The College of Education’s Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development understands that a college journey at the University of Iowa embraces meaningful academic experiences and the development of a host of important skills that includes independence, social-emotional maturity, effective communication, and career readiness.
To emphasize their commitment to this philosophy, the center administers the Academy for Twice-Exceptionality (2E). This nationally renowned academy strives to ensure that neurodiverse students (specifically those with Autism Spectrum Disorder or identify as Autistic) have a positive and fulfilling college experience through a focus on nurturing students’ talents while also creating a sense of community and helping students connect with resources from the Belin-Blank Center, the University of Iowa, and the broader community.
Seamus Abel, son of UI neuroscientist Ted Abel, was accepted into the 2E Academy shortly after its inception. The Abels credit the academy for providing Seamus a strong foundation that helped him realize a successful college experience.
An article recently published by UI’s Office of Strategic Communication discusses both of their remarkable experiences at Iowa. The following excerpts are from that article:
“Since being hired in 2017 as the founding director of the Iowa Neuroscience Institute at the University of Iowa, Ted Abel has overseen impressive progress: Neuroscience research funding at Iowa has increased from $65 million a year to $110 million, 30 new faculty members have come on board, and some 135 faculty across campus have joined the collaborative institute. The university, meanwhile, started an undergraduate major in neuroscience and opened a new building dedicated to psychological and brain sciences.
But one of the best things to happen to Abel since arriving in Iowa City has been personal. His son, Seamus, who is on the autism spectrum, will graduate from Iowa in May 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in German.
That Abel’s son would graduate from high school, let alone college, was not always a sure thing. Days after his birth, Seamus — named after the late Irish poet Seamus Heaney — stopped feeding. His parents were wracked with worry and fear in the neonatal intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.”
… “Abel and his wife, who works remotely as a managing editor at University of Pennsylvania Press, recall a definitive moment during Seamus’ time at Iowa. He had been accepted into the Belin-Blank Center’s Academy for Twice-Exceptionality, a program in the College of Education that works with high-ability neurodiverse students to support their campus experience and foster community engagement, and the three were at a lunch for academy students and their families.
‘We were talking to other parents, and suddenly we looked around, wondering where Seamus was. And he was sitting down at a table, talking with the student group. That had not happened before — and he was 23,’ Abel says. ‘He’s never had a real friend. The twice-exceptional academy has provided a community for Seamus, and it has helped make a large campus feel smaller.’”