Education Learning Issues

IQ FROM 67 TO OFF THE CHARTS. The Capital Times, of Madison Wisconsin, carried a story about a young man diagnosed as autistic at age 2. As a toddler, he scored 67 on an IQ test. Thanks to attention from his family, however, and the therapists and program at the Wisconsin Early Autism Project, the young man is now a fifth grader who "sets the academic bar high in his classroom," is at at the top of the game in Wisconsin math competitions, is school chess champion, and is "an excellent musician with perfect pitch." Read about the program he participated in as a pre-schooler, along with how his teachers since then have helped.

EARLY COLLEGE INITIATIVE. Michael Shaugnhessey interviews Michael Webb, an advocate for early admission to college as an approach to high school reform. Schools participating in the initiative blend high school and college academics and compress the time it takes to both graduate from high school and complete the first two years of college. According to Webb, there are now 212 participating schools which serve more than 46,000 students. If you're looking to challenge that gifted or 2e learner you know, read the interview.

UNWRAPPING THE GIFTED. Tamara Fisher has posted on summer learning activities for high-ability kids. See her choices.

LD IN COLLEGE. Read about the experiences of a young woman with AD/HD who attends Landmark College, and how learning can be difficult. The young woman has a coach, and has learned "how to make school work for her." Find the story.

EDUTOPIA, in a recent email, highlighted two of its discussion groups, which have, over the past months, accumulated lots of posts and (presumably) lots of shared knowledge. One group is on differentiated instruction; the other is on learning styles and multiple intelligences. If those topics are of interest to you as a teacher of gifted or 2e kids, check out the groups.

AP VERSUS IB. If the debate over the merits of those respective programs is meaningful to you, read Jay Mathews' recent column on the topic.

"HE JUST NEEDS TO WORK HARDER." It's not dyslexia. That's what a mother in Florida kept hearing as her bright young son went through his first years of school. Finally she arranged private testing that revealed the indicators of dyslexia, and she began tutoring her son in reading, improving his abilities, improving his grades, and improving his scores on state standardized reading tests to their highest level. Mom is now a certified dyslexia tutor and dyslexia testing specialist, according to her column in the Lakeland (Florida) Ledger. Her son has presumably stopped proclaiming that school is stupid and that he is stupid. Read the article.

NATIONAL PARENTING GIFTED CHILDREN WEEK is coming up -- the week of July 19-25, as a matter for fact. Find out more at SENG or at NAGC. Both sites suggest ways you can use the designation to increase awareness of gifted children and their education -- ways like, say, mentioning the week on your blog. :)

UNWRAPPING THE GIFTED, Tamara Fisher's blog, contains a lengthy post from July 8th in which Fisher addresses the issue of twice exceptionality and then interviews a long-time gifted friend who has mild cerebral palsy. Find it. (Fisher also mentions 2e Newsletter as a resource, along with eight other links.)

NOTHING TO DO WITH 2e but still interesting. An article in Science Daily describes how neuroscientists have located where fear is stored in the brain -- in lab rats, anyway. Turns out that a form of brain imaging indicates that "the basolateral nucleus in the region of the brain called the of amygdala [is] the place where fear conditioning is encoded." Read the article.

BOOKS FOR KIDS was the topic of a recent New York Times column by Nicolas Kristof, where he offered his list of best children's books ever. He followed up on his blog with recommendations from "some real experts on children's literature" -- his kids -- who provided more recommendations. But then Kristof invited readers to submit their recommendations. He apparently has a bibliophilic following -- as we write this posting, over 2,500 readers had responded with their favorites. Find the recommendations.

THE IDEA FAIRNESS RESTORATION ACT will, according to Wrightslaw, help parents recover expert witness fees in due process hearings and litigation. Wrightslaw urges those potentially affected by this legislation to call their representative on July 9th, tomorrow. More information for the activists and advocates in the 2e community.

NEUROEDUCATION -- a combination of neuroscience, psychology, and education -- is moving "close to prime time as researchers gain a more sophisticated understanding of how young minds develop and learn," says an article at the Dana Foundation site. Findings from the field are influencing how classes are organized and taught. The article notes that research into specific conditions, such as dyslexia, can lead to insights that help everyone learn. The article includes examples of recent applications of "neuroeducation." Find the article.

ARE GIFTED CHILDREN BORN OR MADE? That's the question addressed by a brief article on Voice of America's website. The article focuses on talented musicians. Find it.

FREE GIFTED/TALENTED EDUCATION SEMINARS. The University of California at Irvine offers free, web-based seminars on a variety of GATE topics, including relating to gifted youngsters, differentiation, the parent/teacher connection, and IQ testing. Go here to read a press release. Find the seminars here.

COLLEGE AT 12. The New York Times covered the college experience so far of 12-year-old Colin Carlson, who attends the University of Connecticut full time. He had actually been attending classes at the university since age 8. Colin lives at home and commutes, but carries a full class load. The writer says of Colin that he "looks like a young Woody Allen, but with better social skills." Read the article.

ELITISM? Also in the New York Times this past Sunday was a review of the book Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality, by Charles Murray. Murray, according to the review, thinks that it's impossible to raise academic ability and that most children -- 80 percent -- should not go on to college. The title of the review is, "Just Leave Them Behind." Read the review.

VIDEO GAMES AND BEHAVIOR. Regular child and adolescent violent video game use early in the school year predicted later aggressive behavior in both the U.S. and Japan, according to a new study from the American Academy of Pediatrics. According to the AAP, researchers monitored the behavior of more than 1,200 students in Japan, ages 12 to 18, and 364 U.S. students, ages 9 to 12. The study results were similar: habitual violent video game play early in the school year predicted later aggression. The more the children played violent video games, the more physically aggressive they became. The AAP website is here.

THE FLIP SIDE OF VIDEO GAMES. The latest "Trend and 'Tudes" survey from Harris Interactive finds that four in five youth say they play sports at least once a week. (We'd bet that video game play is much more than that, both in frequency and duration.) The survey also includes data on organized sports participation. Read the survey.

MAY YOUR FAMILY'S DIAGNOSISTIC PROCESS BE QUICKER THAN THIS. ABC News published the story of 29-year-old Jason Ross, who over the decades was successively diagnosed with speech delay, AD/HD, psychosis not otherwise specified, and OCD. In a multi-year detour, he was thought to be schizophrenic; here's how is mother tells that story in the article: "You'd say, 'Do you hear voices?' and he'd say, 'Yes' ... It took three or four years until he got that the question was, 'Is it in your mind, or is it other people on the street?'" Ross was finally diagnosed at age 25 with Asperger's. He has graduated from college and works as a cardiovascular technician. Read the article.

GOT A SMART 10TH-GRADER? Do you think he or she should be allowed to take exams to earn immediate entrance to community college or technical school? New Hampshire does -- the state, according to Time Magazine, will allow students to skip the last two years of high school should they wish, based on passing a set of state exams. Those interested in attending more challenging universities may finish the final two years and take a different, more rigorous set of tests. The exams have yet to be developed. Read the article.

NOW IT'S TV THAT CAUSES AUTISM -- at least, according to a study of rainfall records in three western states. Actually, the link is only with the number of rainy or snowy days, on which children are presumed to watch more TV. Scientists recommend further study and replication. Read the article.

BIKING TO CHILE. That's the mission of Tyson Minck, a dyslexic college student at Western Washington University, who qualified for a $15,000 Adventure Learning Grant to "study and travel abroad for 10 months, learn from that community and bring that knowledge back to the [college] community," according to the school's website. An article in today's WWU student newspaper gives some perspective on the trip and its impact on Minck. Read it.