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Showing posts with label giftedness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label giftedness. Show all posts

EMOTIONAL EDUCATION is stressed at the Blue School, a private school in Manhattan founded by members of the Blue Man Group in 2006. Now with 200 students in preschool through third grade, according to The New York Times, "the school has become a kind of national laboratory for integrating cognitive neuroscience and cutting-edge educational theory into curriculum, professional development and school design." Making kids aware of emotions supposedly helps the academic education process in the school, which is largely child-centered.  Read the article.
AUTISM AND THE BRAIN. NPR's show "To the Best of Our Knowledge" on Sunday, April 15, focused on autism and the brain, including interviews with a variety of experts. From the program blurb: "We explore the frontiers of brain science, from the neurobiology of emotions to recent discoveries about autism.  Renowned neuroscientists Richard Davidson and V.S. Ramachandran reveal new insights into the brain, and we'll hear the story of one marriage saved by a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome." Find the program. (The first segment on autism diagnosis is, in the opinion of 2e Newsletter editor L.C. Neumann, perhaps the most relevant to the 2e community. Decide for yourself.)
PREDICTING PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT. A Finnish longitudinal study has established that that the use of psychiatric treatment or meds as young adults may be predicted by signs and symptoms at age 8. According to Science Daily, "The parents and the teacher completed questionnaires with items concerning family structure, parental education level, conduct problems, hyperactive problems, emotional symptoms, bullying, and victimisation of bullying behaviour. The children themselves completed questions regarding depressive symptoms, bullying, and victimization of bullying behaviour." Find out more. 
HOAGIES' PAGE. Don't forget that webmistress Carolyn K is always updating her ginormous website on all things gifted -- including 2e. What we see on the "What's New" page at the moment is a video of top 10 myths in gifted education; and a list of recently added pages and pointers. Find "what's new."
MIGHT HAVE MISSED THIS. The Dana print newsletter Brain in the News pointed us to an article called "How the Brain Learns," about timing, sensory systems, and neural interconnectivity. Find out about the research -- and about some of the ways the research can apply in the classroom -- at the US News site. 
NAGC ANNUAL AWARDS. Each year at its annual conference NAGC presents a variety of awards. The nomination process for the 2012 awards closes on May 1. Award categories include those for educators, researchers, scholars, advocates, and those who otherwise serve the gifted community. Find out more.
NEW SURVEY. A PhD student at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, is conducting research to find out about theabilities and achievements of twice-exceptional individuals on the autismspectrum and to find ways that strengths and abilities of people on the autismspectrum can be developed. Participantsare sought from the following five groups:
  • Adults with an ASD
  • Parents
  • Teachers
  • Psychologists
  • Mentorsand coaches
According to the researcher, the study involves an online questionnaire(approximately 15 minutes) and an option to take part in interviews conductedby e-mail. Full details of the study can be found in theexplanatory statement by following the link to the online questionnaire http://tinyurl.com/monasheducation.

From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

GAME INTELLIGENCE. Howard Gardner posits a bodily-kinesthetic form of intelligence, but a new study from Sweden indicates that at least some successful athletes also have strong executive function skills that allow them to work with information quickly and make decisions. In the study, elite soccer players in Sweden scored in the top two percent on an executive function test, D-KEFS. Furthermore, higher test scores were linked to higher rates of goals and assists among the players. Read more.
AUTISM WARS is the title of an article in The New York Times in reaction to the recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimating that one in 88 American kids have an ASD. On the one side, those skeptical that the figures really represent a change in ASD incidence. On the other side, those who take placement on the spectrum seriously. From the article: “I don’t care if you have a 150 I.Q., if you have a social problem, that’s a real problem. You’re going to have problems getting along with your boss, with your spouse, with friends." Find the article.
ORAL/WRITTEN EXPRESSION DISCREPANCY: A sign of dyslexia? That's the question asked by a teacher/mom whose own daughter's oral expression strengths weren't rewarded by her teacher. The teacher/mom then reflected on her own practice, and that of her peers, deciding that oral expression in the classroom is definitely undervalued. Read more.
ASD IN COLLEGE. As autism and Asperger's diagnoses become more common, more and more students will enter college with the diagnosis -- and they'll need help in overcoming issues brought about by poor social skills and other characteristics of the disorder. An article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune highlights some of those problems and tells what schools and students are doing to overcome those problems. Read it.
NEUROEDUCATION IN SANTA BARBARA. We love neuroscience, especially as it applies to education, because much of it is or will be beneficial to twice-exceptional students. And we love Santa Barbara, California. This summer, educators with healthy budgets can attend a four-day, $1975 session on neuroeducation in Santa Barbara presented by Dr. Judy Willis. Titled "Neuroscience and the Classroom: Strategies for Maximizing Students' Engagement, Memory, and Potential," the event is under the auspices of the Learning and the Brain Summer Institute. Find out more, and if you go let us know how it was.
WRIGHTSLAW. The current edition of Special Ed Advocate points out that IDEA requires transition services from school to employment or to post-secondary education, and provides resources to help parents plan for their learning-disabled child's future. Read more.

