DALLAS — Megan Howard’s oldest son is the kind of teenager who studies advanced trigonometry purely for recreation. His mastery of complex mathematics is effortless, and his intellect often operates at a level well beyond his chronological age. Yet, despite his academic aptitude, there came a point when he began consistently avoiding school altogether.
The morning routine became a daily trial of anxiety and resistance. He would meticulously dress in his school clothes, only to flatly refuse to cross the threshold of the front door. When his mother managed to coax him into the vehicle and drive him to his middle school campus, he would stall in the passenger seat, visibly paralyzed by hesitation and unable to bring himself to step out onto the grounds. Recognizing that the status quo was unsustainable and that her son’s well-being was deteriorating, Howard ultimately made the difficult decision to pull him out of the public school system entirely.
Her son, who navigates life with autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has never struggled with the intellectual demands of homework or classroom assignments. What was missing from his educational experience was something far more fundamental: a genuine sense of belonging. Surrounded by a student body of roughly 1,000 peers at his traditional public middle school, Howard noted that her son did not need a sprawling social circle; he simply needed one reliable friend to make the massive environment manageable.
Her two sons fall into a distinct population of students known as twice-exceptional learners—individuals who are simultaneously intellectually gifted while also managing learning differences, developmental conditions, or neurodivergences such as dyslexia, ADHD, or autism. Nationally, an estimated 360,000 students fit this precise description. For their families, the daily reality is a relentless struggle to locate a traditional classroom environment capable of simultaneously challenging a child’s high intellect while supporting their complex socioemotional and developmental needs.
That systemic gap is precisely what a new private institution, the Sage School of Dallas, aims to bridge. Operating as a specialized facility in Far North Dallas, it stands as one of the few educational establishments in the entire country dedicated exclusively to serving this specific subset of students.
"Either you can find a place that has rigorous academics, or you can find a therapy school that is really about social emotional learning," Howard said, reflecting on her years of searching. "There was never a place that did both."
Over the past few decades, the broader educational landscape’s understanding of special education has deepened significantly, accompanied by a notable rise in the total number of students qualifying for specialized services. However, even with heightened public awareness and a more robust vocabulary surrounding neurodiversity, a pressing and persistent question remains for families and educators alike: Are our schools genuinely equipped to offer the comprehensive support that twice-exceptional learners require?
"Until Sage was around, there wasn’t a school that met all of their needs, so you were always trying to make it work," said Jessica Rall, one of the co-founders of the Sage School. "These students and families need a place where they don’t just have to make it work."
An ‘Unexpected Combination’ Within One Person
The term "twice-exceptional learner" has steadily gained traction across educational and psychological circles as researchers have produced more comprehensive data on the demographic. According to estimates from the National Association for Gifted Children, approximately 6% of all students who receive special education services across the United States are simultaneously recognized as academically gifted.
"It’s a phenomenon," said Jacob Michaelson, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of Iowa, describing the dual nature of these learners. "There is kind of this unexpected combination within one person of extreme ability in one aspect and extreme disability in another."
Simultaneously, the raw volume of students identified with disabilities has climbed steeply across the country, indicating that modern educators have grown more adept at recognizing varied student needs, while parents have become more proactive in seeking out formal support systems. In the 2014-15 academic year, Texas public schools served 451,600 students with identified disabilities. By the most recent school year, that figure had ballooned to 911,300 students enrolled in specialized education programs.
Yet, twice-exceptional learners frequently fly beneath the institutional radar. Because their high intellect and advanced cognitive abilities often allow them to compensate for or mask their underlying learning differences, their struggles rarely manifest as poor standardized test scores. Consequently, overworked and under-resourced educators may pay less direct attention to their hidden vulnerabilities, Michaelson explained.
"You get the impression: Oh my gosh, this person is really smart," he said. "Pero that masks the fact that they do have other deficits that are not as apparent."
Even when parents are fully aware that their child is twice-exceptional, determining the correct educational placement can feel like navigating a maze. Families are routinely forced to choose between placing their child in an advanced gifted and talented program—where their socioemotional needs may go unmet—or enrolling them in a special education environment that may fail to intellectually stimulate them.
Howard faced this exact dilemma with her own children. She had no doubt that her oldest son would easily handle the rigorous mathematics curriculum at the School for the Talented and Gifted, a highly competitive magnet school operated by the Dallas Independent School District. Her hesitation stemmed entirely from her fear that he would fall drastically behind in his social development and emotional comfort.
Meanwhile, her younger son deals with selective mutism, a complex anxiety disorder that renders him unable to speak in specific social environments. For him, Howard desired an intimate educational setting with small group sizes where his anxiety could be managed safely.
"Academics was never the issue for my kids," Howard said. "I needed them to go to school more for social reasons."
A Private School Steps In
Kristen Dauphinais deeply understands the acute frustrations experienced by parents like Howard. As the parent of a twice-exceptional learner herself, she lived through the exhausting search for an institution that could adequately address both halves of her child’s developmental profile. That personal frustration ultimately drove her to help establish a school that could finally do the job right.
"We always joke that, like, these kids just have to cook a little differently," Dauphinais said. "We’re the oven. We built an oven to cook these kids a little differently."
Inside the Sage School on a typical autumn morning, the philosophy of tailored education is visibly in action. Two high school students can be seen hovering over a communal table covered in calculation worksheets, scientific instruments, and writing utensils. As part of a hands-on physics project, the young men are constructing a functional projectile launcher. They lean down in tandem to inspect the mechanics of their makeshift device before carefully sliding a small ball into the apparatus.
To their clear delight, the projectile launches across the room, striking the far wall. Even better, the distance it travels falls just short of their calculated mathematical estimates, prompting an immediate analytical discussion about variables and error margins.
