TPP 130: Julie Skolnick of With Understanding Comes Calm on Advocating for 2e Kids

This week I’m talking with Julie Skolnick, the founder of With Understanding Comes Calm, an organization with a mission of empowering parents, educators, and professionals to bring out the best and raise self esteem in their twice exceptional (2e) children, students, clients, and themselves through education, tailor made strategies, and advocacy training.

I initially reached out to Julie about having her on the show because she does a lot of in-the-classroom training, helping educators better understand and recognize their twice exceptional students and learn tools and strategies for supporting them. Because finding the right educational fit is perhaps the biggest challenge for parents raising 2e kids, I was hoping Julie could offer us the solution to this problem and tell us exactly what we could do to get our kids’ teachers on board. But when Julie and I had our pre-interview conversation a few weeks before recording this, she made it clear that there is no easy answer—the work is difficult, there’s a lot of resistance, and progress is slow. While I can’t promise any magic solution to the issue of how to educate 2e kids, I can promise that in our conversation Julie shares a number of powerful tools and strategies for how we as parents can powerfully advocate for our kids and understand them as learners so we can show up as the best parent we can be.

THINGS YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Why finding an educational fit for twice exceptional kids can be so challenging
• The status quo regarding how 2e kids are managing in traditional school settings
• Julie’s ideas for how parents can advocate for their 2e learners in a collaborative way
• How parents can learn to trust that they are the best parent for their child
• The three main challenges for 2e students as a result of their wiring
• Julie’s advice and best practices for parents just now discovering their child’s unique profile and are looking for ideas on where to start

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• With Understanding Comes Calm (Julie’s website)
• SENG (Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted)
• Jonathan Mooney
• 2e Newsletter
• Behind the Scenes of the Resource TECA—Twice Exceptional Children’s Advocacy (podcast episode)

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