From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

GROWING RECOGNITION OF SPD. An article in the Chicago Tribune noted how more and  more parents and therapists are aware of sensory processing disorder. The article profiles several families who have SPD kids and describes approaches to treating the condition. Read the article.
AD/HD. Readers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter know that experts recognize at least three subtypes of AD/HD. Recent research indicates that AD/HD is an entire family of disorders. Further research is needed to better understand the subcategories in terms of both diagnosis and treatment. Read more. Separately, the title of an opinion piece in the Washington Post by Katherine Ellison is "We're not paying enough attention to AD/HD." She notes, "A conservative study in 2007 estimated the annual U.S. costs of AD/HD treatment and other related expenses, including parental work loss and juvenile justice, to be as high as $52.4 billion." And she urges parents, doctors, and schools to all pay more attention to ways to reduce that financial and emotional burden on all involved. Read the article.
DYSLEXIA. Other recent research indicates that visual attention deficits may be predictive of dyslexia even before children learn to read. The researchers tested children's ability to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant visual cues. Read more.
GENDER IN AUTISM. More boys than girls are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, and a psychiatrist explores that issue at CNN.com, including differences in expression and possible explanations for a lower rate of diagnosis among girls. Read the article.
ATTENTION RESEARCH UPDATE. The March edition of David Rabiner's newsletter has been posted, and in it he examines a study of the over- and mis-diagnosis of AD/HD by clinicians. Find the newsletter.
GREAT POTENTIAL PRESS, publisher of books on gifted topics, is on Facebook. Drop in and "like" them. http://www.facebook.com/GreatPotentialPress,
SENG. On April 19, Terry Friedrichs will present a SENGinar titled "Teaching Academics to Gifted Youth with Asperger's." SENG says that the event is intended to allow attendees to discover "how to improve on the youths' skills in communicating, understanding directions, and predicting consequences in basic academic subjects at the elementary, middle and secondary levels." Find out more. 

PRUFROCK PRESS is offering another free partial download from one of their books, this one School Success for Kids with Autism. Go there.  


From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH is this month, as you're aware if you've been reading any online materials on learning challenges or even the general press. The month-long observation, along with the April 2nd World Autism Awareness Day, was sparked by the efforts of a  variety of organizations but especially Autism Speaks. One article that appeared on April 2 on CNN profiled a highly intelligent man, now 42, whose diagnosis of Asperger's six years ago led him to "reinvent himself as an autism advocate" -- besides explaining a lot of things. From the  article: "I was invisible until I found my inner splendor... My ability to interpret and alter my throughput of judgments, feelings, memories, plans, facts, perceptions, etc., and imprint them all with what I chose to be and chose to do. What I choose to do is change the course of the future for persons with autism..." Find the article. 
2e WEBINARS. NACG has two 2e-focused webinars coming up in April:
  • An overview of 2e learners by Lois Baldwin on April 11. From the blurb: "This session will explore some of the characteristics and learning differences of the twice-exceptional learner, and also provide a fresh perspective and insights into how best to support the individual child at home and at school."
  • Strategies for educators and parents of 2e children, by Beverly Trail and Claire Hughes. From the blurb: "This presentation provides an expert perspective on how children, parents, and educators can develop a comprehensive plan integrating strategies from both gifted and special education to meet diverse cognitive, academic, social, and emotional needs of twice-exceptional children." 

