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Showing posts with label SENG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SENG. Show all posts

BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK is this week, March 12-18. So take a few minutes to ponder the brain in your head or in the head of that twice-exceptional child you raise or educate. Maybe visit the site of the Dana Foundation, which co-founded Brain Awareness Week. Or find brain resources at the site of The Society for Neuroscience. Separately and possibly in observation of BAW, the Diane Rehm show on March 14 featured the topic of "The Emotional Life of Your Brain," about the interaction of chemistry, thought, and emotion; find the show.
AD/HD DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT. A pediatrician writing for the Boston Globe describes what are apparently common but sketchy approaches for diagnosing AD/HD in children, and the tendency to treat symptoms rather than the underlying causes. She also notes that current practice makes it possible to diagnose and treat AD/HD without ever learning about family history or stressors in the child's life. In response to all this, she offers changes to the process of diagnosis and treatment of AD/HD. One recommendation: having a minimum of two 50-minute visits [!] in order to evaluate the child's issues. Read more.
IT'S OKAY TO BE NOT NORMAL is the message from a psychiatrist writing at a Fox News site. He bemoans the increase in rates of diagnosis of AD/HD. He suggests that Huckleberry Finn would today be on Adderall. He says, "We must empower individuals to think it's ok to be 'not normal' and change the mindset that everything can be 'fixed' with a pill or a few therapy sessions." Read more. 
SENG. The March issue of the SENGVine Newsletter is out, with articles focusing on the topic of diversity within SENG initiatives. Find the newsletter. 
ASK DR. JUDY. Judy Willis is presenting a free webinar on April 5 (rescheduled) titled "What Makes the Adolescent and Teen Brain So Different and What Should Educators Do about these Differences?" Find out more. 
AND FINALLY, THIS. Got a crabby kid? (Or a crabby spouse?) It could be trans fatty acids, which according to a new study are linked to irritability and aggression "in men and women of all ages." Find out more.


From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

iPADS TO ENGAGE. A Las Vegas charter school provides each of its students with an iPad to help foster the school''s project-based learning approach, according to the Las Vegas Sun. Teachers seem impressed by the kids' rapid pick-up on the technology, by the engagement the technology seems to bring, and by the opportunity for students to learn at their own pace. The article says, "Students use the iPads to access educational websites and applications as well as electronic textbooks. They use the iPad to take notes and the tablet’s camera to photograph whiteboards filled with teacher’s lessons and chemistry formulas. Some even record lectures using the iPad’s digital voice recorder or video camera, referring to them when they review for tests." Find the article. Separately, a 40-year study of the use of technology in the classroom found a small to moderate positive effect on learning and attitude, according to an article about the study. Read more.
REBUTTAL. The Child Mind Institute carried a rebuttal to a New York Times article extolling the distraction of AD/HD and conflating it with creativity. The rebuttal accused the Times' article's author, who has AD/HD, of romanticizing his childhood, and linked the article to two other recent Times pieces, one on Asperger's and one on dyslexia, which you might have read about in this blog. Read more. Separately, the Child Mind Institute also carried an excerpt from a new book called Pride and Joy; the excerpt takes issue with the "dangers of praise," focusing instead on the ill effects of criticism. Read the excerpt.
THE IEP PROCESS. Need an overview of the IEP process? An attorney provides one at SpecialNeeds.com.
DIY DUE PROCESS. Attorney Dorene Philpot, who has written for 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter and who was involved in the case we described in our article "Fighting for FAPE," has written a book titled Do-It-Yourself Special Education Due Process, published this year by Learning Enabled Publications. According to the publisher, the book offers tips on representing yourself and your child at a due process hearing with a school district. Find out more.
GIFTED EDUCATION PRESS QUARTERLY. The Spring edition of this newsletter is out. In it, Maurice Fisher reviews a book by Joan Franklin Smutny and S.E. von Fremd, Teaching Advanced Learners in the General Education Classroom: Doing More with Less. Other articles in the newsletter focus on teaching the arts and humanities (to the gifted, of course). Find the newsletter.
SENG WEBINAR. Paul Beljan will present a webinar (SENG calls it a SENGinar) titled"Giftedness and  Learning Disabilities: Unearthing the Missed Diagnosis." The aim of the event is to empower parents, teachers, and counselors to spot and act on LDs in gifted children. The webinar is to be held during the evening of March 15. Find out more.
AND FINALLY, THIS. A new paper at the Dana Foundation site is called "Musical Creativity and the Brain" and examines what happens during improvisation, covering:
  • Creativity and prefrontal cortex function
  • Creative processes and underlying brain mechanisms
  • Perception and communication of improvised material
The authors also speculate on the future of the neuroscience of artistic creativity. Find the article.

