2e kids nearly always get missed as the giftedness can very much carry the child through the LD and makes them blend in as the average kid and they are generally labelled as having adhd or badly behaved which couldn't be furthur than the truth. They generally never achieve anywhere close to the academic ability in school is the education system does not cater to their needs and does not have teachers trained to help these kids. The focus is always on what's wrong not what's right.

No standardized testing can diagnose a 2e child. Also each child is unique. 2e children make up less than 2% of the general population as far as statistics show. There's probably a tremendous amount more but as the increasing levels of misdiagnosed children rises, it's hard to say. My recommendation is to see a child psychologist and have a Psychological Educational Assessment carried out. They test over the course of many hours how a child's brain works. In Ontario every child is screened for giftedness in grade 4 unbeknown to them but again this is a standardized test. It will flag a gifted child and an LD child but not someone with both exceptionalities. My son scored gifted in two out of three and average in another so isn't flagged as gifted as they have to score high in all areas. I didnt find this out until he was in grade 5 and I asked. If a child is flagged as gifted the board puts the kid forward for a board paid psych ed assessment. I was very fortunate to have a friend who is an LRT tell me when my son was in grade 3 to have his assessment done privately if I could afford it incase he wasnt flagged. My son didnt say his alphabet until grade 2. I took him to oxford learning for extra support and they have a standardized test at intake for all kids regardless of age but in the report they outline the different scores for each section rather than lump it together into one score. They immediatly flagged his non verbal reasoning as he beat out everyone in the previous 5 years aged 3-18 with a perfect score in record time. I have had an LRT explain to me in Niagara board a child has to be gifted in all areas to be acknowledged as gifted. It's not the case in every board. Some recognize it and some don't. Fortunately in grade 5 I called a board meeting along with the school and explained that regardless of their policy on recognizing 2e or not, it didnt make my son any less 2e and by not enriching him they were letting my son down. Teachers should teach to a child's need not to one single model. The logistics of this are obviously complicated but its no excuse. If they could put my son into a single category such as adhd or autistic there would be a whole host of resources available to him and a guideline and outline on how to deal with him. It seems so many, too many people just brush these kids off and focus only on the negative, challenging behaviour which is actually a direct result of their understimulation in school and life in general.

Sorry went on a bit of a rant then lol.... As for the differences, they are very easy to see on the PSYCH ED assessment as kids with one exceptionality gifted or LD have 1 gap on the percentile scale between the average and what they are. A 2e child has 2 gaps.

A gifted child will most often have difficulties controlling their emotions. This is a very common trait in nearly all gifted children. I would personally think that a tell tale sign would be an exceptionally clever child, way above average not just a child who is a bit early to learn things, paired with behavioural issues at a young age outside the norm would be a good indicator of 2e. That's just my guess based on my experience and research.

I recently sent a dcg off to JK and am pretty confident she is gifted. She was making full sentences at 15 months and could understand what you were saying to the degree that you could have a conversation back and forth with her. Extremely bizarre at the time as it was like talking to a 10 year old but I just got used to it. She also has photographic memory which is often misunderstood. Her strength is audio and her long term memory is incredibly sharp so I am thing that the visual aspects coming up now too. However, she could not make eye contact with anyone she didnt know without having a full body melt down and anxiety attack from about age 2 1/2. So when she met new people for the first day I worked with her to get to a stage where she new she did not have to talk to anyone or look at them if it made her uncomfortable and then she was calm. The 2nd meet and she was absolutly fine and like best friends with them. Out in the stroller I have had to firmly ask people to not touch her, like pat on head or grab cheeks, and not talk to her. You see her hyperventilate and get very anxious. So this is what I mean when giving you an example of giftedness. While she hasn't been formally diagnosed yet, I would bet anything that she gets flagged before she even gets to grade 1 but she is a great example of the emotional instability of a gifted child. That in itself could even show up was 2e down the road. While gifted children are supported in the area that they excel in, it is just as equally important to support their emotional needs.

Sorry for being so long winded but wanted to give you some background and examples.