GIFTED RESOURCE NEWSLETTER. Don't forget Jo Freitag's monthly source of information for:
  • Gifted- and 2e-related happenings in Australia
  • Pointers to gifted-related events and conferences all over the world
  • A multi-page listing of articles and resources under the unassuming title of "Some Interesting Websites."
Jo Freitag's postal address has changed recently; if you correspond the old-fashioned way, check her home page for the new address. Email and website are the same. 
WRIGHTSLAW, in its current edition of Special Ed Advocate, addresses U.S. issues of privacy in education, confidentiality, and FERPA -- the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. Sample questions addressed: Can you see your children's test results? Can you observe in the classroom? What privacy rights do parents and children have? Find the newsletter.
AND FINALLY, THIS. Fast food leads to depression. That according to a new study published in the Public Health Nutrition Journal. The net-out: fast-food consumers are 51 percent more likely to develop depression than those who eat little or no fast food. Plus -- the more fast food  you eat, the higher the risk of depression. While the study write-up used the words "linked to" rather than "caused by," draw your own conclusions. Not only should you "Hold the pickle,  hold the lettuce," as the jingle used to go, but also hold the meat and the bun and the condiments and the fries... 
MORE ITEMS COMING SOON. Stop back often.

From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

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.

From the Publishers of 2e Newsletter

NEW BLOG ABOUT 2e LEARNERS. Pat Sciortino, educational director at the Quad Manhattan, has started a blog called "Out of the 2e Classroom." Her first posting is about developing social thinking in 2e learners by using improvisational play. Check out the blog.
MIND INSTITUTE LECTURE. The UC Davis Mind Institute is offering a free lecture about AD/HD on March 14, 4:30-6pm, in Sacramento, California. Titled "AD/HD Causes and Mechanisms," the lecture, part of the Institute's Distinguished Lecturer Series, will be presented by Joel. T. Nigg, of the Oregon Health and Sciences University. From an announcement of the event: "Over the past decade, the view of ADHD as the outcome of a single dysfunction shared by everyone who has the diagnosis is migrating to a new perspective that highlights a wide variety of causes -- a theory known as causal heterogeneity -- and recognizes diverse symptom clusters. The implications and challenges of this change in thinking are potentially profound, and this presentation will consider evidence in support of the importance of the heterogeneity problem in ADHD while also considering the potential role of genetic factors." Find out more. (The lecture will later be available online, as previous lectures are.) 
GIFTED AT 3? A blogger at Education Week reacted to the Maryland State Board of Education's adoption of regulations to implement differentiated services to gifted students as young as pre-K. Anti-labeling groups oppose the measures. Read more. 
OVEREXCITABILITIES. NAGC's Parenting for High Potential has published a chat summary on the topic of overexcitabilities and positive disintegration  highlighted by Kazimierz Dabrowski. The summary includes a table characterizing the five kinds of overexcitabilities. Find out more. 
AD/HD RESOURCE. David Rabiner pointed us to a free report on alternative treatment options for AD/HD from Additude Magazine. The options include behavior therapy, neurofeedback, exercise, green time, and brain-building computer games. Get a copy. Separately, a study reported by HealthDay indicates that boys and girls born in December are 30 to 70 percent more likely to be diagnosed with AD/HD than kids born in January. Read about the study.
SLEEP-DISORDERED BREATHING in children may lead to behavior problems such as hyperactivity and aggressiveness, according to a new study. Sleep disorders include snoring, mouth breathing, and apnea. Read more. 
AND FINALLY, THIS. It's Sleep Awareness Week in the U.S. Not by coincidence, daylight savings time begins this coming Sunday. Sleep specialists at the University of Loyola Health System are offering tips on making the transition in an article titled "Daylight Savings Can Be Hazardous to Your Health." Find out what you can do to make it easier on  you and your kids.

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.

