DALLAS — Megan Howard’s oldest son is the kind of kid who studies trigonometry for sheer enjoyment, treating complex mathematical proofs like a leisure-time puzzle. Yet, despite his prodigious academic appetite, he was avoiding school altogether.
Mornings in the Howard household had become a crucible of anxiety. Her son would manage to get dressed, but then he would stall, standing frozen in the hallway and ultimately refusing to step out the front door. On the mornings they managed to get him into the car, the vehicle would pull up to the curb of his local middle school, and he would lock up, paralyzed by hesitation and unable to bring himself to step out onto campus.
Watching her child experience this daily distress made it painfully clear to Howard that something fundamental had to change. Ultimately, she made the difficult decision to pull him out of the public school system entirely.
Her son, who is diagnosed with autism and ADHD, has never experienced the slightest difficulty with homework or rigorous classroom material. What was missing from the traditional educational environment was not academic stimulation, but a basic, sustaining sense of belonging. Among the roughly 1,000 students populating his public middle school campus, Howard noted, her son didn’t need a large crowd; he simply needed one friend—one anchor of connection to make the overwhelming institution feel safe.
Her two sons belong to a unique and often overlooked segment of the student population known as "twice-exceptional" learners. These are children who are simultaneously intellectually gifted while also navigating learning differences, neurodivergence, or developmental conditions such as dyslexia, ADHD, or autism. Nationwide, an estimated 360,000 students fit this complex profile. For their families, finding a classroom environment capable of catering simultaneously to a child’s advanced, sometimes college-level intellect and their delicate socioemotional needs has long felt like an impossible quest.
That exact educational gap is what a new private institution, the Sage School of Dallas, has stepped in to address. Operating out of a church in Far North Dallas, it is one of a very small number of schools across the entire country specifically dedicated to serving twice-exceptional 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 exhausting search for her children. "There was never a place that did both."
Over the past few decades, society’s understanding of special education has deepened significantly, and the sheer number of students qualifying for specialized educational services has climbed. But even with this increased awareness, a pressing and systemic question remains for educators and families alike: Are modern schools genuinely equipped to offer the multifaceted support that twice-exceptional learners require to thrive?
"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 gained broader traction in recent years as more academic and clinical research has emerged regarding this unique neurodivergent population. According to estimates from the National Association for Gifted Children, approximately 6% of all students currently receiving special education services are also academically gifted.
"It’s a phenomenon," said Jacob Michaelson, a psychiatry and neuroscience professor at the University of Iowa. "There is kind of this unexpected combination within one person of extreme ability in one aspect and extreme disability in another."
At the same time, the raw number of students registered with disabilities has shot up dramatically across the country, suggesting both that educators have become more sophisticated at recognizing diverse learning needs and that parents are increasingly empowered to seek out formal support systems. For instance, 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 skyrocketed to 911,300 students enrolled in special education programs across the state.
Yet, twice-exceptional learners frequently fly completely under the radar. Their high intellect often acts as a camouflage, masking their underlying learning differences, processing delays, or neurodevelopmental challenges. Because their struggles are rarely reflected in failing grades or depressed standardized test scores, overworked and under-resourced educators may pay less attention to them, Michaelson explained.
"You get the impression: Oh my gosh, this person is really smart," Michaelson said. "But 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, navigating the educational landscape remains a high-stakes guessing game. Do they belong in an accelerated gifted and talented program designed for high achievers, where their socioemotional struggles might be ignored or penalized? Or do they belong in a specialized special education program, where the academic pace might leave their brilliant minds starved for intellectual challenge?
Howard had no doubt that her oldest son would effortlessly handle the rigorous math curriculum at the School for the Talented and Gifted, a highly competitive magnet school operated by Dallas ISD. Her deep-seated worry was entirely social; she feared he would be academically stimulated but socially isolated and overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, her younger son deals with selective mutism, a complex anxiety disorder that fundamentally prevents a child from speaking in certain social settings or environments. For him, Howard desperately wanted an educational setting structured around smaller groups and intensive emotional support.
"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 intimately relates to the deep frustrations voiced by parents like Howard. Because her own child is a twice-exceptional learner, she understands firsthand how grueling the search can be for a school that honors both a brilliant intellect and a vulnerable emotional profile.
That shared parental exhaustion is precisely why she helped co-found an institution designed to bridge that exact divide.
"We always joke that 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."
On a crisp October morning, two high school students hovered around a long table cluttered with complex worksheets, scientific calculators, and loose pencils. As part of a hands-on physics lesson, the two boys were tasked with constructing a functioning projectile launcher. Leaning in close, they meticulously inspected their makeshift machine, adjusted the tension, and carefully slipped a ball into the mechanism.
To their genuine excitement, the ball launched from the table and sailed across the room, striking the far wall. Even better, the distance it traveled measured out to be just a hair short of their initial mathematical estimations, prompting an animated discussion about velocity and margin of error.
The academic instruction at the school is entirely "inquiry-based," allowing students to dive down intellectual rabbit holes and explore the questions they generate on their own terms and as in-depth as they desire, explained Mandi Skerbetz, the head of school. To balance the intense intellectual focus, the school day wraps up with student-led clubs ranging from chess and Pokémon to complex tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons.
