Tonight 10-year old Zoolander was helping me with dinner when she casually shared this analogy comparing her brain & thoughts to spaghetti squash.
It does help explain how it feels to have difficulties with written expression.
End of summer is approaching. Dread. The hummingbirds will leave and the school buses will arrive, and this year we have to pay for them… 100 bucks per student to ride the bus.
The sight of school supplies piling up in the stores makes my tummy feel yucky. We have exactly 3 weeks.
Can you say, umm… The Gates of Hell?
(How handy that WT took 4000 pictures of this sculpture, before I beat him to death with a baguette.)
Guess what? Funny thing… Rodin wasn’t exactly big on school himself and not everyone ‘got’ him. Some of his most famous work was criticized and rejected because Rodin’s style and themes weren’t traditional. Sound familiar?
Anyway, soon we’ll be meeting with Lily’s team at school to talk about our plan to support her executive function deficits and teach Lily more organizational skills.
I feel like I’m cramming for an exam. I read for pleasure on the plane to Paris. I just couldn’t bring myself to think about the start of school yet. But now, I need to get down to some serious research.
I have a few books about organization I’ve started reading in preparation. I’m looking for some really practical, concrete suggestions & tips that will get us from home to school and back every day.
I’m not sure I can make it through another school year like last year. But I feel that, because of our mediation with the school district at the end of last year, we’re finally going to have some specific supports in place to make 7th grade easier on all of us.
Organizing from the Inside Out
Organizing from the Inside Out for Teens
Organizing Solutions for People with ADD
Jun 12
This gallery contains 13 photos.
School has been out for a week and 11-year old Lily is in creative heaven. It’s like she’s been set free. She always seems to be in the middle of some ‘project’. She says she’s writing a book and working on song lyrics. Yesterday, she spent hours on this collage. She called it a ‘collage […]
I participated in my first #gtchat on Twitter last Friday. Gtchat is moderated by Deborah Mersino of www.ingeniosus.net. Thanks Deborah!
Each Friday there are two hour-long interactive gtchats. Tweeters from all over the globe get together on Twitter to discuss different gifted topics.
I say I participated this week because I’ve lurked during gtchats in the past, but have been too shy to join in. This week though, the topic was 2E or Twice Exceptional learners and I decided to jump in.
The tweets were fast and furious and I felt like I was always behind, but it was kinda cool to be in the same ‘room’ with some of the people behind the blogs I read. It was also very comforting to hear from parents who are having the same experiences with their 2E kids.
I’ve read the transcript from the 2E chat several times now and I did miss a lot. I’ll get the hang of the gtchats eventually and I plan to brush up at Deborah’s site www.ingeniosus.net/gtchat, but there were a lot of helpful resources mentioned during the chat. I felt like I needed them all in the same place, so I could check them out at my own pace. Thanks for all the great suggestions!
From @GiftedHF
Special Challenges/Twice Exceptional (2e)
Twice exceptional children are both gifted and have learning differences, resulting in an extreme asynchrony that can increase parenting challenges exponentially. Some of these exceptionalities may include autism or Asperger’s Syndrome; auditory and visual processing disorders; dyslexia and dysgraphia; sensory integration dysfunction; ADD or ADHD; bipolar disorder; OCD; Tourette’s Syndrome; and myriad other dual diagnoses. Some families have found ways to deal with the challenges in their family that make their homes run relatively smoothly; others describe their family lives as akin to “the bar scene from Star Wars.”
http://giftedhomeschoolers.org/2eresources.html
http://giftedhomeschoolers.org/articles.html#challenge
From @Idaho2e
Download 2E Manual
http://www.sde.idaho.gov/site/gifted_talented/twice-exceptional/
From @DavidsonGifted
Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults/Davidson Institute for Talent Development
http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10308.aspx
Tips for Parents: Executive Functioning at Home and School-Aimee Yermish/Davidson Institute for Talent Development
http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10523.aspx
From @HoagiesGifted
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/twice_exceptional.htm
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/2e_books.htm
From @2eNewsletter
http://2enewsletter.blogspot.com/
From @GiftedDevCenter
http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/What_is_Gifted/2echildren.htm
From @LesLinks
http://innreach.wordpress.com/2es/
From @JoFrei
http://www.giftedresources.org/gr/webgifgld.htm
From @CybraryMan1
http://cybraryman.com/2e.html
From @BelinBlank
http://www.education.uiowa.edu/belinblank/clinic/nite.aspx
From @SENG_Gifted
Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted
Other online resources-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_functions
http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/newsletter/spring98/sprng984.html
Does you gifted child have ADD/ADHD?
http://www.addvance.com/help/parents/gifted_child.html
Twice Exceptional Adult Learners
http://mysite.du.edu/~tmille47/Twice_Exceptional/Forward.html
Understanding Your Child’s Puzzling Behavor
http://lifespanpress.blogspot.com/
Gifted/LD facts
http://www.ldinfo.com/gifted_ld.htm
Executive Function
http://www.ldinfo.com/executive_functioning.htm
Books-
Book-To Be Gifted and Learning Disabled: From Definitions to Practical Intervention Strategies
Book-Different Minds: Gifted Children With Ad/Hd, Asperger Syndrome, and Other Learning Deficits [Paperback]
Book-Misdiagnosis And Dual Diagnoses Of Gifted Children And Adults: ADHD, Bipolar, OCD, Asperger’s, Depression, And Other Disorders
Book-To Be Gifted and Learning Disabled: From Definitions to Practical Intervention Strategies
Brainhugger 