From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

AUDITORY SAMPLING LINKED TO DYSLEXIA. Recent research indicates that the way the brain processes auditory rhythms in phonemes may underlie dyslexia. From a write-up of the study: "Our results suggest that the left auditory cortex of dyslexic people may be less responsive to modulations at very specific frequencies that are optimal for analysis of speech sounds and overly responsive to higher frequencies, which is potentially detrimental to their verbal short-term memory abilities." Read more.
NEWS ON AUTISM. Another recent study indicates that disorders such as AD/HD or LDs may often accompany autism, complicating diagnosis and treatment. The study also indicated that some kids "outgrow" a diagnosis of ASD. Read about the study. Separately, a study of twins where only one of the twins was affected with ASD seems to indicate that the twin with lower birth weight was more likely to develop the diagnosis. To the researchers, this indicates that environmental factors also play a role in the development of ASD. Find out more. Finally, Autism Speaks has responded to the recent reports of changes in the way ASD might be defined in the DSM-5, changes some feel would leave some children ineligible for an ASD diagnosis and resultant services. The organization states, "Autism Speaks’ position is that it will be vitally important to collect meaningful information on how the change impacts access to services by those affected by autism symptoms." Read more.
GIFTED IN HOUSTON. The Houston, Texas, Independent School District (HISD) has identified about 15.6 percent of its students as gifted, more than twice the percentage in other Texas schools and  higher than the national average. The Texas Watchdog questions whether including so many students in the gifted pool allows gifted programs to truly serve the top learners. The article also includes figures indicating the composition of the HISD gifted pool: 42 percent of Asians in the district are identified as gifted, 40 percent of white students, and 7 percent of African-American students. HISD is 60-plus percent Hispanic and 25 percent African-American. Read more.
DISABILITY REDEFINED? Education Week notes that the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education has issued a letter that might expand the range of students for whom schools must provide special ed services. According to the article, the OCR's guidance states: "Students who, in the past, may not have been determined to have a disability under Section 504 [of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973] and Title II [of the Americans with Disabilities Act] may now in fact be found to have a disability under those laws." Read about it, and if we find out more we'll pass it on. 

From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

DIET AND AD/HD. Does that gifted kid you know have AD/HD? A study at Northwestern University in Chicago reviewed past research on the effectiveness of diet in controlling AD/HD symptoms -- and the news isn't that promising. The study found conflicting claims, and suggests that nutritional interventions -- while simple and inexpensive -- probably should be considered only as an alternative to therapy and medication. Read more, or find an NPR program about the study, which appeared in the journal Pediatrics.
2e VALEDICTORIAN. A young man in Michigan diagnosed with LDs and autism as a child went on to be valedictorian of  his high school class, and his mother has told the story in a book called My Child Wasn't Born Perfect, published by a Grand Rapids-area firm. Find out more.
WORKING MEMORY TRAINING. David Rabiner pointed us to a webinar from Cogmed on working memory training. Originally directed at professionals, the webinar is now viewable at no cost at the Cogmed website. Find it.
NC SCHOOLS CATER TO ASPIES. Two Asperger Connection schools catering to students with Asperger's have opened in the North Carolina, and a third is in the works. The founder of the school has Asperger's, as do her two children. An article on the school notes that "Each Asperger Connection staff member is required to either have the syndrome, have children with the syndrome or have worked with Asperger students for at least 10 years." Read more.
EXERCISE is good for the brain and grades. Maybe you knew that, but now there's a study backing up that conclusion. Find the ammunition you need to get that gifted kid off the couch.
ASPERGER'S AND DRIVING. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (which evidently calls itself CHOP for short) has studied teens with Asperger's and the way they approach driving. The study looked at characteristics of those teens who were likely to become drivers, and also touched on a couple things parents can do to make sure their teen with Asperger's is ready to drive. Read more.
COMPETITION. The 2012 FIRST Robotics Competition is underway. If your gifted high school child is interested in robotics, find out more about this competition. 
MATT COHEN, special ed attorney based in Chicago, has formed his own law firm "to better serve my clients and to improve and expand the services I have provided in the past," he says. "We will continue to provide special education and other legal advocacy, risk management, policy consultation and related client services, as well as training that I have provided to countless individuals and families, advocacy and professional groups, mental health and social service agencies and private practitioner for thirty years." Find out more in his January newsletter.  
AND FINALLY, THIS. The makers of Play Attention have developed and are marketing a wearable (on the arm), wireless sensor that can report levels of attention, cognitive processing, relaxation, or anxiety and stress to a nearby PC, allowing its use in a variety of applications related to education,attention management, sports training, driving safety, or stress management. At the moment, however, the device and system costs $1795. Find out more at the website of Freer Logic, the developer, or read a press release about the product.

