Starjump Webinar

From Melbourne, Australia, Starjump will offer a webinar exploring how attention issues may affect giftedness, visual/spatial thinking, and learning. Directed at parents, the webinar is to be presented live on April 19th by Maxine Cowie, director of Starjump, an organization devoted to meeting the needs of children, including those who are twice-exceptional. Find out more about Starjump and the webinar at www.starjump.com.au.

Great Potential Press

Great Potential Press has announced that three of its titles on gifted children have received a “Mom’s Choice Award.” Recognized were Dr. Nancy Heilbronner for 10 Things NOT to Say to Your Gifted Child: One Family’s Perspective; Dr. Carol Strip Whitney and Gretchen Hirsch for Helping Gifted Children Soar: A Practical Guide for Parents and Teachers, 2nd Edition; and Dr. Janine Caffrey for Nurturing Brilliance: Discovering and Developing Your Child’s Gifts.

GPP also has a new address: 1325 N. Wilmot Avenue #300, Tucson, AZ 85712.

Finally, the company notes that Dr. James Webb’s lecture on misdiagnosis and dual diagnosis in gifted children, given at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, has been posted online. Find it at http://videos.med.wisc.edu/videos/32540.

Jay Matthews: Class Struggle

The Washington Post’s education writer Jay Matthews has written about the experiences of a mom who has a highly intelligent daughter with AD/HD and who is apparently being given the runaround by the daughter’s school when it comes to accommodations. The article described several instances of uncooperative (or downright testy) teacher behavior toward the mom. The wrinkle: The mom is a former Washington Post colleague of Matthews’. The moral: Never cross the mom of a 2e kid who has journalistic connections. Find Matthews’ article at this shortened link: http://goo.gl/z3xKz.

Brainworks Summer Programs

Parents of twice-exceptional children in the Dallas area might want to check out the summer program of Brainworks, according to the organization, during the two-week customized programs students achieve intensive academic skill building in addition to sharpening social and communication skills in a small-group setting. Find a sample schedule and fee arrangements at brainworks.info.

NAGC Webinars on RTI

Some experts think that RTI is great for making sure that twice-exceptional children are recognized and served in school; others aren’t so sure. Coming up in the next few weeks are two NAGC “Webinars on Wednesday” that reflect those differing viewpoints. On March 28, Mike Postma, Bobbie Gilman, Dan Peters, and Kathi Kearney present “What Parents and Educators Should Know about RTI.” From the webinar blurb at NAGC: “Because twice-exceptional students are increasingly missed by RTI identification criteria and gifted students may elude detection solely through classroom achievement measures, RTI approaches need to be adapted for gifted children and supplemented.”

On April 4, Lois Baldwin, Daphne Pereles, and Stuart Omdal present “RTI and Twice-Exceptional Students: A Promising Fit.” From the NAGC blurb: “This presentation addresses why the RTI model with the problem-solving/consultation process is a promising fit for the twice-exceptional student.”

Find out more at http://nagc.org/wow.aspx.

Davidson Academy News

The Davidson Academy of Nevada is specifically designed to meet the needs of profoundly gifted middle and high school students who score in the 99.9th percentile on IQ or college entrance tests such as the SAT or ACT. The final application deadline for the 2012-2013 Davidson Academy school year is April 1. Interested parents may visit the “How to Apply” page at the Academy website, davidsongifted.org, to download the application PDF files.

The Davidson Institute for Talent Development also offers THINK, a three-week residential summer program on the campus of the University of Nevada in Reno, where students can earn six college credits through completion of two university courses. This summer, THINK will run from July 14 through August 4. The deadline to apply for the 2012 THINK Summer Institute has been extended to April 1.

DIY Due Process

Attorney Dorene Philpot, who has written for 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter and who was involved in the case we described in our article “Fighting for FAPE,” has written a book titled Do-It-Yourself Special Education Due Process, published this year by Learning Enabled Publications. According to the publisher, the book offers tips on representing yourself and your child at a due process hearing with a school district. Find out more at learningenabledpublications.com.

NAGC Statement on U.S. FY2013 Budget: Not Pleased

Here’s what National Association for Gifted Children Executive Director Nancy Green says about the financial resources being allocated (or not) to developing gifted kids…

“While the Administration should be applauded for focusing on better preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s jobs, the National Association for Gifted Children is disappointed that, once again, this focus stops short of any attention on identifying and developing our high-ability and high-potential learners.

“The Fiscal Year 2013 budget once again contains no funding to support the needs of our advanced learners. While the budget message rhetoric recognizes the needs of gifted students from disadvantaged and lower-income settings, particularly in the middle and high school grades, it does not provide any meaningful initiatives to prevent this untapped talent from falling through gaping holes in our system. NAGC has long advocated for paying increased attention to high potential and high-achieving students in disadvantaged settings — including through the TALENT Act and other legislative initiatives — so they can be properly identified, served and challenged to perform at top levels throughout their academic careers. We urge the Congress and the Administration to work together to build upon and strengthen these provisions.

“The Administration and Congress must recognize what our global competitors have long embraced — our high-potential and high-ability students are indispensable to our nation’s future and the nation must make identifying and developing our most talented students a national priority.”

Don’t Miss These Articles

Depending on how closely you follow the 2e Newsletter blog (http://2enewsletter.blogspot.com) or how conscientiously you read our bi-monthly briefing, you might have missed some of these significant articles.

A pediatrician writing for the Boston Globe describes what are apparently common but sketchy approaches for diagnosing AD/HD in children, and the tendency to treat symptoms rather than the underlying causes. She also notes that current practice makes it possible to diagnose and treat AD/HD without ever learning about family history or stressors in the child’s life. In response to all this, she offers changes to the process of diagnosis and treatment of AD/HD. One recommendation: having a minimum of two 50-minute visits [!] in order to evaluate the child’s issues. Read more at this shortened link: http://goo.gl/DBjHT.

One of our favorite writers on the brain, Alison Gopnik, recently had a piece in the Wall Street Journal called “What’s Wrong with the Teenage Mind?” She notes that early puberty and late adulthood can lead to “a good deal of teenage weirdness.” In the article, she highlights two neural systems that may account for some of the weirdness: one dealing with emotion and motivation and one dealing with control. She also offers suggestions for dealing with the overall causes of teen weirdness. Find the article at http://goo.gl/UYmfR.