Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength & ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.
Sara Blakely
Did I ever think I’d be quoting the founder & CEO of Spanx in any way relating to my blog and Instagram account? Not at all! Lol However, when I stumbled upon ☝ this advice from her, it instantly resonated with me. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗜 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗽𝘂𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 with my “kite kid” effort, even though I’m not a teacher, or a therapist, or a child psychologist, or a pediatrician, or any other type of educator or pediatric clinician.
Some incredible moms of these misunderstood kiddos provide resources and 𝗻𝘂𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘃𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘂𝗺𝘀 for other families. This is desperately needed.
I have info and resources for moms on my blog, too; however, 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆 goal 𝗶𝘀 to eliminate the 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗺 between kite kid families and many educators and pediatric clinicians. The divide stems from 𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗼𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲𝘀, as well as a lack of awareness about this type of neurodiversity. Additionally, it’s fertile breeding ground for confusion, frustration, divisiveness, hopelessness and shame.
And it’s so unnecessary! We 𝘢𝘭𝘭 love children and want to help them, but sometimes, we don’t know what we don’t know. I didn’t until 3 1/2 years ago! (here’s how I found out)
Never too old to learn something new
I’ve painfully learned information that would help these professionals better understand and help some of their complex, and often struggling, students and patients.
In addition, I’m soaking up as much info as I can about who these professionals are, including: their hopes, their struggles and what keeps them up at night. (It’s a two-way street, right?)
And so, as Sara Blakely advises above, even though I have more to learn, I can’t let that hold me back. I know enough to help narrow the divide. And I’ll continue to actively learn – especially when it comes to general education teachers and school counselors, who serve so many students simultaneously with such diverse needs.
We’re in this together
If you’re a kite kid mama, I hope you’ll add your experiences (in kind, helpful ways) to my Instagram, Pinterest and blog posts. Doing so will help these caring professionals better grasp our misunderstood kiddos – the “garden variety” kite kids as well as the particularly complex ones who are twice exceptional (2e).
And if you’re an educator, child therapist or pediatric clinician, I hope you’ll follow along. Once you understand basic traits of “gifted” and 2e children, like asynchronous development and various intensities, you’ll start to see these students’ and patients’ distinct and often-confusing behaviors through a totally different lens.
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