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Showing posts with label MEDICATIONS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MEDICATIONS. Show all posts

From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

TO MEDICATE OR NOT -- that's often an issue in a family with 2e children, and an Indiana news outlet takes a look, citing scary stories as well as successes. One success was a young man with behavior issues, who, with the right meds, went from getting Ds and Fs to As and Bs. The report also notes a shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists. Find the report. 
BROCK EIDE ON NPR. The co-author of The Dyslexic Advantage was a guest on NPR's Diane Rehm Show on February 15 for a discussion of "The Dyslexic Brain." Also on the show, Jeffrey Gilger, whose work has been featured in 2e Newsletter. Find the show.
"YES I CAN" AWARD. A young man in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, has won a self-advocacy award in CEC's "Yes I Can" recognition. Eleven-year-old Cade Gardner has LDs and was born with a cleft palate, but speaks to groups about overcoming obstacles, according to news reports. Find out more.
CEC, THE PREZ, AND EDUCATION. The Council for Exceptional Children has released a statement in response to President Obama's education budget request for fiscal year 2013. The president gets praise for a couple things and disappointment for a couple. CEC charts out the request for FY 2012 compared to 2012; in the chart, we see that funding for the category "Gifted and Talented" is... still... zero. Find the statement.
A.T. BOOK ON SALE. In the January/February issue of 2e Newsletter we profiled Joan Green, author of the Prufrock book The Ultimate Guide to Assistive Technology in Special Education. Prufrock has put the book on sale for 40 percent off for the remainder of this month. Find out more.
DSM DISCUSSION. Following the discussion over the upcoming DSM-5? A University of Michigan psychiatrist has weighed in with his opinions, prefaced by the statement "Almost no one likes the DSM, but no one knows what to do about it." Read more.
DC-AREA EVENT. Don't forget the third annual "Diamonds in the Rough" event in Shady Grove, Maryland, on Sunday, March 16. Early-bird registration -- $25 -- ends February 29. Find out more.
HORMEL G-T ED SYMPOSIUM. Registration is now open fo the 4th Annual Hormel Foundation Gifted and Talented Education Symposium, scheduled for June 11-14, 2012, in Austin, Minnesota. Readers of 2e Newsletter will be familiar with some of the presenters. (Austin is also home to the SPAM Museum, a tour of which is one of the optional events at the symposium.) Find out more.
SENG. The SENG Vine Newsletter for February is out, including news that registration is now open for the summer SENG conference in Milwaukee. Find the newsletter.
ANTI-BULLYING. The entertainer known as Lady Gaga is establishing a foundation focusing on anti-bullying and self-esteem for youth. The organization, Born This Way Foundation, is to be officially launched with an event at Harvard University on February 29th. Guests at the launch will include Oprah Winfrey, Deepak Chopra, US Secretary of Heath and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, and Professor Charles Ogletree. Find the pre-launch website for the foundation at http://www.bornthiswayfoundation.org/.
AND FINALLY, THIS. The US Census Bureau reminds us that February is the anniversary of America's first public school. The Boston Latin School opened in 1635, presumably in Boston, Massachusetts.

LD SCIENTIST. A young woman in Chicago was featured in the Chicago Tribune for overcoming LDs and difficulties in her family life to achieve success in the field of science. She is now applying to PhD programs to study microbiology, having established her talents and determination doing research at a lab at the University of Chicago. Read the article. 
AD/HD MEDS. This week the Child Mind Institute published an article on the side effects of AD/HD stimulant medication, including sleep problems, eating problems, the rebound effect, and cardiac risks. Find the article.
WHAT MAKES A GREAT TEACHER? Diane Rehm and four guests discussed that question in an NPR show on February 9th. Find the show.
THE GIFTED DEVELOPMENT CENTER has released its February newsletter. In it, GDC announces that it has been asked to validate extended norms on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence IV. GDC is looking for children 2.6 to 7.6 to test for this validation in a number of cities across the U.S. Find out  more in the newsletter.
THE LD ONLINE NEWSLETTER for February is out, featuring the topic of improving comprehension for kids with LDs. Find it.
ATTENTION RESEARCH UPDATE. David Rabiner has posted this most recent issue of his newsletter. In it, Rabiner discusses a review of neurofeedback treatment for AD/HD. While Rabiner suggests that the review indicates that there may be beneficial effects to neurofeedback for AD/HD, apparently limitations on the studies reviewed allow the effects of neurofeedback to be classified as only "probably efficacious" rather than "efficacious" or "efficacious and specific." Read Attention Research Update.
AND FINALLY, THIS. Carla Crutsinger, founder of Brainworks, an organization in Texas that provides services to twice-exceptional children and families, recently lost her husband to cancer. In a personal edition of the Brainworks newsletter, she describes the family's travails over the past several years. Find the newsletter and then maybe send your best wishes.

