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Showing posts with label gifteness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gifteness. Show all posts

From the Publishers of 2e Newsletter

THE DANA FOUNDATION, purveyors of much information of interest to readers concerned with issues of giftedness, neuroscience, and mental heath, has posted two new items:
  •  An opinion piece on what the new DSM-5 should look like, especially in terms of perceived weaknesses in the current classification scheme. The author, for example, points to problems with the "not otherwise specified" category, and suggests that "dimensional" diagnosis (as opposed to finding x number of symptoms for two weeks) might be useful. He also wants a way for the DSM to take into account the single genetic underpinnings of multiple conditions. Find the article. 
  • A report on a symposium on memory, which included some presentations on working memory and AD/HD. Find the article.
ATTENTION RESEARCH UPDATE has posted its April study review, this one on diet and AD/HD. From Rabiner's review: "...nearly two-thirds of a representative sample of young children with ADHD showed a substantial reduction in ADHD symptoms when placed on the 'few foods' diet.  In fact, the authors conclude their study by suggesting that "...dietary intervention should be considered in all children with ADHD, provided parents are willing to follow a diagnostic restricted elimination diet for a 5-week period, and provided expert supervision is available." Find the review.
WRIGHTSLAW's current edition of Special Ed Advocate offers advice to parents on participating as a member of a child's IEP team. Read more.
KIDS WITH AD/HD might use drugs and alcohol more often, according to a couple of recent studies. Find more at Time.com.
BRAINWAVE "FINGERPRINTS." A researcher recorded brainwaves during two nights for a group of children, then repeated the study two years later. A computer analysis was able to match the kids with their brainwaves. The research hopes the work will lead to biomarkers for depression and schizophrenia. Read more.
BEACON COLLEGE, bills itself as "the nation's only four-year accredited institution that offers highly specialized and proven educational programs for students diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, gifted but learning disabled, aspergers and other language-based learning disabilities." The college has received a grant to hire a life transition coach to help students enter the workplace. Find out more.
GREAT POTENTIAL PRESS, publishers of materials for the gifted, was mentioned in a Wall Street Journal advice column recently. The columnist recommended GPP's A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children as well as Living with Intensity. Find the column. Separately, Jim Webb and Janet Gore were honored in February for their continued commitment to gifted children, their families, and educators. Read more.
RESOURCES. We just discovered two troves of resources that might be of interest to those in the 2e community. One is from the Australian Gifted Support Center; it offers a database of research on gifted education; from that same page you may also choose "Useful references" and "Internet links." The second site is at the Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development at the University of Connecticut; find the resources there.

AND FINALLY, THIS. It could be that even when we're awake, parts of our brains are really asleep, leading to poor performance. Read more. 

Neurosurgery, a Weighty Tome on Giftedness, Neuroeducation, and Outdoor Kindergarten

SURGERY FOR OCD, TOURETTE'S. An article in The New York Times covered the use of brain surgery to treat conditions such as OCD, Tourette's, and depression. The surgery may involve destroying tissue using implanted wires, modulating brain circuits using deep brain stimulation, or destroying tissue using radiation from a "gamma knife." The surgeries are relatively infrequent -- about 500 over the last decade, and only on patients with severely disabling disorders which no other treatment had resolved. The article describes the plights and treatments of two patients, one who was helped and one who wasn't. Find the article.

interviewed the editor of a volume by that title, Larisa INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK ON GIFTEDNESS. EdNews.org's Michael ShaughnessyShavinia, who describes the work and why she decided to create it. The Handbook consists of 78 chapters by 118 authors in over 1500 pages. Also impressive: the price tag, at $479. Out of the 78 chapters, only three apparently deal with 2e; those are in a section called "Twice-Exceptional Gifted Individuals and Suicide-Related Issues." Read the interview. See the table of contents.

NEUROEDUCATION: LEARNING, ARTS, AND THE BRAIN. Earlier this year, Johns Hopkins University held a summit of that title for researchers and educators exploring the convergence of neuroscientific research, teaching, and learning, with emphasis on the arts. The Dana Foundation has made available a document that contains the keynote address by Jerome Kagan, an executive summary of the summit, and transcripts of panel discussions. You may order a print copy from the Foundation, or you may download a 120-page PDF of the document.

A WALDORF FOREST KINDERGARTEN. Ever think your young, bright, inquisitive child wasn't getting enough time outdoors? Check out a New York Waldorf School that offers a "forest kindergarten," where children 3 1/2 to 6 years old spend three hours outside every school day. Read The New York Times article for a nice look at what teachers and students think of the venture.

September 6th

NO MORE MULTI-PART POSTS EACH WEEK. From now on, we'll just post two or three times a week in separate posts.

IT'S STILL SUMMER, according to Wrightslaw. At least, their "Summer School for Advocates" is still in session. The most recent edition of Special Ed Advocate (Part 5 and the conclusion of Summer School) features "action strategies for advocates helping children with disabilities." Find it.

MORE ON ADVOCACY. If you find yourself involved at school because your 2e child has an IEP, you might be interested in advice in the National Examiner: Always tape IEP meetings. Find out why.

DO YOUR BEST, PARENTS OF GIFTED KIDS. Apparently the impact of positive parenting can last for generations. That's the conclusion of a study done at Oregon State University on three generations of families. Negative parenting showed up in negative behaviors in children and, when those children grew up, negative and inconsistent parenting on their kids. Read more.

SPORTS, HIGH ACHIEVERS, AND LD. A back-up quarterback for the NFL San Francisco 49ers has an LD similar to dyslexia that challenges his ability to learn from the playbook and textual materials. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, teams were hesitant to sign him because of his LD. Read the article.

TETRIS IS GOOD FOR YOU? A study of adolescent girls showed that those who played Tetris 30 minutes a day developed greater brain efficiency and a thicker cortex. Some of the changes remain unexplained to the researchers. Read about it.

FROM DAVIDSON INSTITUTE. Just a reminder to teachers that the DITD website has "The Educator's Guild," and, given the institute's mission, there are plenty of resources for educators of gifted children. Find it here.

MORE TEACHER RESOURCES. A press release about Thinkfinity.org, a Verizon-sponsored site for teachers, notes that the site contains 154 new free online educational resources for the new school year. Two of the new resources are from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History; in another, students apply text messaging to the character Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye. Find Thinkfinity.

BOOKS FOR GIFTED KIDS. In the early days of 2e Newsletter, Judith Halsted contributed columns on books for young, gifted readers. Her book Some of My Best Friends Are Books has just been updated in a third edition. Read EdNews.org's Michael Shaughnessy's take on it here.

PRIVATE, PUBLIC -- WHICH IS HARDER? A young woman who was a straight-A student in the Fairfax County, Virginia, public schools transferred to a private boarding school in 10th grade. According to an article in Virginia's Connection, the young woman discovered that "I really didn't know how to study" before. What's the difference between the well-regarded Fairfax and Montgomery County schools and this private school? What are the advantages to gifted students of such a private school? Find out.

DOES SCHOOL BORE YOUR CHILD? Washington Post columnist Valerie Strauss covers the work of cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham on the biological and cognitive bases of learning. According to the columnist, Willingham, in his book Why Don't Student's Like School?, contends that students' brains will give up on problems that are too hard -- or too easy. He also takes issue with several beliefs commonly held by parents and educators: that everyone has a preferred learning style (visual, auditory, kinesthetic); that critical thinking trumps learning facts (kids need both, according to the scientist); and that making content relevant to learners increases interest (we'd have to find out more before we'd agree with this). Find the column.

NEXT POSTING: soon...

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...