Latest Posts

LDs AT HARVARD. Most of us would admit that Harvard University students are likely to be pretty bright. But, like students everywhere, some of them have LDs and other conditions that affect academic performance. And, like other universities, Harvard has an office that helps those students succeed. An article in the Harvard Crimson profiles some of the 250 students who take advantage of the office. Read the article. Separately, the Monterey County Herald highlighted several area colleges that "enable the disabled"; find the article. 
NAGC CONFERENCE COMING UP. The annual convention of the National association for Gifted Children takes place Novembef 11-14 in Atlanta, Georgia. The audience consists primarily of educators, but the conference also features a Parent Day. Plenty of sessions usually are relevant to raising and teaching twice-exceptional children. More information.
DAVIDSON INSTITUTE. The 2010 Davidson Fellows received their awards in a ceremony in Washington, DC, in September. In her blog "Gifted Exchange," Laura Vanderkam profiles some of the Fellows. The Institute has also announced that applications for 2011 Davidson Fellows Scholarshipse are available, as are applications for the 2011 THINK Summer Institute. Find out more at the Institute site.

ALMOST CAUGHT UP... Which is a good thing, because the November briefing will come out in a few days, and items in the briefing will come from this month's blog posts. Read on...
UP AND RUNNING: THE LANG SCHOOL. Micaela Bracamonte's new private school for 2e students 6 to 11 was featured in an article at dnainfo.com recently. Bracamonte, who has documented her thoughts on 2e education in a recent article for 2e Newsletter, currently hosts 13 children. Find out more.
ATTENTION RESEARCH UPDATE. David Rabiner's latest issue is online, and the topic is "friendship quality in children with AD/HD." Rabiner discusses a study that showed, overall, that friendships of children who have AD/HD are of lower quality. Read more about the results and the implications.
WRIGHTSLAW. The most recent edition of Special Ed Advocate contains another chunk of information on assistive technology -- strategies for negotiating about it with the school, how to include it in an IEP, and a success story. Find the newsletter.
ELECTRONIC READERS AND READING PROBLEMS. Education Week covers the pros and cons of e-readers (eg, Kindle, iPad) for students with dyslexia and other reading disabilities. If your bright student has reading difficulties, check out the article.
PRECOCIOUS AND DYSLEXIC. That's the subject of an article in the Arizona Republic about a young boy who as falling behind in his early grades, then diagnosed with severe dyslexia. He overcame many issues with the help of a reading-intervention therapist, and now, at 14, enjoys reading, art, and guitar, according to the article. Read more.

STILL BEHIND but catching up. Here are today's offerings from recent new reports, resources, and websites concerning giftedness, LDs, child development, parenting, and teaching. 
TURNING AD/HD INTO A BOOK. A writer/reporter in California has written a book about AD/HD, her son, and herself. NPR highlighted the book and published an excerpt. Find it.
POLLING ABOUT LDs. A poll taken earlier this year of 1000 adults shows misconceptions about learning disabilities, according to an article in Education Week. For example, most people consider AD/HD to be a learning disability, although it's not. Read more.
EDUCATOR'S RESOURCE. Edutopia offers a free resource guide on strengthening the connection between school and families. Find the "Home to School Connections Guide" at the Edutopia site.
RADICAL ACCELERATION. The Daily Herald, a Chicagoland newspaper, carried an article focusing on several profoundly gifted young people and the way they was accelerated in their education, culminating in some cases in early admission to college. Read the article.
DIAGNOSIS VIA MRI. Two recent news items concerned  the use of MRIs to diagnose various second exceptionalities. One article covered a study that used MRIs to differentiate AD/HD and bipolar disorder; the other covered a study using MRIs to diagnose autism.
RICK RIORDAN ON READING. The author of the Percy Jackson series reflects in a Wall Street Journal blog about four things he's learned about helping children with learning challenges become lifelong readers. The Percy Jackson series began as bedtime stories for Riordan's AD/HD and dyslexic son, now 16. Read the blog.
ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY. Wrightslaw has added to its site a page on assistive technolololgy. The October 19th edition of Special Ed Advocate offers several articles on the topic. If your gifted/LD child needs AT, find out more about the topic.
NEW BOOK ON DIFFERENTIATION. Minnesota educator Richard Cash is interviewed in EdNews.org about his new book Advancing Differentiation, published by Free Spirit Press. In the interview, Cash also touches on topics such as a longer school year, learning styles, and heterogeneous classrooms. Find the interview.