From the Publishers of 2e Newsletter

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Presenting our first blog items of 2012...
ACCOMMODATIONS ON HIGH-STAKES TESTS. Many twice-exceptional students would benefit from accommodations on tests such as the SAT, whether the accommodation be extra time or help in receiving or expressing test-related content. USA Today says that the U.S. Justice Department isn't enforcing laws that allow these accommodations. Read more.
SUPPLY AND DEMAND. When your child's AD/HD demands medication to help blunt its effects, will you be able to get a proper supply of that med? Increasingly, the answer is "maybe," as a result of actions by the Drug Enforcement Administration trying to cut down on pill abuse and, possibly, by drug manufacturers trying to increase profits. If your gifted child has AD/HD, find out more about pricing and availability of AD/HD meds.
DYSLEXIA AND AUDITORY PROCESSING. French researchers have found abnormalities in the left auditory cortex in people with dyslexia which might interfere with verbal memory and speech. The cortex processed higher-frequency phonemes less efficiently. Read more.
HYPERSENSITIVITY AND OCD? A new study suggests that children who are hypersensitive may be more prone to develop OCD. The link? The development of "ritualistic behaviors to better cope with their environment," according to researchers. Find out more.
ALLERGY TESTING may not be completely accurate, contend two allergists published in the journal Pediatrics. Blood and skin tests may lead to over-diagnosis, according to the article, and may not be definitive in determining whether an allergy actually exists. Read more.
EDUCATOR'S RESOURCES. Edutopia has compiled its "Best of 2011: Our Favorite Educational Resources." The resources apply to areas such as differentiated instruction, engaging under-performing students, and project-based learning. Find the resources. 
RICHARD CASH is presenting a SENG webinar titled "Self-Regulation: Essential Skills for Adolescent Gifted Students" during the evening of January 19th. From the webinar announcement: "This session will offer suggestions as to how to develop self-regulated learners and ideas of how to encourage autonomous learning." Find out more.

From the Publishers of 2e Newsletter

DISABILITIES IN THE U.S. The U.S. Census Bureau has released an analysis of disabilities in school-age children. About 2.8 million children (5.2 percent) were categorized as having a disability as defined by IDEA. Of those, perhaps 4.5 percent were cognitive disabilities. Find out more.
BLOCKS AS A LEARNING TOOL. A New York Times article about blocks in the classroom contained an anecdote about a presumably 2e child. After an apple-picking field trip, the child, described as a struggling second-grader, "went to the block corner and built an incredibly complex structure, a tractor engine, and she was able to talk about how all the parts moved,” according to a teacher, who continued: “We need to be looking at this student in a very different way.” Read the article.
WRIGHTSLAW'S current edition of Special Ed Advocate contains articles that might clear up certain questions and issues about RTI and how schools implement it. Find the issue.
AD/HD'S AFFECT ON MOMS is the topic of a study reviewed by David Rabiner in his Attention Research Update newsletter. As you might guess (or know), parenting a child with AD/HD can lead to stress, and the study documents how and when stress levels might elevate by taking an "electronic diary" approach to tracking events and stress. Find the newsletter.
EDUCATOR OF 2e HONORED. Ben Shifrin, Head of Jemicy School in Owings Mills, Maryland, was recently inducted to the Hall of Fame of the International Dyslexia Association (IDA). Jemicy School provides a highly individualized, flexible, and challenging education for above-average to gifted college-bound students with dyslexia or other related language-based learning differences. According to the IDA, Jemicy's philosophy is based upon building the academic and higher order thinking skills of bright young people through applied research and time-tested multisensory learning. Jemicy serves the whole child, celebrating each student's strengths while exploring individualized skills and strategies that will build the foundation for success in school and in life. Find more information here or here.
WORRIED ABOUT PSYCHIATRIC MEDS FOR KIDS? A member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has written an article for parents on concerns in children's meds, including "polypharmacy," when a child is on multiple psychiatric meds at the same time. Find the article.
AND FINALLY, THIS. A study has indicated that more creative people are more likely to cheat, but that there is no link between intelligence and cheating. According to the study authors, "people who are creative or work in environments that promote creative thinking may be the most at risk when they face ethical dilemmas." Got a creative kid? Find out more.

