Latest Posts

ON EDUCATION. The results of an international, standardized test of 15-year-olds in 65 countries is a wake-up call for the US -- and an affirmation of the dedication to educators and education in other countries, especially China, Korea, Finland, Singapore, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, and dozens of other countries outscoring the US. Read more -- and wonder what kind of education your gifted or twice-exceptional child is getting.

HAVE YOU USED NEUROFEEDBACK? In conjunction with an upcoming issue, 2e Newsletter would like to hear from members of the twice-exceptional community who have tried neurofeedback to deal with learning challenges in their gifted children, especially those with attention issues. Whether your experiences were positive or negative, tell us more. 

WRIGHTSLAW, in the newest edition of Special Ed Advocate, provides answers to common questions about services and accommodations for children with AD/HD. Find it.

CYBERTHERAPY. We recently blogged about some applications of cybertherapy, the use of computers and simulations to treat mental or behavioral issues. Today, the Tufts Daily ran an article providing additional information on the topic. Read it.

EDUTOPIA. The December 8th edition of this e-newsletter covered, among other things, brain-based learning -- along with some caveats, calling some published advice wrong, useless, or not based in neuroscience. The article highlights some myths... and some things that work. Find the issue.
 
ASTROLOGY HAS A BASIS? The scientists call it "seasonal biology," but a study has shown that there is evidence for seasonal imprinting of biological clocks in mammals. That imprinting, in turn, could help explain why people born in winter months are more at risk for seasonal affective disorder syndrome, bipolar depression, and schizophrenia, according to a report of the study. Read more. (What does this have to do with twice-exceptionality? Not much. But we thought you, O Gifted One, would find it interesting.)
 
SMART KIDS WITH LDs. Wrightslaw points out to us that this organization's 2011 Youth Achievement Award is now open for nominations. Read more and find an application here.
 
LOOKING FOR A GIFT for a teacher who has helped your gifted/LD child? Consider one of the booklets in the 2e Newsletter "Spotlight on 2e" series of booklets. One directed specifically at educators is Understanding Your Twice-exceptional Student. Another is The Mythology of Learning: Understanding Common Myths about 2e Learners. Find out more.

NEW YORK RESOURCE. Melissa Sornik, one of the founders of the group Long Island Twice-Exceptional Children's Advocacy (LI-TECA), now offers a variety of services to New York-area families with 2e children: individual and family coaching, social skills training, parent support groups, and workshops. Sornik is a licensed master social worker (LMSW) and a certified SENG model parent support group facilitator. She may be reached at 516.724.7100 or by email.
FOR YOUNG, GIFTED LITERATI. A new website, Figment.com, is aimed at young people who like to read and write fiction; the site allows collaboration and feedback. Founded by a former managing editor of The New Yorker, the site is seen as a way for publishers to find young talent and also to expose readers to published authors through book excerpts. The site went live today, December 6th.
FOR THE LITERATE YOU. Google Books opened its e-bookstore today. It offers access to millions of free books and hundreds of thousands for sale. A search for "twice-exceptional" brought up 11 books (none free), including titles by Barbara Probst, Renzulli and Reiss, and Carol Kranowitz. Prices are expected to be competitive with other online e-booksellers.
GLOBAL VIRTUAL MEETINGS FOR GIFTED EDUCATION. Through Jo Freitag, we discovered that there have been three global virtual meetings concerning gifted education, all taking place in SecondLife, and presented by the Bavarian Center for Gifted and Talented Children. The first one covered "Solution Oriented Therapy for Gifted Children." The third meeting, titled "Gifted Children and the Future Problem Solving Program International," is viewable on YouTube.  To attend, one creates an avatar in SecondLife, registers the avatar's name with the conference organizers, and participates online using a headset. According to Freitag in December's Gifted Resources Newsletter, the next conference, on January 29, 2011, features Deborah Ruf on gifted underachievement. Find more information here.

LD GOES TO COLLEGE. US News provides eight steps for students with LDs who want to attend college: Start preparing early; experiment with technology; be creative; put the student in charge; and four more. Find the article. (The article says that 3 percent of teens are diagnosed with LDs, a figure that sounds low to us.)
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION WEBINAR. Compass Learning is offering a complimentary, one-hour, on-demand webinar on differentiated instruction. You may find more information and register here.
WAR: OPHTHALMOLOGY VERSUS DEVELOPMENTAL OPTOMETRY. We've run articles in 2e Newsletter about developmental optometry and the use of vision therapy for reading problems. In the second of two articles in the St. Louis Beacon, titled "Ophthalmologists express skepticism about vision therapy," you can get a look at what appears to be a dispute between two professional organizations concerning the use of vision therapy. Find it. Read the first article, the one presenting the point of view of developmental optometrists, here.
BOOK DEAL. Until December 10, Prufrock Press offers 20 percent off the cover price of Beverly Trail's new book Twice-Exceptional Gifted Children. Find out more.
AUTISM MARKER? Yale School of Medicine researchers may have found a fMRI pattern that could characterize a predisposition to ASD. The study included kids 4 to 17, and discovered three distinct "neural signatures. Read more.
SOCIETY FOR NEUROSCIENCE MEETING HIGHLIGHTS. Glen Close and Representative Patrick Kennedy both addressed the annual meeting on the topics (respectively) of the stigma of mental illness and brain research. You may view their presentations here.
PARADE MAGAZINE ON TEEN BRAINS. Last Sunday, Parade ran an article characterizing the teen brain and why it's like it is -- and what we can do about it. Find it.
CULTURAL NEUROSCIENCE is the topic of a podcast and brief article at the Scientific American site. Neural responses to similar situations differ across cultures. For example: "Scientists found that when American subjects viewed a silhouette in a dominant posture (standing up, arms crossed) their brain’s reward circuitry sparked. Not so for Japanese subjects. For the Japanese, their reward circuitry fired when they saw a submissive silhouette (head down, arms at sides)." Find out more.     
FOLLOWUP ON CYBERTHERAPY. A Scientific American writer comments on a New York Times article we blogged about recently concerning therapy by machine.The writer brings up the "Dodo effect," which (if you're heavily into therapies) you can read about here.
STUDY IN SPAIN, FLY FOR FREE. But the offer is restricted, of course. It applies to high school students enrolling in a particular Spanish-language immersion program and flying from Los Angeles to Madrid on Iberia Airlines. The deal is supposedly to mark the resumption of non-stop service by Iberia between the two cities. None-the-less, if your bright young person happens to need to learn Spanish next summer, check it out. 
APP FOR HEALTH CARE. An emergency-room physician has developed an app for iPhones that helps parents track various aspects of a child's care, helping to coordinate providers, keep food diaries, provide medication alerts, schedule appointments, record therapists' recommendations, chart sleep habits, and more. Originally developed to help the physician's wife care for their autistic child, the free app may help manage a variety of chronic conditions. Find out more.
LITERATE AND DYSPRAXIC. A young woman in the UK who has strengths in written and verbal communication writes about her dyspraxia, a condition characterized by difficulties in motor coordination which can also manifest itself with other challenges. Read more.