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Showing posts with label acceleration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label acceleration. Show all posts

From the Publishers of 2e Newsletter

GIFTED AND CHALLENGING. An article at the Washington Post website starts out, "What do Woody Allen and Steve Jobs have in common? Among other things (including brilliant, creative minds), they both hated school and were discipline problems." The article then goes on to cover a school in Colorado, Eagle Rock, that caters to "difficult" but bright students. Read the article.
ACCELERATION. Miraca Gross, director of a center for gifted education research in Australia, advocates accelerating children who would benefit from more intellectual stimulation, contending that "Kids who are intellectually in advance of their years have social and emotional abilities beyond their age and they tend to gravitate towards older kids for their friendships.'' Gross also addresses the issue of support for gifted children, saying "any child should be assisted to learn to his maximum potential." Read more.
UNWRAPPING THE GIFTED. Tamara Fisher takes note of NAGC's current "State of the Nation in Gifted Education" report, highlighting certain of the findings. See what caught her eye.
MORE ON AUTISTIC INTELLIGENCE. We posted a while ago about the use of the Raven test (rather than WISC) to evaluate intelligence in autistic people. A writer for Scientific American has done an article called "The Hidden Potential of Autistic Kids," mentioning the Raven test but going beyond that in terms of recognizing the strengths of autistics. In the process she relates her experience with her own two autistic brothers, one of whom used to correct her fifth-grade homework for her -- when he was in kindergarten. Find the article. 
COMPETITION. The Dana Foundation is sponsoring a contest in the design of a brain-related experiment. Entrants don't have to do the experiment, just design it. The competition is for high school science classrooms. Find out more.  
AND FINALLY, THIS. "Sustained changes in the region of the brain associated with cognitive function and emotional control were found in young adult men after one week of playing violent video games." Does that worry you? Read about the study that came to that conclusion.



2e ACHIEVER. The newly-elected governor of Connecticut, Dannel Malloy, recalls that he was a "floppy kid," with developmental delays in gross and fine motor skills, coordination issues, and reading problems. Although he was able to move beyond most of those issues, reading is still hard because of his dyslexia, according to an article in the Connecticut Post. He spoke of his LDs during his inauguration speech. Read more.
KNOW A DESERVING TEACHER for that 2e child? Students in grades 1-12 can write an essay nominating a teacher for a Disney vacation in Orlando through the "A+ for Teachers at Downtown Disney" contest, which runs until April 15. The essay should explain how the teacher has made a difference in the student's life and will be judged on its relevance to theme, creativity, originality, and the merit of the teacher's accomplishments as outlined in the essay. Find out more.
TIGER MOTHERING. Scientific American weighs in on the currently raging discussion of rigor in bringing up children. The magazine interviews developmental psychologist Laurence Steinberg, who has written about ethnic differences in parenting in the US. Find it. 
EDUCATORS GUILD NEWSLETTER. The January issue is out, focusing on acceleration. The Guild is sponsored by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development. Find the issue.
TESTING HELPS LEARNING, according to research described today in The New York Times. Immediate testing led students to recall more information than two other learning methods -- repeated studying, and diagramming what is being learned. The article says that the latter two methods "give students the illusion that they know the material better than they do." The more successful learning method is called "retrieval testing." Find out more.
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES. Deborah Ruf, in her "Talent Igniter" newsletter, shares a variety of resources for enhancing the education of that gifted learner you know. The resources include The Bard Online, online lessons from the Khan Academy, and others. Find it.
TREATMENT RATES FOR MENTAL DISORDERS. A study reported by Science Daily found that only half of adolescents with severely impairing mental disorders ever receive treatment. The treatment rate is highest for AD/HD -- 60% -- lower for ODD and conduct disorders -- 45% -- and lower still for other disorders like anxiety, eating, or substance abuse. Read about the study. Separately, an NPR report indicates that depression is "on the rise" in college students. Find the report.
AND FINALLY, THIS. Do you know a kid with a pierced tongue? A study indicates that plastic studs are a better choice than metal because they reduce the risk of infection. Chipped teeth and receding gums are also more of a problem with metal studs, according to the article. Read it.

