Research shows that gifted children are actually more likely to be neurodiverse than their typical peers, with conditions like ADHD, autism, anxiety, and learning differences appearing at higher rates in gifted populations. A lot of professionals in special education and/or gifted education do not actually separate gifted from “neurodiverse” because giftedness is a diverse brain. 
There are plenty of gifted students who do not also have another neurodiversity like ADHD or autism, but there are many who do. This intersection creates what educators call "twice-exceptional" or "2e" learners - children whose exceptional abilities can mask their learning differences, and whose learning differences can overshadow their gifts. 

For parents, understanding this intersection is crucial because it explains why their brilliant child might have homework meltdowns, struggle with transitions, or seems to underperform despite their obvious intelligence. Recognizing that giftedness and neurodiversity not only can coexist but often do, opens the door to better supporting these complex, fascinating children.

Executive function skills have become a trending topic as more and more people access self-diagnosis checklists on-line. These skills are often related to those things we need to be able to “adult” in the modern world. These specific sets of skills allow us to organize our time and closet as well as shift information from short term working memory to long term. Harvard explains executive function skills as the “air traffic control center” of our brains (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2025).

There are two parts of school

1. Learning and demonstrating understanding and mastery of CONTENT
2. Learning and demonstrating the SKILLS necessary to learn and demonstrate the mastery of content. 

Struggles with the second part demonstrate executive dysfunction, which will lead to struggles with learning and demonstrating that learning of the content. The distinction here is that HOW you learn and WHAT you need to learn are different things entirely. 

Knowing that George Washington was the first President of the United States and being able to demonstrate that one does know that information are not the same things.

Someone with dysgraphia would struggle with bubbling in the letter next to the name “George Washington.” Someone with ADHD may see the name “George Washington” but the option of “Abraham Lincoln” led them to start thinking about the penny they found in the lunch room and they end up bubbling “Lincoln” instead.

Executive dysfunction is often the cornerstone of diagnosing neurodivergence, but how does that impact someone who is gifted? Someone who is gifted may struggle to answer because they are unsure about the question exactly because one can argue that the United States as a country was not formed until after the Civil War. Because this student was teased for being the class pet, they don’t want to ask for clarification on the question. They think so long about this issue that the time runs out and they have only completed half the test. 

One of the larger struggles I have seen over my many years in the classroom is that students who are gifted really struggle with time management. This is partially because school was so easy for so long. When they finally hit a course that challenges them, they don’t know what to do. They’ve never had to break assignments into parts or manage their time because they always finish things first. 

Students who are gifted often take on too many things because they are interested in everything. They want to play football AND be in the marching band. Eventually those diverse interests take up hours and hours of time. 

And, students who are gifted are really good at masking. Especially when they become the class “tutor” or “teacher’s pet.” 

An area that often impacts students who are gifted is their understanding and regulation of their emotions. Because students who are gifted have such a high level of understanding of content, they encounter adult topics a little sooner than many of them should. They can comprehend the science of climate change very easily, but they can also very easily spiral towards existential dread because of age-appropriate emotional intelligence that does not match their deep understanding of the melting glacier’s impact on their home in Florida (Harrison & Haneghan, 2011). 

Many students with giftedness present with perfectionism induced anxiety as well. If your child often comes home and says they failed a test, but the reality is that they earned a 92, they most likely are struggling with gifted perfectionism (Gasser, 2018).  The emotional needs of students with giftedness are extremely complex (Delisle, 2013).

Most teachers with a gifted specialization have been specifically trained to deal with the unique disconnect between content knowledge and emotional knowledge of their gifted students.

I can tell you I spent a large amount of my time calming panic attacks in the girls restroom across the hall from my classroom. Most of the time, it was related to perfectionism anxiety. Trying to convince someone an 89 on a test will not destroy their chances at getting into whatever school they wanted became a part of my daily interactions with students.

Many students with giftedness begin to earn poor grades because they simply just don’t do the work. They find the assignments mundane and pointless (Delisle, 2018). The novelty of the honor roll ribbons has worn off. It’s not that they can’t, but they don’t want to.

There are a lot of reasons why this happens. Sometimes it is because they are not being challenged (Davidson Academy, 2025). As students get older, their interests can become more narrow and often students who are gifted just choose not to focus on the things that no longer interest them (Davidson Academy, 2025).

Students who are gifted often have a narrow definition of “fairness” so an educator who is focusing on errors more than growth could lead to a student checking out of the class (Davidson Academy, 2025).

 Often, because of the early existential dread, students who are gifted often have low self-esteem (Davidson Academy, 2025). Imposter syndrome can lead to a student who would rather fail because they did not turn anything in rather than failing when they tried their best (Psychology Today Staff, 2025). The F in pre-cal is less traumatic than everyone figuring out they actually are not gifted. 

So what do you do if your child who is gifted is demonstrating any of these struggles? First, instead of thinking “what’s wrong” work on thinking in terms of “what’s different?” This mind shift can help you approach these issues with a more creative approach rather than thinking there is some type of solution. 

Your twice-exceptional child isn't broken - they're beautifully complex. Understanding that giftedness and neurodiversity can coexist helps you move from trying to "fix" your child to supporting their unique wiring.

These children often become our most innovative thinkers, creative problem-solvers, and compassionate leaders. They need parents who see their struggles not as deficits, but as different ways of experiencing the world.

Trust your instincts. If something feels off, investigate. If your child is struggling, seek support. And remember - with the right understanding and support, these remarkable children don't just survive, they thrive.