COMMON WISDOM VERSUS COGNITIVE SCIENCE. That's the face-off described in an article titled "Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits" in The New York Times. Here are two examples from the article. Researchers have found that when children study in different places, rather than simply in one room, they learn better. And studying a variety of material in a single session, rather than concentrating on one topic, seems to work better. And then, of course, there's the issue of "learning styles." Find the article.

PUT YOUR HAND DOWN, SMARTY... and let one of the other kids answer the teacher's question. If the brightest kids in the class are forced to do that, a UK professor says, it can help the class as a whole learn more quickly. Find out more.

GENES, DOPAMINE, AND GPA. A Florida researcher has published a paper linking certain dopamine gene variations to grades, and the effects can be large. Says the researcher, "For example, the GPA of a student with specific variants of three dopaminergic genes might be around 2.8, versus a GPA of around 3.3 without the variants." Read more.

RESOURCES FROM AACAP. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, in response to the recent New York Times article we blogged about concerning a young child's misdiagnosis and over-medication, has listed some of its resources and guidelines for medications for young people. One is a "Practice Parameter on the Use of Psychotropic Medicine in Children and Adolescents"; find it here. For families, the Academy offers "Psychiatric Medication for Children and Adolescents," a three-part resource:

If you have a bright young person on meds, check these out.

"DARK" FICTION AND TEEN BRAINS. Got a gifted or 2e child who loves Harry Potter or Twilight? Over the weekend, Washington Post education writer Valerie Strauss noted a conference at Cambridge University called "The Emergent Adult -- Adolescent Literature and Culture.” The conference was multidisciplinary in nature and focused on the effects of teenage fiction in many media -- effects that might be psychological, physiological, chemical, or sociological. Strauss did an email Q&A with the conference organizer to try to pin down some of the effects, in the process covering topics such as the "deep imprints" of dark fiction such as the Harry Potter series; possible negative effects; trends in young adult literature; and what parents should do about letting kids read the stuff (nothing except maybe discuss it with them). Read the column.

NEW AD/HD RESOURCE CENTER. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) has just launched a resource center on AD/HD. The center includes sections for frequently asked questions; facts for families; video clips on certain AD/HD topics; pointers to clinical resources; pointers to research and training; books, and the importance of getting help, along with a list of child/adolescent psychiatrists by geographic area. The center joins others offered by AACAP in the areas of anxiety, autism, bipolar disorder, conduct disorder, depression, disaster, military families,and ODD. Find the centers.

TODDLERS ON ANTIPSYCHOTICS. By the time he was three, the subject of an article in The New York Times had five different diagnoses and five different medications. It all started with the toddler screaming, throwing objects, and even hitting his head on the wall or floor. But those behaviors prompted a pediatrician to apply a label of autism and prescribe Risperdal, an antipsychotic which has never been approved for children younger than five. And the diagnoses and drugs kept coming. Finally weaned off drugs at a university-affiliated program, he is now described by his mother as "an intelligent person. He’s loud. He’s funny. He’s smart. He’s bouncy. I mean, there’s never a dull moment." He has even earned an "A" and praise from his kindergarten teacher. Read the article.

ADOLESCENT MINDFULNESS. It can help boys, according to a new study at the University of Cambridge, giving them "increased well-being, defined as the combination of feeling good (including positive emotions such as happiness, contentment, interest and affection) and functioning well." Read more.

FROM SHARPBRAINS come two new articles, one on why working memory matters in the knowledge age and the other on what everyone should learn about the brain.

NINE PERCENT DYSLEXIC. So says Dr. David Marks, Director of the Learning and Development Center at Mt. Sinai in New York, when it comes to the incidence of dyslexia in the general population. In an article in the New York Daily News, he defines dyslexia, gives signs and symptoms, describes traditional treatment and recent breakthroughs, and what parents can do in terms of questions to the doctor, communicating with school, and getting informed. Read the article.

TALK TO YOUR KID. New York Times columnist Jane Brody just published a column called "From Birth, Engage Your Child with Talk." The co-publishers of 2e Newsletter discussed this at dinner tonight, and one of the co-publishers was a little irate. "Of course we talked to our babies. How could you just wheel them around and ignore them?" That's what bothers Jane Brody, who recently personally congratulated a young mother for engaging her child with talk. Read it.

ATTENTION RESEARCH UPDATE. David Rabiner has posted his most recent issue, titled "Are College Students with AD/HD Misusing their Medication?" And, if they are, who's doing it and what are they doing it for? Got a gifted AD/HD kid and worried? Read the column.