STILL BEHIND but catching up. Here are today's offerings from recent new reports, resources, and websites concerning giftedness, LDs, child development, parenting, and teaching. 
TURNING AD/HD INTO A BOOK. A writer/reporter in California has written a book about AD/HD, her son, and herself. NPR highlighted the book and published an excerpt. Find it.
POLLING ABOUT LDs. A poll taken earlier this year of 1000 adults shows misconceptions about learning disabilities, according to an article in Education Week. For example, most people consider AD/HD to be a learning disability, although it's not. Read more.
EDUCATOR'S RESOURCE. Edutopia offers a free resource guide on strengthening the connection between school and families. Find the "Home to School Connections Guide" at the Edutopia site.
RADICAL ACCELERATION. The Daily Herald, a Chicagoland newspaper, carried an article focusing on several profoundly gifted young people and the way they was accelerated in their education, culminating in some cases in early admission to college. Read the article.
DIAGNOSIS VIA MRI. Two recent news items concerned  the use of MRIs to diagnose various second exceptionalities. One article covered a study that used MRIs to differentiate AD/HD and bipolar disorder; the other covered a study using MRIs to diagnose autism.
RICK RIORDAN ON READING. The author of the Percy Jackson series reflects in a Wall Street Journal blog about four things he's learned about helping children with learning challenges become lifelong readers. The Percy Jackson series began as bedtime stories for Riordan's AD/HD and dyslexic son, now 16. Read the blog.
ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY. Wrightslaw has added to its site a page on assistive technolololgy. The October 19th edition of Special Ed Advocate offers several articles on the topic. If your gifted/LD child needs AT, find out more about the topic.
NEW BOOK ON DIFFERENTIATION. Minnesota educator Richard Cash is interviewed in EdNews.org about his new book Advancing Differentiation, published by Free Spirit Press. In the interview, Cash also touches on topics such as a longer school year, learning styles, and heterogeneous classrooms. Find the interview.


MENTORS AND MENTEES. That's the subject of several articles in the  newest issue of the Educators Guild Newsletter from the Davidson Institute. Included are an interview with a mentor to one of the 2010 Davidson Fellows, tips for students on finding a mentor, and a pointer to the 41-page document Mentorships: A Guidebook, from the Institute. See the newsletter.
HEALTHCARE REFORM CHANGES. Families of 2e children often depend on healthcare professionals for assistance in terms of diagnosis, medications, and therapies. On September 23rd, some of the U.S. healthcare reform changes went into effect. Changes affect preventive care, exclusions for pre-existing conditions, and lifetime limits. WebMD has posted a new section on the reform on their website; find it.
GRADE-SKIPPING is the topic of a Jay Mathews column in the Washington Post. Although it's now out of fashion, he's for it. He cites a Belin-Blank study on acceleration, and points out that acceleration could provide academic challenge in the absence of gifted education classes, which may face budgetary constraints. Read the column.
STRESS, DEVELOPMENT, AND DISORDERS. Researchers now say that stress can affect our bodies by altering gene activity, for example turning on genes that are supposed to be silent. This affects fetal development but also the body's functioning in later life. Find out more.
NEED A SERVICE ANIMAL FOR YOUR 2e CHILD? Regulations have changed, and CEC points out that the state of Florida has developed guidelines for evaluating requests for service animals. Find the CEC comment.
SCHOOL REFUSAL. We posted about this topic on September 16, but a recent Wall Street Journal article also covers the topic. As many as 28 percent of children may exhibit this behavior at one time or another, according to the article. If your 2e child is one of them, check out the article.
ON RTI. UCLA, in the newsletter Addressing Barriers to Learning, has published an article called "Moving Beyond the Three-tier Pyramid: Fitting RTI into a Comprehensive System of Student and Learning Support." And that title pretty much lets you know whether or not the article will be of interest to you; if so, find it here.

