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Showing posts with label davidon academy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label davidon academy. Show all posts

From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

DAVIDSON ACADEMY AND GIFTED EDUCATION. The cover story of the August 29th edition of the Christian Science Monitor featured the Davidson Academy as the apex of gifted education in the United States, and then used the Academy as a counterpoint to discuss the "class ceiling," limits on education for most gifted students. From the article: "...how many more American students share their experience of idling in their classrooms, unaware of their potential, or bursting with frustration because only a fraction of their curiosity and capability is tapped?" Read the article.
DYSLEXIC ACHIEVER. A young woman, her dyslexia undiagnosed as a child, who used to be angry and resentful at people not seeing who she really was, now sees dyslexia as "the best thing that ever happened to me." A successful adult, she found it refreshing that those in the business world "weren't looking for what was wrong, but saw what was right, and beyond that, wanted to use it constructively toward a common goal." Read more.
LEARNING STYLES. We recently posted on another debunking of learning styles. That article started a good discussion at Edweek.org. If this topic interests you, find the discussion and join in!
BRAINWORKS. In her latest newsletter, Carla Crutsinger addresses the importance of sleep in attaining "stress-free mornings" during the school year. She notes that AD/HD kids take a long time to fall asleep, probably depriving them of the necessary 9 to 11 hours of sleep. She offers tips for avoiding sleep problems; find them. Separately, a study of the sleep habits of college students finds that many are "undermining their own education" because of poor sleep habits. Read more and find additional tips for "sleep hygiene."
ATTENTION RESEARCH UPDATE. David Rabiner's August edition of this newsletter concerned a study about how children's symptoms of AD/HD affect parents' feelings and behavior. The short answer: adversely. The lesson: "Clearly understanding thatgetting children to change core ADHD symptoms is difficult... may protect parents from feeling increasingly powerless about exertingpositive influence on their child and help them remain engaged with theirchild in ways that children experience as warm, nurturing and supportive." Read more about the study. 
MORE ON AD/HD. Inattention is a bigger problem than hyperactivity when it comes to finishing high school, according to a Canadian study. Find out more. 
FLU SHOTS. The American Association of Pediatrics has issued a statement urging parents to vaccinate family members and caregivers. The AAPrecommends everyone 6 months or older receive influenza vaccine. According to the AAP, the 2011-2012 fluvaccine protects against the same three influenza strains as last year’svaccine. But because a person’s immunity drops by as much as 50 percent 6-12months after vaccination, it’s important to receive another dose this year tomaintain optimal protection. Read more at www.healthychildren.org/flu. 
THE DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION BOOK OF LISTS has Whitney Hoffman as co-author. Hoffman, who for awhile pubished podcasts on LDs and occasionally on twice-exceptionality, describes the book at this website.
AND FINALLY, THIS. Japanese researchers have developed a  chemical that turns biological tissue transparent, allowing "a revolution in optical imaging." The researchers are using the chemical to study non-living mouse brains but are on the track of another chemical which might allow the study of live tissue. All of this sheds new "light" on the question, "What do you have in mind?" Read more.

