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FIGHT OVER GT, LD SERVICES. A mom and a school district in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, have been locked in a struggle for over a decade over services for her two sons, one of whom is evidently both gifted and LD. Services for both exceptionalities are part of the dispute. The mom wanted services and requested a number of due process hearings. According to an account of the dispute, the school district called the mom's behavior "vexatious." Read the account and form your own opinions... FANTASY MOVIES FOSTER CREATIVITY? Researchers at Lancaster University in the UK say that watching fantasy movies such as Harry Potter films may improve their imagination and creativity. The subjects, aged four to six, reportedly performed "significantly better" on creativity tests after watching 15-minute clips from a Potter film. Read more.Separately, The New York Times reports that fiction can "stimulate the brain and even change how we act in life" -- this according to research involving brain scans. Read the article. GIFTED TESTING IN THE UK. Gifted eleven-year-olds in the UK will be administered special "SATs," or national curriculum assessments, the results of which will be part of a school's performance. The rationale for the testing: to "encourage teachers to devote more time to high ability children," according to the Telegraph. NAGC in the UK supports the move. Read more. DSM-V AND AUTISM. If you're following the debate over autism diagnosis in the upcoming DSM-V, you might be interested in an opinion piece/debate in New Scientist. Find it. JACK KENT COOKE SCHOLARSHIPS. The application for 2012 scholarships through the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is April 15. Eligible candidates come from low- to medium-income families and will start 8th grade this fall. Find out more. AD/HD AND FISH OIL An ADDitude online feature covers fish oil and other supplements as possible treatments for AD/HD. Find the feature. WRIGHTSLAW. Special Ed Advocate takes on the issue of what to do when services specified in an IEP are not provided. Read more. OCD WORKSHOP IN MANHATTAN. The Child Mind Institute has scheduled a family workshop on OCD on April 3 in the evening. Find out more. ANXIETY IN DC. On April 17, Dr. Daniel Pine is scheduled to present "Current Thinking about Anxiety: The State of the Science." Read more. EDUCATION WEEK is currently offering free downloads of some of its "Spotlight" sponsored white papers. They cover topics such as bullying, STEM, and personalized learning. Find them. MORE AD/HD -- 66 percent more diagnosis in the past 10 years, as a matter of fact. An article at ScienceDaily attributes the change to increased awareness of the condition. Read it.
HIGH ACHIEVERS RUNNING INTO TROUBLE. A Canadian study of students who excelled in high school but ran into trouble at the university level indicates that some of those students could have reading comprehension difficulties. Apparently, even while the students may read fluently they have trouble making sense of what they read, probably through difficulties in working memory and simultaneous processing of the information. The researchers' recommendation? More reading, and practice at creating a mental map of the ideas in the material. Find out more about the study. MORE ON AUTISM DIAGNOSIS. We've blogged about possible changes to the diagnostic criteria for ASD in the upcoming DSM-5. We've found two more items about the changes, one at Science Daily and one from CNN. If this topic is relevant to you, you might be interested in these two items. SENG has issued a press release sharing its concerns with certain aspects of the American Academy of Pediatrics' new position on diagnosing AD/HD in younger children. SENG is concerned that pediatricians might confuse some traits of gifted kids with symptoms of AD/HD, resulting in misdiagnosis. Read the release. Separately, SENG is offering a SENGinar on February 16 titled "Taming the Worry Monster: Anxiety in Gifted and Twice-Exceptional Youth," featuring Dan Peters. Find out more. Finally, potential West Coast facilitators of SENG Model Parent Groups may want to check out a facilitator training session to be held Saturday and Sunday,March 17-18, 2012, in the San Francisco Bay area. The session is to be led by Kathleen Crombie, MA, M.Ed., with Dr. Dan Peterspresenting. Early bird reduced registration ends 1/27/12. Find out more about SENG Model Parent Groups. THE GIFTED DEVELOPMENT CENTER has issued its first newsletter of 2012, including (among other things) a preview of the 10th International Dabrowski Congress. Find the newsletter. IN THE RENO, NEVADA, AREA? The Davidson Institute is offering a free presentation for educators on common myths about gifted students on March 28, from 4 to 6:30 p.m. on the Davidson Academy campus. Find out more.
COLLEGE AND LD: FOLLOWUP. In our last post we noted an article in The New York Times dealing with the issue of what to disclose, if anything, about an LD when applying for college. As it turns out, the Times has made available an admissions expert to answer questions online from readers about applying to college with a learning disability. If that young person you teach or raise is nearing college age and you have specific questions, this could be a great resource. Find it. 2e PIONEER SUSAN BAUM is presenting a workshop titled "Bright but Challenged: Understanding and Treating the Twice-exceptional Learner." To be held on December 9 in Portland, Maine, the workshop is geared to learning specialists, educational therapists, classroom teachers, parents and mental health practitioners. Find out more. Susan Baum is on the Editorial Advisory Board of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter. GDC'S NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER is out. It notes the 100th anniversary of the IQ test and presents an article titled "The WISC-IV Integrated for 2e Learners," with tips for identifying and accommodating 2e kids through WISC-IV results. In addition, the newsletter notes that four GDC speakers will present at the TAGT conference coming up in Austin. Find the newsletter. Separately, Linda Silverman was able to arrange a "conference within a conference" at TAGT on testing the gifted. She says, "Anyone who tests gifted and 2e kids should be there. Find more about TAGT. GIFTED MYTHS. The Washington Post published five myths about gifted kids, offering commentary on the reality versus the myth. One myth: "Students with learning disabilities cannot be considered gifted or talented." You knew the truth about that, but it's good to see publications like the Post spreading the word. Find the article. ASD DIAGNOSES DIFFER BY CLINIC. A study has found that clinics vary in how they apply diagnostic criteria for ASDs and in the final diagnosis they come up with. A study author is quoted as saying, "...in those borderlands of autism spectrum disorders, there is a lot of confusion." That means that where one clinic might diagnose a child with autism, another might apply the Asperger's label. Read more.