BACK TO SCHOOL WITH AN LD. The Washington Post offers advice for parents of children with LDs or conditions such as AD/HD who are starting the school year. Drawing on the experience of Pam and Pete Wright as well as other experts, the article offers tips such as: know your rights; communicate ahead of time; prepare a statement of your concerns; and more. Find the article.

2e RESOURCE. Another reminder for the beginning of the school year -- the Colorado Department of Education has an online, 118-page resource book titled Twice-Exceptional Students: Gifted Students with Disabilities. The resource book contains information on identifying 2e students, IDEA considerations, planning and problem-solving, and case studies. Find the resource book.

AD/HD IN MIDDLE SCHOOL. Dr. David Rabiner pointed us to a piece on the ADDitude site about AD/HD in middle school and how to help students there with homework, classwork, social skills, and organizing. If your bright young person needs this help, check out the site.

ASD AND SENSORY PROCESSING. Science Daily reports on a study showing that children on the autism spectrum process sensory information differently than typically developing children. They apparently have difficulty dealing with sensory input from multiple sources -- sight, sound, and touch. ASD kids' brains responded more slowly and to a lesser level to multi-sensory stimuli. Read more.

MEDITATION CAN HELP REGULATE BEHAVIOR? A study showed that students trained in meditation developed new fibers in the part of the brain that helps regulate behavior, but study write-ups did not evaluate changes in subjects' behavior, just the structural changes. The type of meditation is IBMT (integrative mind-body training), evidently not currently available in the United States. Read more.

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY. A columnist for ZDNET reviewed a smartpen by Livescribe recently, then did a follow-up column on the pen's possibilities for students with learning challenges. The pen allows users to record what is written (using special paper) and also what is being said. The sound and writing capture are synchronized. Read the initial review, where the reviewer claims "This is a genuinely disruptive [in a good sense] tool that can change the way students and teachers interact in the classroom." Read the follow-up, in which he gets more specific about how kids with special issues can use the pen.

"WE DO NOT ACCELERATE" -- and so a gifted Canadian 10-year-old who has completed Grade 8 in a private school will not be allowed to enter public school at the Grade 9 level. Instead, the board wants him to enter at Grade 6. The boy, according to the article, says "I'd get really bored doing Grade 6 again." Find the story.

PESTICIDES AND AD/HD. More to worry about -- CBS News reports on a study linking pesticides used in food production to a two-times-higher risk of receiving an AD/HD diagnosis. One thousand kids were tested in the study, which was reported in Pediatrics. Read the CBS report. See the Pediatrics abstract.

COULDN'T READ, BUT SURE CAN WRITE. A 10th-grade student in Fort Worth, Texas, has won a national award for an essay recounting her experiences growing up with dyslexia. According to the article, the young woman now "writes tirelessly." Previous winners of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition include Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath, Robert Redford, and Andy Warhol. Read more.

2e SUMMER CAMP IN CARROLLTON, TEXAS. Brainworks' Carla Crutsinger tells us that her 29-year-old company is holding its 24th summer camp for twice-exceptional students. According to the company's website, "Brainworks has developed and uses a systemic approach to teach skills that result in life-changing behaviors. Brainworks offers instruction during the school year as well as an accelerated summer program" -- the summer camp. Find out more at the Brainworks website.

BRAIN-BASED EDUCATION is the "engagement of strategies based on principles derived from an understanding of the brain," according to a several-years-old article we found while browsing for items for this blog. The article, in the Phi Delta Kappan, defines the practice and its interdisciplinary foundation, points out critical interconnections and inter-influences between the brain and the classroom (stress, social conditions, etc), urges experimentation with brain-based teaching techniques, and provides some "credentials" for brain-based education. Find the article.

