| The Email Briefing from 2e Newsletter Items of interest for those who raise, educate, and counsel high-ability kids with learning challenges |
Welcome to this edition of our complimentary email briefing for newsletter subscribers and others with an interest in twice-exceptional children -- children who are gifted and have LDs, learning difficulties that go by many names. These semi-monthly email briefings are a supplement to our bi-monthly, subscription-based electronic publication 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter. (See sample copies.) Feel free to forward this briefing to others with an interest in raising, teaching, or helping 2e children. |
| DYSLEXIA BOOKLET OUT. The 10th booklet in our "Spotlight on 2e Series" is titled The Twice-exceptional Child with Dyslexia, and it's available now. It includes chapters on the blend of dyslexia and giftedness, raising a 2e child with dyslexia, and educating such a kiddo. Also included: four pages of resources for helping these children reach their potential. Find out more. |
Giftedness, LDs, and Twice-exceptionality in the News WHAT IF your twice-exceptional child's anxiety-induced movements are interpreted by his school as sexual in nature? What if the school contacts the state's child protection services, hinting at abuse by the family? Sounds like a nightmare -- and for one family in New Jersey it was. Read the story.
DO YOU KNOW of many -- or any -- child psychiatrists in your area? A paucity in that specialty is prompting one child psychiatrist to tour the country training pediatricians and other medical providers how to assess mental health issues -- including ADHD. Accentuating the problem of pediatricians' diagnoses of ADHD is that those doctors may receive only a few hours of training during med school and residency. Read more about how this touring shrink is hoping to change practice. (Factoid in this article: up to 20 percent of boys will receive a diagnosis of ADHD.)
"DYSLEXIA" A MEANINGLESS TERM? That's the contention of a new book, The Dyslexia Debate. A piece at FoxNews.com says that the problem is that the blanket term covers multiple problems and multiple symptoms, so an intervention that might work for one child won't work for another. (The authors of the book do not deny that reading problems exist.) Read more.
TO WORRY ABOUT, 1. Older dads -- say, 45 or more -- are more likely to have kids who develop mental health issues such as ADHD, bipolar disorder, ASD, and schizophrenia, according to research reported in The New York Times. While expert reviewers say that it's a good study, they caution that the vast majority of births will be fine, and that the study needs replication. Read more.
TO WORRY ABOUT, 2. Handling store receipts on thermal paper can raise the levels of BPA in the body. BPA affects neurodevelopment in children and reproductive function in adults. Particularly at risk may be cashiers. Find out more.
YOU KNEW THIS. Apparently, we remember things much better when we see them or touch them than when we hear them. The implication? "The brain may process auditory information differently than visual and tactile information, and alternative strategies -- such as increased mental repetition -- may be needed when trying to improve memory," according to one of the study authors. Read more to find out how the researchers replicated what you knew from years of giving oral directions to your child, student, or spouse. EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION -- will its expansion over the next few years bring about an epidemic of newly-diagnosed ADHD in preschoolers? That's the concern expressed in The New York Times by a couple of op-ed contributors, both professors at UC/Berkeley and co-authors of the book The ADHD Explosion. Got a toddler? Read more.
PYSCHCENTRAL. An article at this site notes that fears of overdiagnosis of ADHD are irrelevant if your child actually has ADHD, and offers five tips for parents: keep the rules clear; watch boundaries; be consistent; have a homework time; and keep treatment appointments. Want to read more? Find the article.
GENETICS AND MEDIA? In a recent study, researchers found that children who had a specific variant of a serotonin-transporter gene consumed more violent media and displayed more ADHD-related behaviors. The researchers contend that "children's violent media use is partly influenced by genetic factors." Read more (but not much more) at Science Daily.
