, I am perceived as reasonably intelligent by those around me. Unfortunately, the downside to this is that when I fail at things that are usually thought of as simple...the assumption often comes down to thinking that I am lazy. Sometimes when I try to explain how my brain works, and why I have certain difficulties, I am dismissed.

"Oh, but you don't seem like the type".

"Aren't you good at *insert irrelevant thing here* though?"

"I don't get it, I thought you were smart".



This assumption has always been terribly annoying. One time I was asked if I was simply making it up, but why would I do that? What would I have to gain? I sometimes wish that I could make the people who say such things to me experience what it's like to have a brain like mine for a day. Then I'd ask them to meet me, and we'd see how they feel about the situation then.

It's likely that I have dyscalculia, or some kind of visual processing disorder. Whilst I can picture a fantasy world in my mind, I find it difficult to understand concepts such as dividing odd numbers. I used to have days where I'd cry over maths homework because I couldn't get my head around it at all. My grades were almost always E's and D's. I was failing at work intended for seven year olds at the age of eleven.

Combine the difficulties with maths with how easily overwhelmed I am when there's a lot of sensory information, and sprinkle in going silent or stuttering in certain social situations when I usually do fine...you get a worrying picture. Oh, and compulsive behaviour every so often as well.

I'm sometimes perceived as a bit of a mystery. There are moments where even minor parts of my behaviour are questioned. My dad used to joke that psychiatrists would have a field day with me when I was younger. Am I gifted? Perhaps not. Maybe I'm just a typical level of weird, combined with an average level of intelligence. I've never had an IQ test, which is probably for the best...I'd probably end up overthinking that result even though it's a flawed test anyway.

I have a very good memory. I remember everything people tell me. I'm very proud of it. I'm also very logical. Without sounding like I'm bragging, I'm clever.

In contrast to that, I have 2 difficulties: 1: I have no concept of time. I can't tell if something has lasted one minute or one hour. The expression "time flies when you are having fun" makes no sense to me. I have to set alarms for everything otherwise I would have to look at a clock constantly.

2: I find it incredibly difficult to explain things to people when I am speaking to them. I can explain things better on paper, for example, if somebody asked me to explain the rules of chess, I wouldn't know how verbally but I could write them an institutional manual. It's like the words get jumbled up between my brain and my mouth.

I've been told by experts when I was officially tested for autism that I'm too intelligent to have anything on the autism spectrum. However I totally s#cked in skewl & struggle majorly in most areas that us Aspies tend to have problems with.

That's interesting Nick, so the doctors refused you a diagnosis because of your intelligence? That sounds like grounds for seeking a second opinion if it were me.

SoapOnARope, just want to say I love your avatar

Best character, ever - although Seven certainly had her moments .

Brent Spiner is a legend.

I do well in math. When I went to my 50th year high school class reunion, one of my classmates said "We wondered what ever happened to the math genius?" I wasn't even aware I had that title. I remember that when I took my first year of calculus in college, after about a week, when the professor would ask a question and I raised my hand, the professor would say "Anyone other than James, know the answer?" I think I made perfect scores on all tests given in that class. I am gifted in programming. In my late teens, I was programming with plug-in wiring in early processors boards. I was programming thermal analysis using supercomputers in my early 20's. And I have been known to program computers without even knowing the computer language. I also have a way of visualizing things in multidimensional space.

On the other hand I really lack social skills.
And I had significant difficulty speaking, reading and writing. But much of that particular weakness I have corrected over time.
I also am a total zero when it comes to foreign languages. But what astonished me is that when I traveled to the other side of the world, I found it very easy to communicate with individuals if they were willing, because we could develop a new unique language on the fly.

I am Twice-UNexceptional

My GF says I am twice exceptional going by the definition

Yes. It makes life harder and easier.

It's easier because I can overcome deficits with intelligence.
It's harder because people don't believe you have deficits still.

Often people will assume that in all areas of your life you function at the same high level, based on intelligence.

Thanks for putting words to this feeling. I am very much the same way and I think it's the source of most of my social awkwardness, but I've never been able to identify what it is. I might have a better time catching myself doing it now.

Not sure, maybe. Good at STEM and general how things work and how to fix them, suck at the rest of life.

Yep. My psychiatrist thought I was an Aspie & I say I'm an Aspie. My GP believes I'm an Aspie & Social Security does when I get reevaluated for my disability; the psychs they refer me to seem to think I'm on the spectrum. The problem is I just cant quality for services specially to do with autism or developmental disabilities sense I'm not officially diagnosed. My psych had got me on a waiting list for some services but they woudln't do anything for me when my name finally came up after about 7 years because I would of had to have been officially diagnosed before I turned 21 cuz it's the only way they can know for certain that the problems/issues began before I turned 21. If the issues stated after I was 21 they weren't due to developmental disabilities or autism. I really don't see a reason to get retested sense I wouldn't qualify for any extra help or services or benefits.

My full scale IQ on the WAIS-IV is 107, but my numerical working memory is 122, and my visual pattern (matrix) reasoning is in the 98th percentile (~131). So despite being Near Gifted/Gifted in a few areas I highly doubt that counts (correct me if I'm wrong).

I can't remember what test, but I've got an IQ of 142 and went to college at age 15 without much change in grades or socializing. Which is also part of why I'm just now working on getting my ASD diagnosis.

I've also got freakish abilities for counting cards and just generally most card games.

I've also got an unspecified sequencing disorder, and my brain struggles to recognize new memories as being new. So I'll do something that's clearly new to me, but a short while later it registers as deja Vu even though the event is already over and felt new at the time.

Edit: it's weird to oftentimes be both the smartest and dumbest person in the room.

Yes, definitely. High IQ, very good at some things, but pretty bad at social interaction and awful executive functioning.

High IQ, EF of a house cat.