DAVIDSON ACADEMY. EducationNext published an article profiling the Davidson Academy, the Reno public school for kids with IQs of 145 and higher. In the article, you can meet a couple of students, get background on the academy, and read about issues in educating the highly gifted. Find it. Separately, the Davidson Institute eNews Update is out, featuring information about summer programs for gifted students. DITD maintains a database of summer programs. Find the newsletter.
NYC 2e ONLINE PARENT GROUP. The Yahoo group Twice_Exceptional_Kids_NYC is for parents of 2e children in the New York City area. Find the main page here.
COMPETITION. Google has launched a Science Fair YouTube Channel and will host a global online science competition, in partnership with CERN, LEGO, National Geographic, and Scientific American. Read about it, or visit Google's home page for the fair. 
PRUFROCK PRESS has announced its acquisition of Cottonwood Press, developer of products for teaching gifted and creative young people. See the announcement.
EDUCATOR'S AUTISM WEBINAR. The organization Rethink Autism is offering a free webinar for educators in early February. According to the organization: "This webinar will hone in on seven key structural components that research and practitioners have identified as necessary to effectively support students with autism. It will provide a framework for district leaders to allocate resources, for teachers to coordinate direct services, and for parents to advocate, all in an effort to improve supports for students on the autism spectrum." Find out more. 
STRESSED COLLEGE FRESHMEN. Want more to worry about as you send that gifted or twice-exceptional kid off to college? Read this article about the record-low level of emotional health in today's college freshmen.   
TEACHING CHILDREN PHILOSOPHY. We missed this when it was published last week, but The New York Times' obituary of philosopher and educator Matthew Lipman noted how in 1974 he began a program to encourage critical thinking in young school children. According to the article, "more than 3,000 middle-school students in New Jersey who took the course demonstrated almost twice as much academic progress in a year as the students who did not take the course." Find out more.

From the Week of August 2nd

KNOW A DISTRACTIBLE KID? Blame working memory. Science Daily reports on a study of how a person's working memory capacity affects distractibility. As you might expect, students with a high memory storage capacity are better able to ignore distractions. Read about the study.

EDUCATIONAL JUSTICE FOR ALL. At Ednews.org, Michael Shaughnessy interviews Robert Denham, the head of a program teaching educational justice to doctoral students. Denham defines educational justice as "providing education to all students on an equitable basis." In the interview, Denham touches on educational justice for students with special needs. Read the interview.

EDUCATIONAL INJUSTICE? If so, on whose part? A Pennsylvania School District has sued the mother of two gifted children, one 2e, to recoup attorney's fees expended in dealing with "frivolous and harassing" legal maneuvers by the parent under IDEA. According to an article in The Morning Call, the parent has requested 22 due process hearings and demanded a Mandarin interpreter at special education meetings. Will this have a "chilling effect" on parental requests for their gifted and twice-exceptional students? Read the article.

IF YOU'RE THE MOTHER OF A 2e KID, THIS WILL SOUND FAMILIAR TO YOU. Forbes profiled several working-professional moms who have kids with special needs like AD/HD and LDs. 2e Newsletter readers will be familiar with many of the terms used in the article to describe how the moms deal with their kids and with school: "expert jugglers"; "Herculean amount of time," a "second job"; to "champion"; and "negotiation." Find the article.

VISUAL PROCESSING AND "READING" OTHERS. Researchers suggest that visual processing problems may contribute to the problems experienced by autistic and Asperger's individuals in identifying emotions in others. Find a report.

DAVIDSON ACADEMY. USA Today published an article about the Davidson Academy in Reno, Nevada. The Institute is a free public school for profoundly gifted young people. The article focuses on one student and includes quotes from the Academy's Colleen Harsin and NAGC's Jane Clarenbach. Find the article.

ASPIE ACHIEVER. The Hinesville, Georgia, Coastal Courier profiled a young man with autism who graduated from his high school as valedictorian and will enter college as a sophomore. Find out what the young man has to say about his challenges and his school experiences. Separately, the San Francisco Chronicle published an article on a California college for autistics; read it. Still more on ASD: The New York Times notes that three new movies revolve around Asperger's Syndrome. Says one of the directors, “The more I learned about Asperger’s, the better metaphor it felt like for the condition of all of us in terms of a desire for connection to other people.” Find the article.

WRIGHTSLAW SUMMER SCHOOL. Special Ed Advocate has issued Part 2 of "Summer School for Advocates." Wrightslaw promises: "Learn how to use IDEA, NCLB, and state academic standards to get schools to provide the programs and services a child needs. You'll also learn what the law requires and where to find it." Find the newsletter.

BEING DIFFERENT. Kansas State University researchers are looking into how children perceive peers with characteristics such as obesity, aggressiveness, and AD/HD. Empathy may come from having personal experience with the characteristic, or from feeling that the characteristic is not under the control of the peer. Otherwise, children may respond unfavorably. Read about the study.