Proof That Learning Disorders Are A System Construct

The Gifted Neurodivergent Podcast

This episode is the third and final podcast of the "Overexcitabilities" series.

In the last podcast, I shared how my overexcitabilities played a crucial role in fostering my learning. They emerged when I was either exhausted or excited to aid me in subconscious or immersive learning. In this podcast, I delve into the challenges posed by overexcitabilities in the classroom. I illustrate how teachers and educational systems suppress highly sensitive learners, actively hindering their potential growth. I highlight the disregard of current scientific data around the needs of profoundly gifted students, subjecting them to standards they simply cannot sustain and a learning environment that prevents them from learning.

In a straightforward manner, I demonstrate how our educational systems can break the brightest and most sensitive children. Even those, like myself, who were mild-mannered and exhibited limited psychomotor overexcitabilities.

Using 20 classroom rules of conduct that are found in a typical elementary classroom (in the USA) I illustrate how 19 of these rules appear almost perfectly designed to stifle the learning experiences of those with high sensing intelligence. I discuss the different focus of creatives (the highest sensing) and how this distinction is used against them in traditional classroom settings. The combination of the classroom environment and teaching methods often forces twice-exceptional (2e) and gifted sensing intelligent children to exert much more effort than their peers. This creates a situation where these children are pushed into a state of overexcitabilities every day, only to be repeatedly punished and demeaned for their inability to control their behavior.

I propose redefining "2e" (twice exceptional) from its current meaning—learning differently and cognitively gifted—to giftedness in both sensing and cognition. I argue that the reason our systems struggle to accurately test 2e intelligence in their most gifted areas is that the IQ of these individuals falls above the testing range of our quantitative tests, which typically tops out at a 145 IQ. The hard is simple and simple is hard rule for autism indicates complex spatial giftedness that is going uncultivated by our current system. I believe the key distinction between 2e giftedness and "normal" giftedness lies in the sensing intelligence.

I posit that our current system definition of giftedness is confined to cognitive intelligence and introduce a giftedness found in sensing intelligence (higher sensing) that can manifest without high cognitive giftedness. I specifically identify this giftedness in individuals with high empathy but I believe it occurs in various other ways as well. Ways I have discussed in previous episodes of this podcast and ways that I plan to explore in future podcasts. I advocate for recognizing high sensitivity as a form of giftedness, just as much as high cognitive giftedness, and stress the importance of cultivating creative education with every available tool.

I reference the following in this podcast.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/jeff-bezos-homeless
https://www.crf-usa.org/images/pdf/bria_37_4-tlaxcalan.pdf
https://umbrellaus.org/
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