| Subscriber Alerts
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For Midwesterners: Northwestern University in Evanston, Illlinois, is seeking children 8 to 15 years of age to participate in a study of disabilities in children's developing brains as the children learn to read. More information about the studies are available at a Northwestern website or by contacting Jennifer Minas.
Do you have experiences to share in parenting, educating, or counseling twice-exceptional kids (or all three)? If you'd like to write for 2e Newsletter, share your idea with us. Send an inquiry to editor@2eNewsletter.com. Help out the 2e community!
Next issue of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter: mid-January. Content will include conference coverage from NAGC and the Victorian (Australia) Association of Gifted and Talented Children's (VAGTC); and sources of information on twice-exceptionalities and related issues. (Not yet a subscriber? Go here.) Back issues of 2e Newsletter are available for purchase.
The next issue of this briefing: early February.
Feel free to pass on this briefing to others you might know with an interest in raising or teaching high-ability children with learning differences. |
Giftedness and Exceptionalities in the News
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SCIAM MIND NOW POSTS SOME OF ITS ARTICLES. December's Scientific American Mind contains several articles that might be of interest to parents of gifted or 2e kids: "Sex, Math and Scientific Achievement," examining gender-based strengths and suggesting that targeted training can improve skill sets related to gender; for those of you with bored kids, "Bored?," which explains how boredom can be different in different people and that attentional issues may play a role; and "The Secret of Raising Smart Kids," which recommends encouraging effort rather than telling the kids how smart they are.
Like Father, Like... "Your Child's Disorders May Be Yours, Too" - so says the headline of a New York Times article focusing on how a diagnosis for a child can often make parents reflect on their own behaviors and histories. Giving examples of high-ability families with kids on the autism spectrum and with AD/HD, the article goes into some of the intricacies of the situations. In one family whose child was diagnosed with a neuro-lingual disorder that caused him not to interact at school and to exhibit certain other behaviors, the mother said: "Well, that's us; our family is like that." But then she tracked the trait back to herself and her father, calling the experience therapeutic.
GIFTED PRESCHOOL. A story appearing via a Kansas NBC station featured a Wichita preschool for accelerated learners, noting that gifted youngsters can be "at risk" if not identified early and provided with enough fodder to keep their brains busy. Find out more about the preschool and see video at the station's website.
DEAR COLLEGE BOUND. A letter to an education advice columnist in the San Francisco Chronicle asked how a parent could help motivate her son, a gifted high school graduate with attention and focus issues. Seems that the young man, although he has many interests and talents, hates schoolwork and has never written more than a two-page essay. Should he go to college? Read the columnist's response.
LAGGING IN HELP FOR THE GIFTED. The Delaware News Journal contends that the state's gifted students are left behind because of the focus on NCLB, along with the fact that the state is one of just six states that neither mandates gifted education or provides gifted education funding. The article quotes the Davidson Institute's Jill Adrian, who notes that 20 percent of U.S. school dropouts test in the gifted range. Read the article.
LD CHIC. The aura of dyslexics as talented achievers got a boost from Business Week in an article titled "Why Dyslexics Make Great Entrepreneurs." The article profiles several notables such as Charles Schwab and Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinko's, and offers a number of explanations for dyslexic achievement. The New York Times also published an article on the same topic in December, "Tracing Business Acumen to Dyslexia."
FOLLOW-UP. In the last Briefing we reported a study suggesting that at least some AD/HD children outgrow their condition as their brains mature. That study prompted some cautions of "over-interpreting" from various experts who fear that clinicians, parents, and educators will not address the condition with medication or behavioral treatment if they believe the condition will eventually go away. Wrong, says Education Week's article.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY. December's Scientific American Mind reminded us that December 5th, 1955, was the day the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of methylphenidate (Ritalin) for conditions such as depression and chronic fatigue. In the 1960s, says the magazine, doctors started to use the drug on those with "hyperkinetic syndrome" -- AD/HD.
OTHER STORIES. See http://del.icio.us/2eNewsletter for news items we've saved recently on specific topics such as giftedness, gifted education, AD/HD, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, etc.
Note: Some of these news items came to our attention through ScienceDaily, EdNews.org, Education Week, CEC SmartBriefs, and other aggregators. |
From Other Newsletters and Digests
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Attention Research Update. In December, David Rabiner discussed the misuse of AD/HD medications by college students. In one large study, about 7 percent of college students reported non-medical use of AD/HD medication during their lifetime; about 4 percent in the previous year. In general, the meds were used to enhance academic performance rather than for recreational purposes. Use varied by gender, race, grade-point average, institution, competitiveness of the college, and whether the user also used other "substances." Read Rabiner's review.
EdNews. On December 5th, Ednews.org columnist Michael Shaughnessy interviewed psychologist and author Adam Cox on executive functioning. Says Cox, who prefers the term "executive control" to AD/HD: "The term AD/HD is way too narrow to fully embrace the minds of kids or how much is at stake for kids with executive thinking delays."
Gifted Resources Newsletter. In her year-end edition, Australian gifted advocate Jo Freitag reviews her 2007 activities and previews the 2008 visits to Australia of Stephanie Tolan for a series of lectures and workshops, and Rosemary Cathcart for a series of workshops.
