Articles - 2008

Articles, 2008


	May 2008 Contents *The Challenges of Parenting and Educating a Gifted Child with OCD* *Understanding OCD in Children* *Accommodations for Students with OCD* *Resources for Dealing with OCD* *State of Idaho Develops 2e Manual, Training* *An Invitation to SENG’s 25th Anniversary Conference* *Twice-Exceptional Awareness Week* **Esther Sinclair, Training Medical and Law Students in Educational Advocacy** Book Review – Understanding Your Child's Puzzling Behavior AEGUS 2008 in California −April 4 - 6 **AEGUS Coverage − Finding the Keys AEGUS Coverage − Life Between Two Worlds Summer Camp for Your Kid? The Special Needs Project Column: Dear Dr. Sylvia Column: Bob Seney on Books Parents' Perspective Events Letter from the Publishers Only on the Web Conference Coverage: AEGUS 2008** Top of Page		Article Previews Complete articles are available to subscribers in the Subscribers Only area of this website. To order this issue, click here: *The Challenges of Parenting and Educating a Gifted Child with OCD,* by Kathryn Wingrove Parenting a gifted (higher than normal IQ) child is difficult enough, but parenting a gifted child who has obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can be overwhelming. One reason is the lack of information about this combination. *Continued* *Understanding OCD in Children* Questions and answers about obsessive-compulsive disorder *Continued* *Accommodations for Students with OCD* Suggested classroom accommodations that can help students with OCD *Continued.* Top of Page Return to Archives *Resources for Dealing with OCD* A listing of websites, books, and other resources *Continued* State of Idaho Develops 2e Manual, Training, by J. Mark Bade The Idaho State Department of Education is funding and participating in the development of a resource guide for those in the state who teach, raise, and counsel twice-exceptional students, according to Val Schorzman, Gifted/Talented Coordinator for the Department. *Continued* *An Invitation* *to SENG’s 25th Anniversary Conference, by Linda C. Neumann, 2e Newsletter Editor and Member of the SENG Board of Directors* SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) is planning a celebration and you’re invited! The event is in honor of the organization’s 25th anniversary and takes place in Salt Lake City, Utah, from July 18 through 20. *View entire article...* *Twice-Exceptional Awareness Week* Got a cause? There’s probably been a month, a week, or a day declared for it – like National Heart Month, for example. Now, thanks to Beth Busby, the city of Colorado Springs has “Twice-Exceptional Awareness Week.” *Continued* Top of Page Return to Archives Esther Sinclair, Training Medical and Law Students in Educational Advocacy Esther Sinclair, PhD, is a licensed educational psychologist and a faculty member at UCLA. Her area of specialty is advocating for appropriate education for children with special needs, including gifted and twice-exceptional children. *Continued* Book Review – Understanding Your Child's Puzzling Behavior: A Guide for Parents of Children with Behavioral, Social, and Learning Challenges, reviewed by Linda C. Neumann In his new book, Understanding Your Child’s Puzzling Behavior, licensed child clinical psychologist Steven Curtis issues this caution: Be wary of quick answers and quick fixes when looking for the cause of a child’s puzzling behavior. *Continued* *AEGUS 2008 in California −April 4 - 6* The Association for the Education of Gifted Underachieving Students (AEGUS) sponsored their annual conference at the Universal City Hilton. *Continued* Top of Page Return to Archives *AEGUS* Coverage − Finding the Keys: Meeting the Challenges of Advocating for and Supporting the Twice-Exceptional Child Elizabeth Abeel began her AEGUS session with a demonstration....The point she was making? Don’t underestimate the need for people to do things in their own way rather than the way we think they should. *Continued* *AEGUS* Coverage − Life Between Two Worlds: The Social and Emotional Experience of the 2e Child As a young woman who grew up with extreme strengths and extreme deficits, Samantha Abeel had many personal experiences to share with the audience during her AEGUS session. *Continued* *Summer Camp for Your Kid?* While kids are getting antsy in anticipation of those long weeks of freedom ahead, parents may be getting frantic wondering how to keep them happily occupied during the summer months. If you’re still searching for a summer camp or program, here are some camps to consider and some resources that might help. *Continued* *The Special Needs Project* Searching for information on a particular disability? Try the Special Needs Project. This online bookstore specializes in developmental disabilities – “everything,” a statement on the website says, “from mental to physical disabilities.” *Continued* Top of Page Return to Archives *Column: Dear Dr. Sylvia* What to do about a distracted, disorganized son? Find out what Dr. Sylvia Rimm has to say. *View entire article...* **Column: Bob Seney on Books – Percy Jackson and the Olympians** In my last column, we visited a new and extremely fun series of books: Rick Riordan‘s Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I think that Riordan, a San Antonio author and father of children with learning disabilities, really has something going here. *View entire article...* *Parents' Perspective:* *Life in a Gifted, OCD Family* You might say that Monica has some experience with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). She’s raised two boys, one with OCD and Tourette’s Syndrome, the other profoundly gifted with OCD. Plus, her former husband has OCD as well. *View entire article...* *Reader’s Letter on California Homeschooling* In the Parents’ Perspective column in our March/April issue, Joan Affenit cprovided her point of view on the placement dilemma confronting families with 2e kids. Then, homeschooler and Director of the Gifted Homeschoolers Forum Corin Barsily Goodwin checked in with her views on the matter. Read Goodwin’s take on California’s judicial and legislative situation and Affenit’s response. *Continued* I Believe but Cannot Prove..., by Alison Gopnik I believe, but cannot prove, that babies and young children are actually more conscious, more vividly aware of their external world and internal life, than adults are. I believe this because there is strong evidence for a functional trade-off with development. *Continued* Top of Page Return to Archives