WRIGHTSLAW. The current edition of Wrightlaw's Special Ed Advocate contains an article called "Master of DeceptIon" about kids who don't do homework and conceal their inaction. Is that your bright but underachieving child? Read the article.

FREE WEBINAR. Fearless Sally_L, of OGTOC fame, says that thanks to presenter Deborah Ruf the upcoming webinar titled "Ruf Estimates of Levels of Giftedness" [pun there] will be provided at no charge, although donations to help recoup costs are welcome. You can find registration information here. Find information about the presenter here. And, in our experience, you can probably be certain that you won't be able to stump Dr. Ruf with a question about the assessment of intelligence.

From the Week of June 14th

CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY can make a difference for many gifted students who have receptive or expressive difficulties -- and the tech-savvy teacher can use technology to engage learners in new ways. Education Week is hosting a free online chat called "Cutting Edge Classroom Technology" next Tuesday, June 23rd. We don't know if they'll cover assistive technology, but if tech in the classroom interests you, it might be worth checking out. Find out more. (To save time, consider accessing the chat transcript after the event to find topics of particular interest to you. For example, see the transcript of a recent Education Week chat with Carol Ann Tomlinson on differentiated instruction. The down side: you lose the chance to ask questions.)

HARD WORK EXEMPLIFIED. Anyone with an LD or other cognitive/emotional obstacle to learning has to work harder than his or her peers in order to achieve. The Washington Post carried a story about a young man with TBI and his efforts to graduate from high school and enter college. Although many of his grades were Cs and Ds, he excels in a couple special areas of interest, one of which is history. According to the article, he scored a near-perfect score on a statewide history exam; "I did it with my eyes closed." Find the article.

WE DO THIS FOR YOU. Since it seems to be a slow week news-wise, let us pass on some of the world-shaking information we find in the press releases we read daily in our attempts to find items of interest on giftedness, twice-exceptionality, LDs, education, parenting, and so forth. Over the last few days we've learned:

  • That Tropicana thinks we should get more fruit in our diets, scolding us that seven in ten American adults don't get their daily four servings. Are they genuinely concerned for our health?
  • That "summer is here," lately the lead sentence in many press releases. Zzzzz.
  • And, finally, that California's Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Union Elementary School District has selected Forsythe Transportation to provide bus service (honestly!). And you thought you were well-informed.
We won't even bore you with all of the releases that start, "Today, [Company Name], the leading provider of [some product or service], announced [a self-serving initiative to make more money while seeming to do public good]."

EVENT ALERT. Over on the right side of this screen is a listing for a June 18th Webinar featuring expert on 2e Mary Ruth Coleman. The Webinar is hosted by Our Gifted and Talented Online Conferences, courtesy of admin and owner Sally_L, who plans to donate proceeds from the event to establish a scholarship for a grad student in gifted education with a special interest in twice-exceptionalities. The event will be this Thursday morning, but it will be recorded and accessible to registered participants for three weeks afterward, so you can time-shift if you like. If you're interested in this event, check it out and register at the OGTOC site, then go join that organization's online social networking site to receive event information and take advantage of the other features of the site.

NO SERVICES FOR YOU -- JUST TRY HARDER. An occupational therapist in the Atlanta, Georgia, area writes in the Atlanta Journal Constitution about the plight of kids with "soft" developmental disabilities. She tells of working with kids with average or above-average intelligence (and even those whose IQs astound her), kids who look and act okay and whose teachers feel should just try harder. The author notes the self-reinforcing spiral of poor achievement, poor self-esteem, and helplessness. One of her calls to action: "We are a use-and-toss society. We cannot afford to use and toss children who learn differently." Read the article.

GOT A GIFTED KID ON AD/HD MEDS? WORRIED? The U.S. FDA recommends that people continue taking stimulant meds even though a new study showed an increased incidence of sudden death in children taking the meds. According to the The Wall Street Journal, limitations in the study affect the conclusions which may be drawn. Read the article.

MORE ITEMS (if we don't die suddenly from Ritalin) as the week goes on...


From the Week of January 11th

BRAIN RESEARCH PROGRESS REPORT. The Dana Alliance has published the 2009 Progress Report on Brain Research, highlighting recent work in a variety of fields, some of which might be of interest to those who raise, counsel, or educate twice-exceptional children. Among others, the report includes sections on brain research entitled:

  • Perspectives on Substance Abuse
  • The Quest for Better Schizophrenia Treatment
  • The Obesity Problem
  • Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury [from a perspective of war-induced TBI rather than childhood TBI]
Also included is a roundup with a page or two each on topics such as OCD and treatment with SSRIs; autism genetics; and deep brain stimulation, along with a mention of its use in treating Tourette's. All sections, including the roundup, are available in html or PDF form on the website of the Dana Foundation. And while you're there, check out the other resources offered online, starting at the home page.

