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Subscriber Alerts
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The March/April issue of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter was sent in mid-March. Let us know if you didn't receive your copy. Content included articles on 2e and AD/HD, boredom, another look at a recent study on "growing out of" AD/HD, and what you should know about the WISC-IV in assessing gifted kids. (Not yet a subscriber? Go here.) Back issues of 2e Newsletter are available for purchase in either print or PDF form.
The 2008 AEGUS conference is coming up at the end of this week; it is to be held in the Los Angeles area. We've found this conference to be useful to those who raise, teach, or counsel twice-exceptional children. Check it out and attend if you can.
Sally Lyon of OGTOC points out that Hoagies' website is now 11 years old. Way to go, Carolyn K.
In March, the topic of the prefrontal cortex (and its role in impulse control and rational decision making) made its debut in the comic strip Zits. Read it.
Books of the Month: Don't forget that on the 2e Newsletter website you can find a list of books we've reviewed or mentioned in the newsletter. Say, for example, that you work with the WISC-IV and that after reading about the WISC-IV in the March/April issue you decided you MUST have a copy of Essentials of WISC-IV Assessment by Flanagan and Kaufman. You can find a brief description on our site and click through to Amazon to find out more or to order it. There's also a list of kids' books where you can find titles ranging from Learning Outside the Lines to ***a the Brave.
Something to do today: Visit this page on the site of the National Assocation for Gifted Children and check to see whether your senator has co-signed a "dear colleague" letter supporting Javits Grant program funding. The deadline for getting co-signers in the Senate is April 1, so contact your senator quickly. (The Javits Grant program is designed to build and enhance the ability of elementary and secondary schools to meet the special education needs of gifted and talented students.)
The next issue of this briefing: early May.
Feel free to pass on this briefing to others you know with an interest in raising or teaching high-ability children with learning differences. |
Giftedness and Exceptionalities in the News
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WORKING MEMORY NOT WORKING. ScienceDaily reported on work done concerning working memory in children at Durham University in the UK. Researchers there estimate that ten percent of children in the UK suffer from working memory poor enough to seriously affect learning. The researchers have developed a rating scale for teachers to use to identify children who may have problems with working memory; and they've developed a computerized assessment to further examine children's working memory use. (The article also provides a nice primer on working memory and the effects of deficits in working memory.) Read more.
AD/HD MEDS. ScienceDaily also reported on a study indicating that the use of stimulant drugs to treat children who have AD/HD has no effect on their future risk of substance abuse. Read ScienceDaily's account.
CHOOSING THE GIFTED. Schools in Pennsylvania and in Denver are changing the way they select students for gifted programs. In both places, educators will take into account more than test scores. Pennsylvania, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is moving toward multiple other criteria because "IQ tests don't always flag gifted students, particularly those from disadvantaged homes, children with disabilities, and deep-thinkers who don't do well on timed tests." In Denver, selection changes are designed to include more disadvantaged students and students who are learning English, according to the Denver Post.
GENDER AND LANGUAGE. An fMRI study by researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Haifa has found that areas of the brain associated with language work harder in girls than boys during language tasks, and that boys and girls rely on different parts of the brain when performing these tasks. One of the researchers said that the findings suggest that language processing is more sensory in boys and more abstract in girls. Read about the study.
YES I CAN. An intellectually gifted young man with Tourette's and OCD has received one of CEC's "Yes I Can" awards from the Council for Exceptional Children. Thomas Ostric's IQ measures above 150, according to the Germantown (Tennessee) News, and the young man succeeded in areas where he was challenged -- for example, giving a perfect performance in a substantial speaking part in a play, despite his Tourette's. Read about other "Yes I Can" winners at the CEC website.
PRODIGIES. The New York Times noted that in Brazil an eight-year-old boy passed an entrance exam to law school, but the school wants him to finish elementary and high school first. And the Berklee Music School in Boston invited three-year-old Julian Pavone, the world's youngest drummer, to study at the school.
GIFTED AND ASPIE. ABC News reported on the diagnostic journey and challenges of Austin Tiffany in De Soto, Iowa. A precocious youngster who could do triple-digit addition in first grade, he also had habits like chewing up the collars on his shirts. The story covers his and his family's challenges through middle school.