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.

AUTISTIC PRODIGY. An alert reader pointed us to a "60 Minutes" program which has this promotional blurb: "At age two, Jake Barnett was diagnosed with autism and his future was unclear. Now at age 13, Jake is a college sophomore and a math and science prodigy. Jake says his autism is key to his success." Find the program. (Thanks, Ida.) 
EDUCATION WEEK published an article titled "Special Educators Borrow from Brain Studies," noting as an example how kids with Asperger's can be taught to maintain self-control when frustrated. Another example: how an MIT professor is doing a longitudinal MRI study to try to predict which kids will have trouble reading. Find the article.
FUNDING FOR LD RESEARCH. The National Institutes of Health have announced funding for four centers that will conduct research on the causes and treatment of learning disabilities in children and adolescents. The centers are at:
  • Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder
  • Texas Center for Learning Disabilities at the University of Houston
  • NIH Multidisciplinary Learning Disabilities Center at Florida State University, Tallahassee
  • The Center for Defining and Treating Specific Learning Disabilities in Written Language at the University of Washington, Seattle.
As they report their new findings, the centers will also work to convey their findings to the public, through the media, community groups, and school systems. Read more. 
DSM-5 AND AUTISM. The article's lead sentence will tell you whether you need to read this article: "Proposed changes in the definition of autism would sharply reduce the skyrocketing rate at which the disorder is diagnosed and may make it harder for many people who would no longer meet the criteria to get health, educational and social services, a new analysis suggests." The article discusses the proposed elimination of Asperger's as a separate category. Find the article in The New York Times. 
ASPIES IN LOVE. We pointed readers a while back to an article about two young people with Asperger's who were navigating the difficulties of having a close relationship. NPR's "Talk of the Nation" included a segment on the couple in a recent edition of the program. Find out more.
APPLE AND EDUCATION. Apple today unveiled a variety of tools to facilitate learning using iPad tables, including a new release of iBooks 2 to support digital textbooks and an iTune U app for the iPad. Apple also announced partnerships with major textbook publishers. Read more. Note that the upcoming issue of 2e Newsletter will feature assistive technology and devices such as the iPad.
INCLUSIVE STORYLINES. Awards for children's books with inclusive storylines are to be presented at a CEC conference this week. Among the honored books is Mockingbird, reviewed by Bob Seney in the July 2011 issue of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter in his column "Bob Seney on Books." Read more about the books.
SENG has announced its new website with a new look and enhanced navigation. Read more about it in the current SENGVine newsletter or see for yourself.

GIFTED ATHLETE, AD/HD. We believe in Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, so a recent sports story was of interest to us. It's about a New York Mets baseball player who played in the minor leagues for decade before accepting a diagnosis of AD/HD and beginning to take AD/HD medications. After that, he blossomed and made it back to the majors. Read more.

PARENTING  MATTERS -- especially if the kid has a short allele of gene 5-HTTLPR,  a gene associated with a predisposition to depression. Dutch researchers have found that as far as parenting quality was concerned, “If the environment is bad, these children have worse outcomes, but if it is good, they have much better outcomes.” They called these susceptible kids "orchids" because they need a good environment to flourish, as opposed to weeds that will flourish anywhere. Read more.

PARENTING RESOURCE. The American Academy of Pediatrics has a site called HealthyChildren.org. Included on the site is a feature called "Sound Advice on Mental Health," a collection of audios by pediatricians on behavior, mental health, and emotions. Sample audio topics: adolescent mental health; how to recognize anxiety and depression; and AD/HD in children and adolescents. The site also offers transcripts of the audios for those who read faster than they listen. Find the site.

ABOUT.COM has a page called "Understanding Learning Differences" that's based on a presentation by Jonathan Mooney. Find out what he said.

