2020 22nd Ave SE
2E: Twice Exceptional, the multi-award winning documentary, is the next Community Education Series presentation at NOVA Middle School. This presentation is free and open to the public.
The film follows the personal journeys of a unique group of high school students in Los Angeles who have been identified as “twice exceptional” – gifted or highly gifted individuals with learning disabilities or differences. They are geniuses, mavericks and dreamers – Malcolm Gladwell’s budding “outliers.”
Director Thomas Ropelewski states as the parent of a “twice-exceptional” teenager (he’s intellectually gifted – that’s the first exception – but with a learning difference – ADHD – that’s the second), he knows first-hand about the challenges of trying to understand and nurture a child who at one moment seems wise beyond his years and the next can throw a tantrum like a much younger child.
Why can’t everyone see the same brilliant kid he sees? The simple answer is that his brain is “wired” differently. Basic executive skills that come so easily to other children are real challenges for him. But studying graduate-level molecular genetics in tenth grade was a piece of cake.
Navigating adolescence is challenging enough for anyone, no matter what path to adulthood you find yourself on. That challenge is compounded greatly for the young person who finds himself on a path which few, if any, have forged before. Parents and teachers are equally lost when trying their best to nurture and guide them.
Following the screening there will be a panel discussion, as we expand the national dialogue about twice-exceptional education and effective programs and strategies to engage these idiosyncratic kids who may indeed grow up to change the world.