FOND OF THE FONZ. The Grand Rapids Press did an article about Henry Winkler on the occasion of a local appearance by the actor and author of the Hank Zipzer series of books. In the article, Winkler recounts some of the effects of dyslexia on his life and how he has dealt with success. Read it. (See our review of one Hank Zipzer book in the October, 2003 issue of 2e Newsletter.)
2e ACHIEVER. Here's the lead sentence in an article in the Dallas Morning News: "In five years, Ali Cardaropoli has gone from virtually illiterate to literate with a vengeance." The article goes on to describe how the young woman has overcome a variety of auditory and visual processing disorders to become a playwright/director and to graduate from her high school as valedictorian. After her parents were told that Ali would never succeed in a standard school environment, her parents found the right schools for her at the right time - first, a school in California that specialized in students with learning disabilities, then private Fairhill School in the Dallas Area. (Fairhill describes itself on its website as a "private, non-profit college preparatory school serving students in grades one through twelve. Fairhill's primary purpose is to provide a superior education for students of average and above intelligence who have been diagnosed with a learning difference such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, auditory processing disorder, or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.")
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 March, David Rabiner reviewed a study conducted several years ago that tested the effectiveness of Pycnogenol -- an extract from French maritime pine bark -- for treating children with AD/HD. Read Rabiner's review.
EdNews . On March 4th, Ednews.org columnist Michael Shaughnessy interviewed parental advocate Betsy Combier on how she came to be an advocate and her opinions on the state of education and special education in America -- opinions very colored by some harrowing experiences with the New York City public school system in connection with her 2e daughter. Combier provides advocacy services to others for free or for "very reasonable" fees. Combier also has a website containing advocacy information for parents.
GreatSchools.net. In March this newsletter offered information on selecting summer camps, a database of assistive technology tools, and an announcement of an art exhibition for individuals ages 10 to 25 who have an LD. Read it.
Wrightslaw. The March 4th edition of Special Ed Advocate was all about planning for education after high school, including the topic of financial aid. The March 18th edition continued the theme of post-secondary preparation with articles on Section 504 and the ADA, along with the responsibilities of self-advocacy. And on March 25th the newsletter presented FAQs -- and answers -- on topics such as advocacy, behavior and discipline, and evaluations and test scores. |
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Resources for Parents, Educators, and Kids
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On March 9th, the Wisconsin Public Radio show "To the Best of Our Knowledge" broadcast its one-hour show on "Learning Outside the Box." Guests on the show included 2e advocate Jonathan Mooney, writer on giftedness Michael Piechowski, and advocate for alternative education Matt Hern. Find out more and hear the show at WPR's site.
The Verizon Foundation has implemented enhancements to the website it supports, Thinkfinity.org, which provides educational resources for educators, students, and parents.
Education Week in March mentioned the book Brain Rules, in which the author, a brain researcher, uses findings from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to postulate 12 rules, each covered in a chapter. Sample rules: Number 3, Wiring - every brain is wired differently; Number 9, Sensory Integration - stimulate more of the senses; and Number 11, Gender - male and female brains are different. Read the Education Week article. Find out more about the book. |
Events
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April 2-5, 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, 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, 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 7-18, Confratute, Storrs, Connecticut. For educators. By the Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development at the University of Connecticut. More information.
July 9-11, Australian Association for the Education of Gifted and Talented (AAEGT) Biennial Conference, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. More information.
July 10-13, 2008 ADDA National Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota. For adults with AD/HD and the professionals who work with them. More information.
July 18-20, SENG 25th Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. For parents, educators, school psychologists, and others. More information.
September 16-20, 11th Conference of the European Council for High Ability, Prague, Czech Republic. Official language: English. For professionals and educators. More information.
October 30-November 2, National Association for Gifted Children Annual Conference, Tampa, Florida. For parents, educators, and other professionals. 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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To check out sample issues of 2e Newsletter, follow this link. To subscribe to 2e Newsletter, go here, print the subscription form, and fax or mail it to us along with payment. Or give us a call: 630.293.6798. We'll be happy to hear from you. Copyright 2008, Glen Ellyn Media, PO Box 582, Glen Ellyn IL 60138-0582. | |
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