Page 25 - Education Supplement February 2026

EDITORIAL

Why bright children are

so often misunderstood

arents often arrive at the same confusing A child may think far beyond their age yet struggle with
crossroads. Their child is clearly bright: organisation or emotional regulation. They may grasp complex
Pcurious, perceptive, capable of surprising concepts intuitively but battle with writing, time pressure, or
insight. Yet school reports tell a different story. sensory overload. This uneven profile is known as asynchronous
Struggling. Distracted. Emotionally overwhelmed. development, in which cognitive growth races ahead while
Falling behind. other areas develop at different paces.

The contradiction is exhausting. How can a child be Because most education systems are built around linear
both capable and failing at the same time? development, these children are often misunderstood.

For many families, the answer lies in something Gifted does not always look the way we expect
they were never told about: twice-exceptionality. There is a persistent myth that gifted children are easy to
identify: high marks, neat workbooks, consistent performance,
When giftedness and neurodivergence and compliant behaviour. In reality, many gifted and twice-
coexist exceptional learners look nothing like this.
Twice-exceptional, often shortened to 2E,
describes children who are both gifted and They may question instructions, disengage from repetitive
neurodivergent. They may show advanced work, or resist tasks that feel shallow or meaningless. Emotional
reasoning, creativity, or verbal ability alongside intensity is common. So is boredom. Some children become
ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dysgraphia, sensory anxious or withdrawn. Others are labelled disruptive,
processing differences, or anxiety. oppositional, or unmotivated.

These characteristics coexist. One does not cancel Schools are generally trained to recognise high
out the other. performance rather than high potential. When
performance falters, the focus often shifts to what
the child cannot do, rather than why learning has
become so difficult.

For parents, this is where doubt creeps in. When
the child you know at home does not match the
child being described at school, it can feel as
though something essential is being missed.

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