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: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

AUSTRALIAN GIFTED CONFERENCE. The 13th National Conference on Giftedness is scheduled for July 12-15, 2012, in Adelaide, South Australia. According to conference organizers, "This conference will bring together experts in the field of giftedness and talent and combine these with the latest research from around the world." Find out more.
MEDSCAPE ON AUTISM. In a series called "Game Changers in Pediatrics 2011," Medscape pointed to key findings from research  in the area of ASDs. Some of the findings show how much more there is to learn about ASD, some point out things that don't work in treating ASD. Find the Medscape article. 
PANDAS. The Los Angeles Times published an article about pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcus (PANDAS), a sudden-onset mental disorder marked by OCD-type behaviors. The article also mentions the possibility that other disorders, including cases of autism, might be linked to improper immune system response. Find out more.
GIFTED AND DIFFICULT. A small school in Torrance, California, takes talented students who have difficulties in the normal classroom. For many of the 21 students at the school, The Center for Learning Unlimited, the issue is Asperger's. One "graduate" of the school is at the top of his class in middle school. Read more.
BIOCHEMICAL IMBALANCE IN AD/HD. A recent study has unveiled a new suspect in the biochemistry of AD/HD, this one the receptor protein for the transmitter acetylcholine. Children with AD/HD have about half the protein that typical subjects do. According to a study author, "This indicates that several signal substances are implicated in ADHD and that in the future this could pave the way for other drugs than those in use today." Read more.
AND FINALLY THIS. Researchers in Finland monitored subjects' brains by MRI as the subjects listened to tango music. The results indicate that music affects many areas of the brain. From a write-up of the research: "The researchers found that music listening recruits not only the auditory areas of the brain, but also employs large-scale neural networks. For instance, they discovered that the processing of musical pulse recruits motor areas in the brain, supporting the idea that music and movement are closely intertwined. Limbic areas of the brain, known to be associated with emotions, were found to be involved in rhythm and tonality processing. Processing of timbre was associated with activations in the so-called default mode network, which is assumed to be associated with mind-wandering and creativity." So much for just "listening" to music. Find the write-up.

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.



From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

ON IQ. Today we found three items concerning IQ, a topic of some interest to those who raise and educate gifted kids with learning challenges.  1. A UK study found links between higher IQ at ages 5 and 10 with higher-than-typical drug use at ages 16 and 20. Researchers' conjecture? Boredom or feeling different, "either of which could conceivably increase vulnerability to using drugs as an avoidant coping strategy," Read more.  2. The American Heart Association says that in men, a higher late-adolescence IQ score correlates with a lower waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) in middle age. A high WHR is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Read more.  3. Finally, a European study of breastfeeding and IQ indicates that preschoolers who had been breastfed longer had higher IQs. The conjecture: "It is the physical and psychological bonding and interaction between infant and mother during breast-feeding that nurtures development of an infant's cognitive abilities," noting that breastfeeding is not just a meal but "a dynamic, bidirectional, biological dialogue." Find out more.
SENG VINE. SENG's November newsletter is posted at Constant Contact. The issue's featured article is on parenting the gifted; it's by a woman who, as a girl, was featured in the movie Spellbound, about the National Spelling Bee.
RESOURCE. Education Week has announced that November 16-20 is an "open house" at its website, much of which is usually for subscribers only. Find the Education Week homepage.
THE SOCIETY FOR NEUROSCIENCE just concluded its annual meeting. A synopsis of some of the research presented at the conference is available at ScienceDaily; the synopsis features studies involving depression and schizophrenia. Another synopsis at ScienceDaily dealt with studies on ASD, Fragile X, and bipolar disorder.
AND FINALLY, THIS -- ON PARENTING. The New  York Times obituary section (we often learn interesting things there) noted the death of a Czech-born little person, 93, who had acted as a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz. According to the obit, his father tried "witch doctor" treatments to make him grow, but then, when the child was 9, sold him to a traveling show. For his stint in Oz, he earned $50 a week, supposedly less than Toto was paid. Read a longer AP version of the obit.