The academic approach at the facility is entirely inquiry-based, allowing students to investigate the questions they formulate with as much depth and time as they require, according to Mandi Skerbetz, the head of school. To round out the day, the schedule transitions into afternoon clubs that cater to varied niche interests, ranging from chess and Pokémon to campaigns of Dungeons & Dragons.
Crucially, socioemotional learning is not treated as an afterthought or an isolated counseling session; rather, it is directly woven into the daily curriculum, Skerbetz noted. Students participate in structured lessons focused on interpersonal communication, analyze different conversational strategies, and engage in role-playing exercises designed to help them navigate tricky social dynamics and apply those insights to their everyday lives.
During a morning session, one student readily recited back to Skerbetz an acronym the class had spent the month exploring: THINK. Before speaking or reacting, the student explained that he pauses to ask himself a series of guiding questions: Is what I am about to say true? Is it helpful? Is it inspiring? Is it necessary? Is it kind?
When the school initially opened its doors the previous year, it served a tiny cohort of just four students. Today, enrollment has grown to 11 students supported by four full-time teachers and one part-time educator. Operating out of rented space within a church building in Far North Dallas, the fully accredited school serves students spanning from the fifth grade through the 12th grade.
Gaining admission requires a formal application process. School leadership evaluates a comprehensive portfolio that includes cognitive assessments, academic transcripts, detailed parent reports, student interviews, and campus visits. The cost of attendance is $35,000 per year.
How Do Other Schools Serve Twice-Exceptional Students?
Before founding the Sage School, the leadership team reached out to the small network of established twice-exceptional schools across the United States to exchange administrative concepts and pedagogical frameworks. Their closest aspirational peer is Bridges Academy, an institution based in Southern California.
When Bridges Academy was first established in 1994, it operated out of the founder’s home with an initial enrollment of just three students. Over the intervening decades, the institution has expanded significantly into a comprehensive operation featuring a dedicated campus, an online school division, a dedicated research center, and a digital media site, currently serving roughly 200 students.
Mark Long, the head of school at Bridges Academy, has observed a distinct cultural shift in how terms like "twice-exceptionality" and "neurodiversity" are discussed in the modern educational sphere.
"There’s an understanding around what it is," he said. "There might not be an understanding of what to do with it, but there’s an awareness."
The college-preparatory school’s curriculum is deliberately designed for maximum flexibility, Long explained. For instance, rather than requiring a traditional 2,000-word research essay to demonstrate mastery, a student might be permitted to present their findings through an oral presentation or by producing an original short film. Similarly to the Sage School model, Bridges Academy schedules dedicated time within the instructional day to actively cultivate social competencies, focusing specifically on teamwork, active listening, and public speaking.
That level of specialized support, however, also commands a substantial financial investment. Annual tuition at Bridges Academy runs approximately $61,200 for its physical campus program and $37,500 for its online learning division.
Long emphasizes that these high price points should not mean that families lacking substantial financial resources are completely locked out of receiving guidance. Bridges Academy regularly provides professional consulting services to both public school districts and private institutions seeking to improve their own internal programs. The academy is frequently "inundated" with partnership inquiries as school districts nationwide attempt to figure out how best to serve their local twice-exceptional populations, according to Long.
Across the public education sector, various districts have already implemented notable structural changes. For example, Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland is widely recognized for offering some of the most comprehensive support systems in the country for twice-exceptional learners, including dedicated self-contained classrooms designed specifically for their needs.
Within Texas public schools, twice-exceptional students are legally eligible to participate in advanced gifted and talented programs while simultaneously receiving specialized accommodations outlined in their individualized education programs (IEPs). An IEP functions as a legally binding document that details precisely how a school district plans to accommodate a child’s unique learning requirements. Furthermore, state guidelines governing gifted and talented education explicitly expect educators to modify standard curricula to support twice-exceptional pupils.
Several school districts across North Texas—including Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD and Arlington ISD—have adopted universal screening protocols. Universal screening is considered a vital tool for properly identifying twice-exceptional learners because it mandates that every student undergo cognitive or academic testing, rather than relying exclusively on subjective teacher referrals that can easily overlook twice-exceptional children whose disabilities mask their raw intelligence.
"These kids are clever. They’re game-changers," Long said. "We have a moral obligation to make sure that every child across the United States and beyond reaches their potential."
Finding the Dream School
Before discovering an alternative, Megan Howard exhausted nearly every available educational avenue. She weighed the possibility of full-time homeschooling, enrolled her children in traditional public schools, and even tested out a private college-preparatory academy. For a long time, the concept of a "dream school" that could handle her children’s complex needs felt entirely fictional.
When a routine internet search unexpectedly surfaced a newly forming campus in her region, she decided to take a chance. The Sage School, she realized, offered the specific blend of intellectual challenge and socioemotional infrastructure that her children required.
Initially, transition anxieties loomed large. Leaving behind established school structures for a brand-new, unproven campus carried inherent risks. Furthermore, the steep annual tuition presented an immediate financial shock, particularly given that the school does not yet offer institutional financial aid. Howard found herself consulting with financial planners just to determine whether her household budget could realistically absorb the expense.
Ultimately, she concluded that the personal and financial sacrifices were entirely justified.
When she watches her oldest son independently studying advanced calculus at home, she knows his intellectual capacity is being properly tested. When she observes that he has successfully formed genuine friendships with his peers, a profound sense of relief washes over her. And when she watches him advocate for his own needs in a classroom setting, she feels an overwhelming sense of pride.
It is precisely for these reasons that Howard wishes every family navigating the same challenges had access to similar resources.
"I wish every student could go to a Sage who needs it," she said.