AUTISM SPEAKS has issued its "Top 10 Science Autism Research Achievements of 2011." Find them.

SAYING THANK YOU is the topics of WrightsLaw's Special Ed Advocate this month. The organization offers to "learn how and why to say thank you to those who have helped your child succeed." Read more.

AT SENG. The organization Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted has posted an article by Melissa Sornik, a contributor to 2e Newsletter. The article is a primer on twice-exceptionalilty and is titled "Gifted and Underachieving: The Twice-Exceptional Learner." Find this and other SENG resources.

WE WISH YOU the best of the holiday season as you raise, educate, or counsel the twice-exceptional children in your life.

A HARVARD STUDENT diagnosed as a child with dyslexia, AD/HD, and an expressive language disorder has written a wry and insightful account of the challenges he faced growing up and the key (for him) to overcoming those challenges. "Unlike my classmates and teammates who may have spent much of their youth trying to stand out, I spent most of mine trying to fit in," writes the young man. Through sports he gained confidence, and he is now an aspiring Olympic diver. Find the article.
LD IN COLLEGE. Education Week published an article on the expansion of college options for those with LDs, describing a variety of students and their situations along with the programs they chose. Read more.
SAVE THE BRAIN. If you've got a gifted child who plays contact sports, or even soccer, you might be interested in an online library about sports concussions. There's an article about the site at The New York Times site, which not coincidentally just published a chilling, lengthy three-part series about the life and brain of the 28-year-old professional hockey player who recently died and was shown to have severe brain damage. Or, you may go directly to the Sports Concussion Library.
AUSTISM RESOURCE. A new webite, MyAutismTeam, according to Time Magazine, "is more than just a repository of recommendations about local therapists and accommodating Taekwondo studios and barbers; it's also a social-media destination. But unlike Facebook, it's intended as a place where parents of children whose developmental trajectory has taken a different turn from most of their peers can feel understood." Nothing more to say. Read about it in Time. Or, go to MyAutismTeam. 
ACCESSIBLE LEARNING MATERIALS. If the accessibility of learning materials is a concern for that twice-exceptional child  you raise or teach, you might be interested in a a report by the U.S. Department of Education on the topic. The report concerns post-secondary education. You may read about the report at  the CEC site.
LD ONLINE. The current edition of this newsletter focuses on tips for study skills: technology tips, resources for dyslexics, and more. Find the newsletter.
THE WEINFELD EDUCATION GROUP has announced the publication of its book Take Control of Dyslexia and Other Reading Difficulties by Prufrock Press. Find more information.
SENG has issued its December edition of the SENGVine newsletter. In it, Rosina Gallagher announces the end of her tenure on the SENG Board; Melissa Sornik offers an article on the twice-exceptional learner; and more. Find the newsletter.
THE GIFTED DEVELOPMENT CENTER'S December newsletter is also out. It features an article on "the visual-spatial identifier"; observations about visual-spacial abilities, including that "twice-exceptional children are usually visual-spatial learners"; and observations from the TAGT conference earlier this month. Read more.


From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

DISRUPTIVE MOOD DYSREGULATION DISORDER -- haven't heard of it? It's being proposed as a new diagnostic category, and, by providing a label, it could improve diagnosis and care for kids who have problems regulating mood and temper. Read more about it in the Los Angeles Times. Separately, the Dana Foundation pointed us to an article on mental health screenings of teens by schools. The purpose: "to identify those at risk and, if necessary, help them get treatment." One advocate calls such screening "a non-pressured way to ask for help." Read more.
LDs AND THE LSAT. A Minnesota man who wanted accommodations on the Law School Admission Test has received them. Twice rebuffed in his request, he apparently enlisted the US Department of Justice in pressing his case; the DOJ decided that the man had submitted appropriate documentation, and that the organization administering the LSAT had violated the ADA. Find out more.
EDUCATOR RESOURCE. Edutopia has posted about a school that has the lowest per-pupil funding in Arizona and yet has excelled in education -- at least partly because of differentiated instruction. Find out more at the Edutopia site. 
SENG has issued a call for proposals for speakers at its 2012 conference in Milwaukee, to be held July 13-14. Interested in addressing the attendees at this 2e-oriented conference? Visit a post on LinkedIn; the information is not yet on the SENG site. If you visit the SENG site, however, you'll find the announcement of the appointment of the organization's new executive director, James. D. Maloney.
A PEDIATRIC MRI appears not to cause inordinate risk unless it involves intravenous contrast dye or sedation -- in which case, according to a report from The Hastings Center, "an MRI increases the odds of harm and makes them unacceptably high." The study compared the risk of physical injury or death from the MRI experience to risks from "everyday" activities of healthy children. Read more.
GIFTEDNESS: POWER AND PERILS is the topic of a blog at the Psychology Today website, in which the writer uses the occasion of a friend's son's recent evaluation (99th percentile, 150 IQ) as a springboard on what it takes -- besides giftedness -- to succeed. Find the blog.
NAGC offers a variety of resources on its website for the 2011-2012 school year, including information about RTI, gifted programming standards, FAQs, and more. Go there.