From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

LANDMARK COLLEGE, a 2-year school in Vermont that focuses on educating students with LDs, was featured in an article and video by USA Today. Besides academics -- or, rather, as a foundation for them -- Landmark teaches organizational and compensatory skills. Landmark can serve as a springboard to attendance (and graduation from) a four-year college. Go to USA Today. 
THE EDUCATORS GUILD NEWSLETTER for October is out and posted on the DITD website. In it are an article by Jim Delisle on the peer relations of gifted students; gifted news; and news about DITD. Find it.
THE SENG VINE newsletter is also out, including articles on GT kids and behavior, the role of a pediatric doctor in caring for gifted kids, and more. Find it.
PRODIGY: WHAT NEXT? In Deborah Ruf's October Talent Igniter newsletter we found a pointer to a story on a young prodigy, now 13, who at age 9 got perfect 5's in five AP math and science tests. From the article: "When he's not in class, he's working through a stack of books at home; he keeps a list of everything he has read. He's absorbed 52 textbooks on science and math: read the physics lectures of Richard Feynman, and books on robot programming, systems biology, immunobiology, fractals, Latin (a new passion), music theory and the work of Fibonacci, René Descartes, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, among others." Read more. 
EDUCATOR'S RESOURCE. Adobe offers a free curriculum and resources for educators to  "create breakthrough learning experiences for young people." Find out more. 
AD/HD AWARENESS EXPO. During AD/HD Awareness Week, visitors may attend a free online Awareness Expo. Find out more. 
NO TV FOR KIDS UNDER 2 -- That's what the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends. On the other hand, this current recommendation is evidently less restrictive than the AAP's prior issuance on the topic. Got an almost-toddler? Read more.


GIFTED AND STUTTERING. A gifted 16-year-old New Jersey boy who is taking two college classes described how his professor had asked  him not to speak in class because of  his stuttering. According to an article in The New York Times, about five percent of people stutter, and it is thought to have genetic and physiological causes. Find the article.  In response to the article, the Stuttering Foundation issued a response that includes eight tips for teachers; find it. (The foundation website also notes that for both Winston Churchill and James Earl Jones, "Stuttering didn't stop them. Don't let it stop you."

EDUTOPIA has a blog entry on its site titled "How to Support Gifted Students in Your Classroom." It notes the importance of identifying such students and of having a gifted, intuitive teacher to serve gifted students. Find the blog.

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES. We received an email directing us to a site by the name of Bytes Power Smarts, which is apparently deigned to help kids 8-11 "recognize and appreciate their strengths and talents," as manifested in the eight multiple intelligences recognized by Howard Gardener. The site contains stores for the children to read relating to those intelligences. Find it. (We recognized at least one name on the staff listing as being involved in the 2e community.)

OCD. CNN has an article on its website about OCD in children, and the article profiles two young people with different sets of symptoms. It describes how each young person has confronted the disorder. Find the article.

THE GIFTED DEVELOPMENT CENTER newsletter for October is out, and it brings news of the organization's move out of downtown Denver to more spacious quarters. (We visited the Center several years ago and would characterize their present space in an old house as pleasantly unique, but could see how they could use more space.) The newsletter also notes Linda Silverman's five decades of experience in the gifted field. Read the newsletter.

CURETOGETHER: ANXIETY. CureTogether, a site that provides information and support for persons with a variety of conditions, has posted information stemming from a 6200-patient survey on which treatments for anxiety work best and which are most popular. If you have a gifted child with anxiety, this will be of interest to you. The top three treatments in terms of effectiveness: exercise, Xanax, and then yoga. The treatments reported least effective: Wellbutrin, Amitripyline, and Paxil. Find the site.

EDUCATION WEEK published an article, available to non-subscribers, about the various types of reading problems (eg, phonemic awareness) and reading programs that work for those various types. Find it.

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

ASSESSING ASPIE INTELLIGENCE. A new study indicates that individuals with Asperger's rate higher on an intelligence test called Raven's Progressive Matrices than on scales such as the Wechsler tests. The Raven's test evidently emphasizes reasoning, novel problem-solving abilities, and high-level abstraction. A ScienceDaily report on the study concluded, "...the authors emphasize that autistic spectrum intelligence is atypical, but also genuine, general, and underestimated." Read the report.

UNWRAPPING THE GIFTED. Tamara Fisher says "gift a teacher a book about gifted education," and provides a list of books suggested  by her readers. Find it. Along with her idea, we suggest that if your child is twice-exceptional you gift a book on that topic -- or a subscription to the ever-handy 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter. 

ATTENTION RESEARCH UPDATE. The September edition of David Rabiner's newsletter, now posted on his site, describes a study of how the "stigma" of being treated for AD/HD might affect adolescents. Got a 2e adolescent with AD/HD? Check out Rabiner's newsletter.

ANESTHESIA IN YOUNG CHILDREN can be something to worry about, according to the Mayo Clinic, becuase it can increase the chance of learning disabilities by over 100 percent.  Got a child under two? Read more.