MONEY FOR IDEA. Here's the headline from a CEC (Council for Exceptional Children) Policy Brief: "Economic Recovery Package Proposes Historic Infusion of Money to IDEA." Part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes "unprecedented increases for IDEA Grants to States" and other programs. Through CEC's website you can, as CEC urges, "Take Action Now to Show Your Support!"

THE FINE ART OF CONVERSATION. An NPR story describes a young man who can tell you pi to 100 digits but, like many kids with Asperger's, doesn't do well with chitchat. The story describes a course developed at Baltimore's Kennedy Krieger Institute that helps kids with mild autism improve their social skills. Find the article.

DON'T LIKE DRUGS for AD/HD? An article this week in US News and World Report describes how behavioral therapy and parental retraining can be alternatives to meds. Now, we have always thought that the American Way involved getting results instantly, preferably from an aerosol can or a pill. But if you don't believe that, read the article. (As of this posting, there were 10 reader comments posted for the article, including some relating parental experiences with twice-exceptional children with AD/HD and one that labels pediatricians who prescribe meds for AD/HD as "drug-dealers.")

GIFTED STUDENTS AS "SPECIAL NEEDS." Steven Pfeiffer, a professor at Florida State, says that gifted children require just as much attention and educational resources to thrive in school as do other students whose physical, behavioral, emotional or learning needs require special accommodations. Pfeiffer also acknowledges what those in the 2e community know -- that gifted students can often be perplexing and challenging. According to Florida State, a key area of Pfeiffer's research has been finding ways to best identify children who are gifted. He has developed a "Gifted Rating Scale" measuring aptitude in intellectual ability, academic ability, creativity, artistic talent, leadership, and motivation. Read the news release.

READING RESOURCE FOR THE "PRINT DISABLED." The non-profit organization Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic offers the nation's largest collection of audio textbooks, almost 47,000 works, according to a the San Louis Obispo, California, New Times. The fee-based service provides digital versions of tomes such as "Applied Calculus" which can be downloaded onto computers, MP3 players, or cell phones. Know a high-ability student who could benefit because he/she has dyslexia, visual impairments, or LDs? Read the article, or go to the organization's website.

TAMARA FISHER, in her most recent blog entry at edweek.org, writes about the job that the nation's education colleges are doing to prepare teachers of the gifted. She notes that only 81 US colleges or universities offer coursework in gifted education. [And the number offering coursework in educating the twice-exceptional is far fewer.] In the blog, Fisher describes the experience of a teacher-in-training in terms of trying to become knowledgeable about gifted education -- and offers a few tips of her own on how to educate future teachers about giftedness. Read the blog entry.

CHALLENGE THOSE GIFTED STUDENTS. The Oracle Foundation has announced the ThinkQuest Narrative Competition 2009, a new educational competition. The competition is now open to teams of students, ages 9-19. Teams are invited to use OEF's ThinkQuest Projects platform to publish their ideas on topics of global importance, ranging from world hunger to environmental issues. Details on enrollment, deadlines, and prizes are here.

ATTENTION RESEARCH UPDATE. David Rabiner's latest report on AD/HD research concerns how girls with AD/HD adjust during adolescence. According to Rabiner, the study authors extend previous work by "examining outcomes in multiple domains of functioning and focusing on the frequency of positive adjustments." The study should be here; allow a few days for it to be posted.

MANNERS? OR "SOCIAL SKILLS"? An MD (and presumably a pediatrician) describes in a New York Times column how he treated a very rude child for years, and uses that experience to explore manners in children, the parents' role in instilling manners, and what various experts (professors of pediatrics, Miss Manners) have to say on the topic. The MD concludes: "a child who learns to manage a little courtesy, even under the pressure of a visit to the doctor, is a child who is operating well in the world, a child with a positive prognosis." Read the column.

STORIES OF SUCCESSFUL ADVOCACY. In the January 13th edition of Wrightslaw's Special Ed Advocate, the Wrights provide stories of parents, teachers, and advocates who have achieved success. Need some inspiration as you advocate for that gifted or twice-exceptional child? Read the issue.

2e AND IDAHO'S TEACHER OF THE YEAR. The words "twice exceptional" were used recently in mainstream media reportage of Idaho's Teacher of the Year award. Robin Sly, according to news reports, focuses on 2e kids. Read a news account; read the Idaho State Department of Education announcement.

MORE ITEMS as the week progresses...