From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

SHYNESS? ILLNESS? An article in Sunday's New York Times considers the differences between shy people (and animals) compared with more extroverted individuals, and asks whether shyness might be an evolutionary tactic. In children, the article describes the differences between "rovers" and "sitters" and what those differences might mean. Find the article.
THE SENG VINE, the organization's newsletter, is out in its June edition. Among the features is an article "What SENG Means to Me," by Amy Price, SENG's first executive director. Find the newsletter.
COLLEGE NOT THE ANSWER? An article at the site Issues in Science and Technology reminds readers that college might not be for everyone, and that apprenticeships might better prepare some students for high-skilled jobs and professions. The article describes some advantages, such as the participant's ability to quickly connect theoretical and practical learning; have role models and get a good view of the future profession; and combine work and school. The article describes apprenticeship programs in the U.S. and in other countries. Find it. 
NEUROEDUCATION applies the findings of neuroscience to education, and a keynote speaker at the conference of the Insternational Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) provided "Brain Rules for Education," noting how current learning environments may be in opposition to the best functioning of the brain. The keynote is available online at the organization's YouTube channel.
AND FINALLY, THIS. Every summer, the U.S. Census Bureau sends out a ton of facts relating to the next school year. This year's barrage includes items such as these:
  • The percentage of 12- to 17-year olds who reported being highly engaged in a recent year was 52 percent, up 5 points from the previous polling. (What's the percentage in your family?)
  • The average starting salary offered to bachelor's degree candidates in petroleum engineering in 2009 was $85,417, among the highest of any field of study. At the other end of the spectrum were those majoring in a social science, who were offered an average of $36,217. (Go, STEM!)
  • The average tuition, room and board at the nation's four-year private colleges and universities for one academic year (2008-09) was $40,633. That was more than double the cost in 1990, according to the report. (See the article on apprenticeships above.)
Read more facts and figures at the Census Bureau site. 


ROTTEN KID? DON'T NECESSARILY BLAME YOURSELF -- at least, not according to an article in The New York Times today. The article tells the story of a somewhat "suboptimal" parenting couple and their difficult child; but the couple also had to other "well adjusted and perfectly nice boys." One psychiatrist quoted in the article said that the era of "no bad children, only bad parents" is gone. Read more and feel good about yourself -- maybe.

REGIONAL CEC CONFERENCE TO INCLUDE SUSAN BAUM. That's what one of our friends from Idaho tells us (thanks, Sherry). The conference is in Sun Valley from October 6th through 9th. A 2e strand features Baum, a member of the 2e Newsletter Educational Advisory Board. More information.

MOVING AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT. Research indicates that children whose families move often tend to not do as well academically and behaviorally. A recent article says the damage may last into adulthood. Find out more.

CAROLYN K is presenting two webinars for SENG, both Internet related. One is titled "Making the Internet Safer for Gifted Children and Teens"; the other is "Great Internet Links for Gifted Kids and Families." Carolyn K is, of course, the mastermind behind Hoagies' Gifted Page. Find out more about the webinars.

IT'S HARD TO BE A MODEL WITH MENTAL ILLNESS, says a top model of color in a article in Urban Belle. The young woman describes how bipolar disorder affects her life and career -- and her plans to become an activist for NAMI. Read more.