GIFTED PROGRAMS. A writer in the student newspaper at Washington College offers her perspective on being placed in a gifted program in 7th grade. She dropped out, with reservations about the selection process and the quality of the enrichment being offered. She also reflects on the "special snowflake syndrome," writing, "An IQ score is predictive of, but does not determine, success later in life, and it certainly does not make a person 'special.'" She found it "liberating" to no longer think of herself as gifted. Read the essay. THE FUTURE OF DEPRESSION -- depression treatment, that is -- is the topic of an article released by the Loyola University Health System. The article summarizes research done by Loyola doctors and published in the journal Current Psychiatry. According to the article, "Depression treatments on the horizon include new medications, electrical and magnetic stimulation of the brain, and long-term cognitive behavioral therapy for stress management." Read more.
THE POTENTIAL OF GAMES. A blogger at the site of The New York Times writes how neuroscientists are trying to find out what makes games addictive so that games could be used to rewire the brain to improve memory or cognitive function, or to treat ADHD or depression. Sound interesting? Read more.
EARLY COLLEGE? Maybe not the right answer, says a director of SENG. Molly Isaacs-McLeaod poses questions to ask when a young person has exhausted pre-college curriculum opportunities but might not want to start college right away. She includes possible options -- a gap year, an internship, a mentorship, or even local or online college courses. Read more.
ON THE OTHER HAND, Tufts University offers students a "bridge year" of national or international service before starting the traditional college experience. The program is called Tufts 1 + 4. The university says, "Tufts 1+4 will offer interested students who have been accepted for undergraduate admission the option for a transformational experience of national or global service that will also include academic content and teaching of civic and leadership skills." Find out more.
Some of these items came to our attention through LD Online, NCLD, SmartBriefs, and other aggregators. |
From Other Newsletters, Digests, Websites, and Blogs ADDITUDE. SPD 101 is the title of a 9-slide feature at the site of ADDitude, an overview of the definition, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of sensory processing disorder. Find it. Separately, ADDitude also offers a "slideshow" of tips for parenting a defiant child. Got one? Find the tips. CHILD MIND INSTITUTE. Antipsychotics and side effects (including weight gain) is the topic of a video at the site of the Child Mind Institute. Check it out if you have a 2e kid on these meds. Separately, the Institute also has on its site an article about helping girls with ADHD make friends. The writer notes that girls with inattentive ADHD or hyperactive ADHD might both be at a disadvantage in social skills, and offers tips for boosting those skills. Find the article. EDUCATION WEEK is offering a couple "Spotlights" (not to be confused with our "Spotlight on 2e Series") free of charge. One is on personalized learning; the other is on using assessment to measure student learning and growth. Find them GIFTED EDUCATION PRESS QUARTERLY. The spring edition is out. (Maurice Fisher, the publisher, always seems to rush the season, but that's okay because we're ready for spring here in the northern hemisphere.) Articles in the issue cover gifted education in the areas of mathematics (inquiry-based learning); game design (to enhance learning and problem solving); and the music of Aaron Copeland. Find the newsletter. DAVID RABINER reviews a study indicating that behavior therapy can reduce the need for high dosages of medication to relieve symptoms of ADHD. Rabiner's observation: "On virtually all measures, adding high intensity behavior management to the lowest dose of medication yielded comparable improvements to those produced by the high dose medication alone. For a number of measures, even low intensity behavior management combined with the lowest medication dose was as effective as high dose medication." Read more. SENG has scheduled a webinar on March 18th titled "From Worrier to Warrior: How to Help Your Gifted/2e Child Conquer Fear," to be presented by psychologist Dan Peters, author of a book with a similar title. Find out more. |
Still $12 | Our Spotlight on 2e Series booklets Parenting Your Twice-exceptional Child  (for parents) and Understanding Your Twice-exceptional Student (for teachers) are still just $12, even less for paid subscribers to 2e Twice-Exceptional Newsletter. Save even more money with PDF versions of those two booklets. | Find out moreabout these titles and others -- including our newest booklet, The Twice-exceptional Child with Dyslexia -- at our website! |
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