Crucially, socioemotional learning is not an afterthought or an extracurricular add-on; it is deliberately woven into the daily curriculum, Skerbetz noted. Students take explicit lessons focused on interpersonal communication, navigate structured role-playing exercises to work through tricky social scenarios, and discuss practical ways to apply these communication strategies to real-world interactions outside the classroom.
On that same morning, a student recited back to Skerbetz an acronym the class had deeply analyzed earlier in the month: THINK. Before he speaks or reacts to a peer, he runs his thoughts through a mental checklist: Is it true? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Kind?
When the school first opened its doors last year, it operated with a microscopic cohort of just four students. Today, the enrollment has grown to 11 students, supported by four full-time teachers and one part-time educator. Fully accredited and operating out of a church facility in Far North Dallas, the institution serves young people spanning the fifth through 12th grades.
Admission to the school is selective and requires a thorough application process. School leadership evaluates comprehensive cognitive assessments, historical academic records, detailed parent reports, and conducts personal interviews and campus visits. Tuition is set at $35,000 per academic year.
How Do Other Schools Serve Twice-Exceptional Students?
Before launching the Sage School, its founders reached out to the small handful of established twice-exceptional schools operating across the country to exchange administrative ideas, curriculum concepts, and operational models. Its closest aspirational peer, they note, is Bridges Academy, located in Southern California.
When Bridges Academy was first established in 1994, it started humbly with just three students learning inside the founder’s home. Over the ensuing decades, the institution has expanded dramatically into a comprehensive educational ecosystem boasting 200 students, a dedicated physical campus, an online school component, an integrated research center, and a media site.
Mark Long, the head of school at Bridges Academy, has observed a distinct cultural shift in how educational institutions talk about these students. Terms like "twice-exceptionality" and "neurodiversity" are tossed around with far greater frequency today than they were even ten years ago.
"There’s an understanding around what it is," Long 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 intentionally designed for maximum flexibility, Long explained. For example, instead of forcing a neurodivergent student to grind out a traditional 2,000-word academic essay, the school might allow that same student to demonstrate mastery of the subject matter by delivering an oral presentation or producing an original documentary film. Mirroring the model at the Sage School, Bridges Academy explicitly carves out dedicated time during the regular school day to help students build essential social competencies, such as collaborative teamwork and public speaking.
That level of tailored support, however, also comes with a significant price tag. Annual tuition at Bridges Academy runs roughly $61,200 for its in-person campus program and $37,500 for its virtual school offering.
Long acknowledges that high private tuition costs mean many families are inherently priced out, emphasizing that children from lower-income backgrounds should never be boxed out of receiving an appropriate education. To bridge that gap, Bridges Academy offers consulting services to public school districts and other private institutions. The school is frequently "inundated" with inquiries from public school districts stretching from coast to coast as educators desperately try to figure out how to better serve twice-exceptional learners within the public sphere, Long said.
Public school systems have certainly made measurable strides in recent years. For instance, Montgomery County Public Schools, a prominent district in Maryland, has built a national reputation for offering some of the most comprehensive support services for twice-exceptional students, including dedicated self-contained classrooms.
Within Texas public schools, twice-exceptional students are legally eligible to participate in accelerated gifted and talented programs while simultaneously receiving specialized accommodations outlined in their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). An IEP is a legally binding document that mandates how a public school district will fulfill a child’s specific educational needs. Furthermore, Texas state guidelines explicitly instruct educators to modify and adapt standard curricula to adequately support twice-exceptional learners.
Several school districts across North Texas—including Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD and Arlington ISD—have implemented universal screening policies. Universal screening is considered a vital tool in accurately identifying twice-exceptional learners because it tests every single student in a grade level rather than relying solely on traditional teacher recommendations, which often miss gifted students whose neurodivergence hides their potential.
"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 finding a workable solution, Howard exhausted nearly every alternative. She heavily considered homeschooling, enrolled her children in standard public schools, and even experimented with a private college-preparatory academy. For the longest time, the concept of a "dream school" that could seamlessly accommodate her sons’ complex profiles felt like a complete fiction.
It wasn’t until she stumbled upon a new local campus through a routine, late-night internet search that she decided to take a chance. The Sage School, she dared to hope, might finally be the place capable of supporting children like hers.
Naturally, she experienced moments of hesitation, particularly regarding the risk of pulling her children out of established systems to enroll in a brand-new, unproven school. The steep price tag of private tuition also triggered immediate sticker shock, especially since the school does not yet have a robust financial aid program in place. Howard even consulted with financial planners to meticulously evaluate whether her family could make the numbers work without jeopardizing their long-term stability.
Ultimately, the personal and financial sacrifices were entirely worth it, she said.
When she looks across the room now and watches her oldest son deeply engrossed in studying calculus, she knows his brilliant mind is being adequately challenged. When she observes him interacting naturally and making genuine friends, an immense wave of relief washes over her. And when she watches him confidently self-advocating for his own needs, she feels an undeniable sense of maternal pride.
It is precisely because of these profound transformations that Howard wishes, above all else, that "every student could go to a Sage who needs it."
