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From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

LD IN COLLEGE: ADVANTAGE? That's the thesis put forth by a writer for U.S. News. The rationale:
  • Colleges look for diversity. [And 2e kids are certainly diverse!]
  • Knowing about an LD may help the college put other application factors in perspective.
The author offers advice on how to present the learning disability during the admissions process, and offers questions to help ascertain whether the school can properly accommodate an LD. Parents of college-bound 2e kids will be interested in this article. Read it. 
2e FRANCISCANS? The New York Times' Dan Barry profiled identical twins who, long ago, became Franciscan brothers and were inseparable for most of their lives; they died recently, on the same day, at age 92. According to Barry, the brothers were workers, not scholars, at St. Bonaventure University in New York, and considered shy, obedient, and guileless. Apparently bright and observant as youngsters, says Barry, the brothers did not do well in school and may have been dyslexic. Read the article to find out, however, what the twins were able to teach their better-educated superiors as the years went on. 
A CANADIAN COMEDIAN recently discussed his mental health issues (AD/HD and OCD) at the Banff World Media Festival. Howie Mandel described what it was like growing up with the disorders and how they have affected his career. Read the article. 
AUTISM AND GENETICS. Scientific American has pubished an article titled "Autism's Tangled Genetics Full of Rare and Varied Mutations." The article describes recent studies and the complexity of the genetic component of autism. Read more. 
THE GIFTED DEVELOPMENT CENTER has issued its June newsletter, featuring its Director of Research Frank Falk, a speech by Annemarie Roeper, and reflections on the 1st International Symposium on Adult Giftedness. Read it. 
GOT A GIFTED KID WHO LIKES TO WRITE? Maybe he or she should be a member of the Scholastic Kid Press Corp, kids 10 to 14. Read about one such reporter. 
WORKING MEMORY TRAINING may help kids who need it, facilitating problem-solving skills and abstract reasoning. Read more. 
AND FINALLY, THIS. June 13-19 is Gifted Awareness Week in New Zealand. Find out more at the website of the New Zealand Association for Gifted Children.

From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY BLOG. A gifted young man who has dyslexia has established a blog to inform others about technology which may assist in reading and writing. Included are reviews of hardware and software. Begun last week, the blog already has 18 informative posts. Check it out. 
EXERCISE AND ADDERALL -- those are the two things that 674 people at CureTogether say are most popular and most effective as treatments. Apparently least effective for this group: Strattera and Wellbutrin. Find the report. CureTogether is a site where patients with any of 500 conditions may share with others information on their particular condition and treatment.
2e RESOURCES. The Lang School has posted on Facebook a list of resources for those in the 2e community. Check it out to see if they offer resources you might find useful.(Thanks, Micaela!)
SHOULD YOU SCREEN YOUR TODDLER FOR AUTISM? A new report suggests a couple downsides to early screening. The tests might not  be that accurate, for starters. And they apparently may lead to false positives up to 25 percent of the time, leading parents to believe their child has autism when that's not the case. Read more.
BOOKS AND BOYS. Reading is good for boys, in the sense that it can help develop reading skills, an area where boys may lag girls. But reading may not be perceived as "cool," according to an article in the Chicago Tribune, and may compete poorly with other activities more favored by boys, especially during the summer. The article offers ways to encourage summertime reading by boys. Find the article.
THE LEAD SAYS IT ALL: "Some 2 million Americans adolescents experienced a bout of major depression last year, but only about a third of them got any help in dealing with the sadness, irritability,  anxiety, guilt and loss of interest and energy that are the hallmarks of such episodes, a report says." If you have a teen at risk for depression, read the article.
SUMMERTIME BOREDOM can be an opportunity for creativity, says the author of a book on "dialed-down parenting" who recommends that a child's life be one-third busy time, one-third creative time, and one-third down-time. The author suggests that allowing a child to "dwell in the Land of What-to-Do" will soon result in self-generated, imaginative activity. Seems that this advice should surely apply to those gifted kids you know.  Read more.
EIDE BLOG POST REVISTED. A printout of an Eide Neurolearning Blog posting from January of 2009 somehow resurfaced on our desk, and it's titled in part "A Brain-based Framework for Understanding Twice Exceptional People." The post covers general characteristics of 2e students (intellectual strengths and deficits, along with social-emotional concerns), notes familial influences on the development of 2e traits, and points to research on asynchronous development (eg in prefrontal cortical thickness) in high-IQ youngsters. Read this blog post.
AND FINALLY, THIS. The U.S. government has released figures on the cost of raising a child from birth to age 18. A child born in 2010 to a middle-income family will cost $226,920 -- and that's without college. Expenses vary by geographic region, family type, and family income. And how might the child-rearing budget be different for families in the 2e community? Think "medications," "counseling," "private schools," and so forth; you know the affected household budget categories. Read more; if  you're interested in the details, find the government report.

From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

JAY MATHEWS, education writer for the Washington Post, profiles a Loudoun County, Virginia, public magnet school for science. Serving gifted high-school students, the Loudoun Academy of Science uses innovative curricula and top-notch faculty to deliver an outstanding educational experience. Read more. 
NPR ON AUTISM. The program Science Friday for today included a segment titled "Gene Mutations Offer Clues on the Austistic Brain," in which program guests discussed some of the latest science on autism and its treatment. Find the program.
AD/HD AND THE BRAIN. Recent research has shown structural brain differences in preschoolers with AD/HD. Evidently the caudate nucleus, associated with cognitive and motor control, is smaller in children with AD/HD than in children without. Find out more.
VSL WEBINAR. StarJump and the Australian Gifted Support Center have scheduled a one-hour webinar on June 22 titled "An Introducation to Visual Spatial Thinking and Learning." Directed at parents of bright children who may not learn conventionally or who may be having difficulties at school, the webinar costs AUS$30 and begins at 7:30pm NSW time. Find out more. 
EDUCATIONAL CHATS ON TWITTER. There are lots of them, and "Cybrary Man," evidently a New York City educator, has compiled a listing of the chats, their hashtags, and descriptions. Find it. (We found this referenced in Jo Freitag's list of "interesting websites" in her latest Gifted Resources newsletter.)