FORDHAM STUDY. If you paid attention to the recent Fordham study that asked whether current educational practice underdevelops gifted kids, you might be interested in a discussion of the topic at The New York Times site. 

CASH FOR AP ACHIEVEMENT. The New York Times reported on a Massachusetts experiment that provided cash incentives to both students and teachers for success in Advanced Placement courses. The results? More students taking those courses, and a higher percentage qualifying for college credit. Read more.

GIFTED TEEN SURVIVAL GUIDE. Free Spirit Press has released the fourth edition of this book, which is based on surveys of almost 1,400 gifted teenagers. One of the revisions: inclusion of new information on twice-exceptionality. (Way to go, Free Spirit!) Find out more about the book at the publisher's website.

VIDEO COMPETITION. If you have a smart, young, penurious media maven in your house, the American Bankers Association has a video competition that might appeal. The competition aims to "inspire teens to explore the value of saving money and share their thoughts for all to see," according to the sponsors. Find out more at the ABA site.

AND FINALLY, THIS. Thinking of starting your child into team sports early? Say, at age 3? It might not be a good idea, according to at least one researcher, to immerse them in organized sports rather than unstructured play.  In fact, the researcher says, "Most children should not commit, or specialize, in one sport until they are age 15." Find out more in Health News from UPI.

DYSLEXIA GOES TO COLLEGE. An event at Stanford University for college admission deans was intended to help colleges appreciate dyslexic applicants. Organized in part by expert Sally Shaywitz, the event featured speakers who shared their experiences with dyslexia -- Charles Schwab was among those. Also covered: topics such as the effect of dyslexia on the testing and admissions process; accommodations in college; and tips for dyslexic students on choosing the right college. Read more.
COMPOUNDING THE PROBLEM. Research by Autism Speaks notes that more than half of the young people in their registry also show symptoms of either attention problems or of hyperactivity. Researchers noted that the AD/HD symptoms further burden children with autism, and stressed the importance of identifying AD/HD symptoms so that they could be addressed. Read more.
TREATING OCD. An article in Time Magazine noted the effectiveness of a therapy called exposure and response prevention (ERP) in reducing OCD symptoms, especially when used in combination with medication. Among kids in a JAMA-reported study, about 67 percent of kids treated with a combination of medicine and ERP reduced their OCD symptoms by a 30 percent benchmark. Find out more.
GIFTED STUDENTS AND ONLINE LEARNING was the topic of an Education Week online chat this week. Interested persons may find the chat at the Education Week website.
GIFTED ISSUES DISCUSSION FORUM. The Davidson Institute maintains a free public forum for the discussion of gifted issues at http://giftedissues.davidsongifted.org/BB/. Some of the threads deal with twice-exceptional topics, such as giftedness and AD/HD, or low working memory, or visual processing  issues.
AD/HD AND STIMULANTS. About 2.8 million children  in the United States were prescribed stimulant medicine for AD/HD in 2008, up from previous years. The study covered the years from 1996 to 2008. Usage is higher in boys and children not of color; usage is lower in Western states. Find out more.
BEST STEM HIGH SCHOOLS. Want to find out which high schools rank highest in the teaching of science and math? US News can tell you.
SMARTS AND PROCESSING SPEED. Adolescents become smarter (as measured on intelligence tests) because their processing speed increases, according to a new study. Read more.
BRAIN RESOURCE. Healthline has a cool interactive tool for visualizing the brain. You can turn it, split it, see different layers, identify components, and read about them. Find it.
AND FINALLY, THIS. You can buy your child a pair of $40 sunglasses with a hidden video camera inside. According to a reviewer, the set-up includes  a battery, 128MB of RAM, and a USB port for downloading the video to a computer for viewing and editing. Read the review or go to the vendor's website.