	March 2008 Contents *The Gifted Student with AD/HD* *Study on AD/HD Brain Maturation Raises Questions* *Boredom: A Surpisingly Interesting Subject* *Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children IV* *The WISC-IV, NAGC, and 2e* *Interview: Dennis Higgins* *The Achilles Project, a Program for 2e College Students* *In the News* Resource: The Book Expert Approaches to Support Gifted Learners *Column: Dear Dr. Sylvia* *Parents' Perspective* *Events* *Letter from the Publishers* Top of Page		Article Previews Complete articles are available to subscribers in the Subscribers Only area of this website. To order this issue, click here: The Gifted Student with AD/HD, by Carol Watkins, M.D. The gifted child or adolescent with AD/HD may not fit classical definitions of educationally handicapped or gifted. On one hand, he may be able to use his skills to cover up the AD/HD and, thus, never receive help or guidance. On the other hand, he may be doubly handicapped, the minority within a minority who cannot fit into either accelerated classes or special education settings. *Continued* *Study on AD/HD Brain Maturation Raises Questions* Last November the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health announced the results of a brain imaging study. The study compared the brain maturation process in children with AD/HD and those without AD/HD. The study concluded that in AD/HD kids the brain matures in a normal pattern, just delayed by an average of three years, depending on the region of the brain. The measure of development was the peak thickness of the cortex; after this peak, the cortex thins as the child grows toward adulthood. *Continued* Boredom: A Surprisingly Interesting Subject, by Aimee Yermish “I hate this – it’s so boring!” When a gifted kid isn’t doing well in school, or in any activity, this cry for help is frequently among the first ones we hear. *Continued* Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children IV The fourth edition of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) is appropriate for use as an intelligence test and a diagnostic tool with children from 6 years of age to almost 17 years of age... *Continued* The WISC-IV, NAGC, and 2e, by Linda Kreger Silverman, Ph.D. On January 23, 2008, the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) posted a position statement titled “Use of the WISC-IV for Gifted Identification.” This position statement will greatly benefit 2e children. Essentially, the position statement recommends that the Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) or the Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI) or the General Ability Index (GAI) be considered equivalent with the Full Scale IQ score in selecting students for gifted programs. *Continued* Top of Page Return to Archives *Interview with Dennis Higgins* Many readers who attend conferences on gifted or 2e topics have had the chance to hear Dennis Higgins speak. In the spring of 2007, Higgins was named one of seven winners of a Golden Apple Award in New Mexico. What’s special to us is that Higgins teaches the only program for 2e students in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, public schools (the 27^th largest school district in the United States), accepting students from across the district. *Continued* The Achilles Project, a Program for 2e College Students, by Wendy Eisner, Ph.D. Beginning in the spring of 2007, twice-exceptional students at New York’s Nassau Community College (NCC) became eligible to participate in The Achilles Project. This post-secondary educational program was created by NCC’s 2e Initiative Task Force, a College-wide collaborative effort among administrators and faculty. *Continued* An Interview with Wendy Eisner about the Achilles Project Q: How did you come up with the idea to start the Achilles Project? A: I think that Achilles emerged at the nexus of my various roles in life. First, I am the parent of a twice-exceptional child... *Continued* *In the News: Wired Magazine's "Difference Model" for Autism* Do we celebrate and accept one group’s differences from others’, or do we pathologize them? It’s a question you could apply to many conditions – AD/HD, visual/spatial learning, arguably even giftedness – but today some scientists say that pathologizing may be the wrong way to view autistics. *Continued* Top of Page Return to Archives Resource: The Book Expert Approaches to Support Gifted Learners As one might expect, the California Association for the Gifted does things in a big way. *Continued* *Column: Dear Dr. Sylvia* Find out what Dr. Sylvia Rimm has to say to the parent of a gifted, underachieving boy with AD/HD. *View entire article...* Parents' Perspective: The Placement Perspective, by Joan Affenit This column offers a parent’s perspective. Columnists rotate, each giving their perspective on raising twice-exceptional children. In this issue Joan Affenit describes the choices facing her family regarding schooling. *View entire article...* Top of Page Return to Archives
			January (Issue 26)
