Coaching services provided by The Gifted Learning Lab are not therapy and do not involve professional licensure
About Danika, your gifted/2e parent coach
I help parents of intense, sensitive gifted/2e kids let go of the Standard Parenting Advice you hear everywhere - which doesn’t help and actually makes things worse - and start parenting in a way that works with your kid’s brain so both of you can have less conflict and more calm.
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I created The Gifted Learning Lab because Standard Parenting Advice just doesn’t work with kids like ours.
​My unique approach is rooted in the neurodiversity paradigm and combines insights from research, clinical experience, and lived experience.
Hi, I'm Dr. Danika Maddocks!
Our kids are different, and different kids need different paths
​That’s why your bright, intense kid won’t try deep breathing, screams when they’re upset, has trouble with hygiene tasks, feels stressed at school, and struggles through the morning and bedtime routine most days.
It's why your kid can talk like a professor and build complex Lego sets but pushes back on your simple requests, negotiates constantly, says they hate themselves, or is too uncomfortable to address mistakes.​​
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It’s not that you’re incompetent as a parent. It’s not that your kid is broken.
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There are lots of families like yours and I work with them every day - so I know there are proven approaches you can use that help you create less conflict and more calm.
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This is the work I do in the Gifted Learning Lab and my coaching program. These approaches help families like yours go from power struggles and daily meltdowns to more connection, problem-solving, and ease - without forcing your kid to be someone they’re not or neglecting your own needs in the process.
How I know what I know
For over 15 years, I've supported gifted and twice-exceptional kids, teens, and families as an educator, therapist, assessment provider, school consultant, and now parent coach.
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In every iteration of my career, I’ve been the go-to person for questions about how to support intense, sensitive gifted and twice-exceptional kids and teens.
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I have a PhD in educational psychology - specifically school psychology - from The University of Texas at Austin.
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In my dissertation, I looked at whether gifted and twice-exceptional students rely on different intellectual capacities when they complete academic work - compared to average-ability students and to each other. It turns out they do! Processing speed has less influence on academic performance for gifted and twice-exceptional students.
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I have an MA in developmental psychology from San Francisco State University. I wrote my master’s thesis about the concept of a growth mindset and how students’ own mindsets may be shaped by the way their teachers talk and structure the classroom environment.
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I have a BA in communication and media studies from Macalester College, where I learned to take a critical approach to the world and question what’s considered “standard.” This is also where I first learned about postmodernism and the subjectivity of reality - which led to an ongoing fascination with the importance of individual subjective lived experience.
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I’ve published sole-author original research on twice-exceptionality in Gifted Child Quarterly and I’ve collaborated with colleagues to write articles or chapters on cognitive abilities, giftedness, assessment, academic acheivement, and family-school relationships.
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I’ve won several awards for my research on giftedness and twice-exceptionality, including the Hollingworth Research Award from the National Associated for Gifted Children.
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I’ve presented at regional and national conferences, including the Annual Convention for the National Association for Gifted Children and Annual Convention of the the National Association for School Psychologists.
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During my graduate training, I was trained in CBT, exposure therapy for anxiety, family systems therapy, interpersonal therapy, psychodyamic therapy, and solution-focused therapy. Although I don’t provide therapy through the Gifted Learning Lab, my brain naturally thinks in terms of family systems, school systems, and interpersonal processes - which is why I love to help parents make small changes that lead to cascading positive effects and connections for their kids and for the whole family.
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I’ve been fascinated by twice-exceptionality since I learned about the term in my graduate class, Educational Disabilities in the Schools. I’m particularly interested in and knowledgeable about commonly-missed indicators of twice-exceptionality, missed identification of twice-exceptionality in psychological assessments, late identification of twice-exceptionality, “high-masking” or less obvious presentations of twice-exceptionality, and the subjective experience of being twice-exceptional.
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Despite specializing in unidentified twice-exceptionality since about 2014, it never occured to me that I could be twice-exceptional until I recognized my own traits and preferences in some of the vignettes in Dr. Devon Price’s excellent book, Unmasking Autism. After a very gifted/autistic deep dive into everything related to less-obvious presentations of autism, I began to self-identify as autistic and got a formal diagnosis in 2024.
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I was identified profoundly gifted at age 7, and skipped most of second grade. I was a high-achieving, people-pleasing, rule-following kid with a ton of anxiety who was often called a “perfectionist” (though I hated that term because I could tell it was a “bad” thing to be).
What all this means...
...is that I’m uniquely equipped - from a personal, professional, and practical perspective - to help you understand and find more ease with your gifted/2e kid or teen.
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I truly believe that raising an intense gifted or twice-exceptional kid can be a delight. But it really helps if you, their parent, have the right information and support!
My husband and I agree that you are by far the most qualified and knowledgeable person in 2e kids that we’ve worked with (and we’ve had a lot of help to date).
We wish we could fold you up in our pocket and take you with us everywhere we go.
- Mom of a 2e 7-year-old
To get more support, check out:
Gifted Lab Notes
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Free weekly email with tips, ideas, & reflections for parents of intense or sensitive gifted/2e kids.
Power Struggles Mini Course ​
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Free 5-day email mini course with big ideas & practical strategies to prevent and defuse power struggles.
Support Your Intense Gifted/2e Kid
My highly-supportive 8-week coaching program that helps you feel more confident parenting your gifted/2e kid.
Learning Lab Library
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A collection of articles that address common questions & concerns of parents with gifted/2e kids.