LD OnLine Monthly Report. Included in the December edition at www.ldonline.org was an article by Rick Lavoie on creating an "instruction book" for your child -- a dossier to help teachers, neighbors, relatives, and other adults understand your child.
SchwabLearning. In December, the organization announced that the content of SchwabLearning.org will be hosted by GreatSchools, a San Francisco-based non-profit, beginning in 2008. Meanwhile, material offered online at SchwabLearning in recent issues included a new article offering advice for addressing common spelling problems in elementary students with LD (December 4th); and an updated article on famous people with dyslexia and other learning challenges (December 12th). We thank the Schwabs for their resources and dedication to the cause of LDs and AD/HD; and we thank the staff at SchwabLearning.org for their insights and good works over the years.
Wrightslaw. The December 4th edition of Special Ed Advocate featured a teacher debate on accommodations and modifications for students with disabilities: are they fair? Necessary? on The December 11th edition covered emotional and behavioral problems at school, addressing the question "Is It Okay Just to Teach the Easy Kids?" On December 18th, the newsletter featured a success story about a woman who "stopped playing the victim" and did what she needed to do to advocate for her children. |
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Resources for Parents, Educators, and Kids
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The Summer Institute for the Gifted has published its 2008 catalogof residential summer programs for academically advanced students. (The institute calls it a brochure but we think it's really a catalog.) Participating universities include Amherst, Bryn Mawr, Emory, UC Berkeley, UCLA, University of Michigan, Vassar, University of Texas/Austin, and Princeton. You may request a catalog from tsergo@giftedstudy.com or see the 2008 offerings online at the organization's website.
See the "Gifted Children's Bill of Rights" at the NAGC website, drafted by the organization's current president Del Siegle. One example: "You have a right to feel passionate about your talent area without apologies."
An Education Week blog by K-12 gifted education specialist Tamara Fisher offers news and developments in gifted education and advice for teachers working with gifted students. In a recent entry she commented on the NAGC bill of rights (see above) and offered links to previous documents on the topic. Another recent entry lists some of the tidbits Tamara learns from her gifted students -- such as about the "interrobang."
Got an avid storyteller in the family or in your classroom? The Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is holding its third annual short story contest for students in grades 2 through 10. Submit entries during the month of February. The contest is open to students in public, private, and home schools. See details at the MWA website.
No mystery writer? How about a science essayist? DuPont has issued the call for entries into the DuPont Challenge 2008 Science Essay Competition. The Challenge gives students in grades 7-12 the opportunity to write a 700 to 1,000-word essay discussing a scientific discovery, theory, event, or technological application that has captured their interest. Essays are judged based on ideas and content; mechanics and conventions; organization; style and creativity; and originality. Cash prizes total more than $25,000, according to the company. Deadline: Jan. 28, 2008.
And one more competition -- the Toyota Community Scholars program, whose 100 winners share $1.12 million in scholarship money. Schools may nominate one student (except for schools with over 600 graduating seniors, which may nominate two). Scholarships are awarded based on academic performance and community service. But hurry: Nominations must be postmarked by January 4th.
The National Society for the Gifted and Talented offers 15 scholarships for children in grades K-12. Along with the application, students submit a description of the intended use of the scholarship and a letter of recommendation. Details at the organization's website. Deadline: February 1st.
The Society for Neuroscience has on its website a series of "Brain Research Success Stories" written for the public and for elected officials with the goal of encouraging governmental funding for biomedical research. Topics of the two-page primers that might be of interest to Briefing readers include: the adolescent brain; autism; bipolar disorder; depression; dyslexia; obsessive-compulsive disorder; reading failure; and Tourette Syndrome. Also on the website: "Brain Briefings," a series of two-page newsletters explaining how basic neuroscience discoveries lead to clinical applications. Several dozen briefings on specific topics such as "brain plasticity" and "young brains on alcohol" are grouped into the categories of brain injury, brain mechanisms, development, drugs, eating, emotions, exercise, gender, memory, nervous system disorders and diseases, nervous system repair, pain, the senses, sleep, and technology. |
Events
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March 6-9, 2008, Annual Conference of the Council of Parent Attorneys & Advocates (COPPA), Anaheim, California. For attorneys, special education advocates, and parents. More information.
April 2-5, 2008, Convention and Expo of the Council for Exceptional Children, Boston, Massachusetts. Henry Winkler, keynoter. For teachers, administrators, students, parents, paraprofessionals, and other providers of support services to students with exceptionalities, disabilities, or giftedness. More information.
April 4-6, 2008, Intelligence at Risk: Transforming the Educational Paradigm, Universal City Hilton, Universal City, California. By AEGUS (Association for the Education of Gifted Underachieving Students). For educators, parents, and clinicians. More information.
May 18-20, 2008, The Ninth Biennial Henry B. & Jocelyn Wallace National Research Symposium on Talent Development, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. For educators and researchers in the gifted field. More information.
July 9-11, 2008, Australian Association for the Education of Gifted and Talented (AAEGT) Biennial Conference, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. More information.
July 18-20, 2008, SENG 25th Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. For parents, educators, school psychologists, and others. More information.
September 16-20, 2008, 11th Conference of the European Council for High Ability, Prague, Czech Republic. Official language: English. For professionals, educators. More information.
Please note: For state association conferences relating to giftedness, see Hoagies' website. For additional conferences on learning differences, see the website of the Council for Exceptional Children. |
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