ACCELERATION RESOURCE. Can't say it any better than they do; from the website of the Acceleration Institute: "Guidelines for Developing an Academic Acceleration Policy provides guidance and encourages the systematic adoption and practice of acceleration in schools across the nation. The Guidelines document can assist schools in writing and modifying acceleration policy that is suited to local needs and adheres to research-based best practices. Guidelines is co-authored by IRPA, the National Association for Gifted Children, and the Council of State Directors of Programs for the Gifted." The guidelines are downloadable in PDF format. Find the site.

EDUCATORS GUILD NEWSLETTER. The Spring edition of this publication from the Davidson Institute for Talent Development focuses on programs for early entrance to college. If your gifted child is emotionally ready for such a possibility, check out the articles in the newsletter. It also provides links to other DITD resources, such as the Gifted Issues Discussion Forum.

READERS IN AUSTRALIA -- don't forget to check Jo Freitag's site for gifted- and 2e-related events and resources in your fair country. Find it. You may also sign up there for her monthly newsletter.

From the Week of August 9th

CALIFORNIA SCHOOL FOR KIDS WITH LDs. An article in the San Diego Union-Tribune featured Winston School, a small (100-student) private school in Del Mar. According to the article, students at the school have LDs that include AD/HD, dyslexia, and Asperger's. All of the students graduating from Winston this year have evidently been accepted at two- and four-year colleges. Read the article.

LD AT U OF T. The University of Texas' Daily Texan says that 1262 students at the school are registered with the office that provides services for students with LDs. The article quotes the director of that office as saying, "Many of them, although they may have areas of relative weakness, are incredibly bright and gifted in the areas that they do excel at." The school provides resources and one-on-one assistance from instructors. Find out more.

SMART INFANT, SMART ADULT. From the news center at Case Western Reserve: "Infants who excel at processing new information at 6- and 12-months-old typically excel in intelligence and academic achievements as young adults in their 20's, according to a study directed by Case Western Reserve University Psychologist Joseph Fagan." The results stem from a longitudinal study of infants tested in their first year of life. Find the news item.

GET INVOLVED WITH THAT GIFTED KID, DAD. It's not just a mom's job. A University of Illinois expert in early childhood education claims that mothers and fathers play different roles and make different contributions to a child’s upbringing, but a father’s influence upon a child’s academic success later in life is felt the most when he’s involved from the very beginning. Brent McBride also says that fathers and father figures can have at least as much of a unique impact on a child as mothers do, and therefore should be seen as co-equal partners in parenting. Find the UI news release.

ANOTHER WEBINAR FROM OGTOC. Sally_L has scheduled another webinar, this one on September 14th and titled The Art of Gifted Advocacy. It features Barbara Gilman of the Gifted Development Center in Denver. Gilman is author of Academic Advocacy for Gifted Children. Find out more.

GRADE SKIPPING FOR THE GIFTED. In Education Week, Laura Vanderkam and Richard Whitmire revisit acceleration for gifted children as an "obvious, easy, inexpensive solution" to nurturing gifted students. Read the article.

ADVOCACY SUMMER SCHOOL, PART 3. Are you participating in the Wrightslaw Summer School for Advocates? If so, this week's lesson covers how to use information from tests to track your child's progress. Go to school.

AN INTERESTING LD RESOURCE came across our desk a short while ago. NCLD has issued "The State of Learning Disabilities (2009)." Here's what NCLD has to say about their effort: "NCLD offers this publication to policy makers, education professionals, media, parents and others to ensure that there is access to key LD data to and expand awareness about what LD is and whom the condition impacts." For that one "e" in your child's 2e equation, this report might offer perspective and statistics. Find the PDF.

TEXAS AND GIFTED. An article in the Dallas Morning News described the plight of gifted education in Texas -- no requirements of teachers to take graduate education programs in gifted education, few districts that pay teachers to take such programs, and no higher pay for teachers who do. Read about the state of gifted education in Texas here.

MORE ITEMS as the week goes on...