	January 2008 Contents *Individual Differences in Learning Association* *IDL Professional Development Training* *Professional Development and 2e* *Learning About 2e* *Website review: The Homeschool Diner* *NAGC Coverage −* **Are Traditional High Schools Toxic to Sensitive, Creative Kids? NAGC Coverage − The Forgotten Few: Meeting the Needs of African-American Twice-exceptional Learners NAGC Coverage − Bullies and the Brain: What Parents Need to Know about Bullying and Their Gifted Child NAGC Coverage − Celebrate the Differences: Creating Understanding, Support, and Advocacy for Your Twice-Exceptional Child Nominate a Valentine “Head and Heart:” 2007 VAGTC Biennial Conference Coverage − Gifted Self-efficacy Bridges Academy and AEGUS Announce 2008 Conference Column: Dear Dr. Sylvia Column: Bob Seney on Books Parents' Perspective Events Letter from the Publishers Only on the Web More Coverage from** the 2007 NAGC Convention Top of Page		Article Previews Complete articles are available to subscribers in the Subscribers Only area of this website. To order this issue, click here: *Individual Differences in Learning Association* In 2001 a small group of parents in Howard County, Maryland, came together out of concern for their children – kids who they saw as having specific gifts and talents but who also had educational and social challenges. The parents felt that there was an urgent need for teacher training and research-based interventions for these “different learners.” *Continued* *IDL Professional Development Training* Try this quiz to see how your answers stack up against the research on homework. *Continued* Professional Development and 2e, by Carol V. Horn, Ed.D. Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in Virginia has made concerted efforts in the past several years to raise teacher, parent, and student awareness of the learning profiles and needs of twice-exceptional (2e) students. *Continued* *Learning About 2e,* by Linda C. Neumann Those who raise and teach twice-exceptional kids are on a common quest – a quest for knowledge. They know that this formula is true: 2e = 3R. The meaning? Understanding twice-exceptional kids takes three times the research – learning about giftedness, learning about learning disabilities/differences, and learning about the combination of the two. *Continued* Top of Page Return to Archives *Website review: The Homeschool Diner,* by J. Mark Bade The welcome page of the Homeschool Diner says it all: “Homeschooling resources – served up with a smile! Here at the Homeschool Diner, you’ll find a full menu of articles, curriculum ideas, and links to online resources. *Continued* *NAGC Coverage −* *Are* Traditional High Schools Toxic to Sensitive, Creative Kids? In this session speakers Bonnie Cramond and Rebecca Nordin presented the findings of a research team that has spent the last year interviewing bright students who have dropped out of high school. *Continued* **NAGC Coverage − The Forgotten Few: Meeting the Needs of African-American Twice-exceptional Learners SaDohl Goldsmith opened her NAGC session with an observation. She noted that while there’s now a growing body of literature on twice-exceptional (2e) students in general, very little of it focuses on African-American 2e students, or on those who have emotional and behavior disturbances. Continued Top of Page Return to Archives NAGC Coverage − Bullies and the Brain: What Parents Need to Know about Bullying and Their Gifted Child In this NAGC session presenter Keri Guilbault shared her experiences as both a gifted/talented teacher and as a bullying specialist. At a large school district in Florida, she implemented a bullying prevention program and saw it change the culture and climate in the schools. Continued NAGC Coverage − Celebrate the Differences: Creating Understanding, Support, and Advocacy for Your Twice-Exceptional Child At the beginning of her session, presenter Cathy Risberg polled the audience to find out whether parents were ready to actually celebrate their 2e children’s differences. Most, it turned out, were not. Continued Nominate a Valentine The national organization SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) urges you to honor an educator who is truly making a difference in the life of a gifted individual. The organization has established a recognition program called The SENG Honor Roll. Continued** Top of Page Return to Archives “Head and Heart:” 2007 VAGTC Biennial Conference Coverage − Gifted Self-efficacy, covered by Sarah Tuckerman Claire Spicer, a dynamic and enthusiastic advocate for gifted children, provided an energizing workshop on gifted self-efficacy in the final session of the VAGTC Conference in Melbourne. Continued *Bridges Academy and AEGUS Announce 2008 Conference* Bridges Academy in Studio City, California, and the Association for the Education of Gifted Underachieving Students (AEGUS) have announced details of the 2008 AEGUS conference. *Continued* *Column: Dear Dr. Sylvia* What can you do when your child feels that being gifted makes her a freak? Find out what Dr. Sylvia Rimm has to say. *View entire article...* **Column: Bob Seney on Books – Percy Jackson and the Olympians In a period of less than two weeks, I received four (4!) recommendations to read Rick Riordan‘s The Lightning Thief (2005, Miramax Books) – two from a mother and son who read it together. The son’s especially excited report was more than enough to send me to the web to place my order. View entire article... Parents' Perspective: Surviving the College Application Process, by Allison La Rosa This column offers a parent’s perspective. Columnists rotate, each giving their perspective on raising twice-exceptional children. In this issue Allison La Rosa describes her family's encounter with the dreaded college application process. View entire article...** Top of Page Return to Archives