From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

EIDES IN WIRED. Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide have a Q&A in Wired Science centering on their new book The Dyslexic Advantage. In the Q&A, the Eides provide their definition of dyslexia, cover various misconceptions of the condition, and get into the strengths that may be associated with dyslexia. At the Q&A page you may also read an excerpt from the new book. Go there.
HIGH PERFORMERS: LOSING IT. Education Week reports on a Fordham Institute study showing that "many high-performing students lose ground from elementary to middle school and from middle school to  high school." The study raises the issue of whether programs such as NCLB impose a trade-off, helping kids at the bottom but hurting those at the top. Find the EdWeek article.
METHYLPHENIDATE: LATER PUBERTY -- in monkeys, at least. The active ingredient in Ritalin delayed puberty in young male monkeys, although the treated monkeys later caught up in development. Read more.
APPS FOR AUTISM is the goal of a partnership between Hewlett-Packard and two autism-focused organizations. HP will bring together developers to build free apps addressing areas such as communication and scheduling. Find out more.
2e  SOLUTION IN VANCOUVER. The Vancouver Observer published an article about a gifted young man with learning challenges for whom "school never quite fit." [Sound familiar?] The young man and his family found a solution through a company called BrainBoost Education, which tailored a curriculum for him based on online learning courses. The results: a more engaged, confident, and achieving young man. Read more.
AD/HD RELIEF. A study has indicated that playing outside in green areas may ameliorate symptoms of AD/HD, compared to playing in other settings. Find out more.
JUNK FOOD, DEPRESSION, AND ANXIETY. Adolescents eating diets of junk or processed foods are more prone to depression and anxiety, according to a new Australian study. While the results are consistent with what's been seen in adults, the researchers had this to say about the results: "[W]e think it could be more important because three quarters of psychiatric illnesses start before adulthood, and once someone has depression they are likely to get it again." So serve up those fruits and veggies. Read more.
THE THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM is a book and website with the following mission: "to help people with autism and their families make sense of the bewildering array of available autism treatments and options, and determine which are worth their time, money, and energy." As part of that mission, TPGA accepts submissions on the topic of autism from writers 13 and over. Find out more.
EARLY-LIFE STRESS. Twice-exceptional kids can suffer more stress than other children for a variety of reasons. To find out how stress may affect children, check out a new article at Cerebrum on the Dana Foundation website. 
DON'T FORGET our stash of categorized article links at http://www.delicious.com/2eNewsletter. The articles cover 2e, giftedness, various exceptionalities, child development, parenting, education, and more.

From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

CALL FOR IMPROVED GIFTED ED. The president of the North Carolina Association for the Gifted and Talented and the president of NAGC jointly call for more opportunities for gifted students to excel. From the plea: "Contrary to the belief of some, high-ability students do not materialize out of thin air, and they certainly do not retain their capabilities absent ongoing support provided by appropriately trained teachers. They must be identified at the earliest stages possible and developed throughout their academic careers." Find out what they recommend.
E-LEARNING FOR GIFTED STUDENTS. One opportunity gifted students do have is that of e-learning. An article in Education Week describes some of the available opportunities.
ASPIE CHALLENGES. "He had all the state capitals memorized as a toddler, shortly before he read the entire dictionary." Now 23, Spencer, who has Asperger's, faces challenges at college, for example professors who don't understand how the seemingly brilliant young man can have trouble with logistics and procedure. An article in the Sacramento Bee tells more about Spencer and also about a support group, Asperger's Support for Adolescents Plus (ASAP), teens and young adults. Read more.
GIFTED AND DYSLEXIC. A young man with dyslexia who made it through the Stanford JD/MBA program tells how he did it, why he invented the Intel Reader, and why he's passionate about advocating for those with disabilities. Read the blog on CNN, and see a segment from "The Human Factor," which profiles Ben Foss.
SPEAKING OF ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY, Education Week describes how the the acceptance of universal design for learning -- with its emphasis on accessibility to content by all -- has affected assistive technology. The article provides examples along with guidelines for how schools can acquire such technology. Read the article.
CONFESSIONS OF AN ADDIVA is the title of a book reviewed at About.com. The book is written by a woman with AD/HD. From the review: "In Confessions of an ADDiva, Roggli shares about her journey living with undiagnosed ADHD for more than 40 years and the changes that took place in her life following diagnosis" Read more.  
GIFTED EDUCATION PRESS QUARTERLY. The Fall edition of this newsletter is out. You may find it here. 
IEP PROCESS. Autism Speaks has released a 26-page guide for parents about IEPs. Visit Autism Speaks to find out more or download the guide.
AD/HD AND WRITING. A recent study from the Mayo Clinic indicates that kids with AD/HD are much more likely to show writing problems -- 66 percent of boys with AD/HD and 57 percent of girls exhibited problems. Read about the study.