Unexpected Gifts: Discovering and Nurturing the Strengths in Every Child

Does your child sit and stare at a blank sheet of paper for long periods of time, unable to put any thoughts down? Well, know you aren’t the only parent tearing out bits of hair as you try to inspire your child to start in on their writing assignment.

Yet in defense of writers of all ages, getting started with any type of writing can be a real challenge for writers, young and old. Fortunately, with an iPad and Popplet, the initial first difficult stage of writing – the brainstorming/planning stage – can be less painful with this app.

According to the Copyblogger.com article, “7 Ways the iPad Can Bring Back Your Writing Mojo,” Popplet lets you “visually organize your thoughts and ideas. Typical uses are for task lists, brainstorming, concept planning and free-form idea generation.”

Popplet is free for the iPad and is a truly useful and versatile app that promotes the organization of idea by students as they draw, write or import imagery. Timelines and flowcharts can be created and student work can be shared and completed through collaboration with others at the same time.

So the next time you or your student gets stuck and your ideas won’t flow, download Popplet and watch your ideas begin to flow out and your creativity emerge.

Can we really learn anything positive from radio shock show bullies? The answer is yes. And even with the recent furor in America regarding women’s health care issues and resulting disparaging and vitriolic attacks by a radio shock show bully on the character of Georgetown law student, Sandra Fluke, there are valuable lessons for anyone interested in learning how to teach themselves or their children how to speak up against bullying in any form.

Here’s what I see as Top Three Radio Shock Show Bully Lessons:

Lesson #1: Radio shock show bullies and their mean-spirited and demeaning language, speak volumes, not just to women, but to everyone who has ever been targeted by a bully at home, at school, the workplace or in church.
It is an assault on the human dignity of us all when any individual or group is debased and degraded in a verbal or physical manner. Consider the powerful message you send to your children by not tuning into media personalities who bully

Lesson #2: Bystanders (or radio show sponsors and listeners) are one of the keys to stopping bullying on the air or in our lives.

Bullying is about an imbalance of power and use of aggression through words, physical force or exclusion and isolation. If we see it and tolerate and do not speak up, we endorse and encourage it.
Also, consider the powerful message you send to your children by not tuning into media personalities who bully.

Lesson #3: If targeted by a bully, we can take steps to be equipped with assertive communication skills to speak in a calm, confident, respectful, clear and direct manner.

We can use Sandra Fluke’s response to her radio host attacker as an effective example of how adults can handle situations when being bullied by another adult:

“No woman deserves to be disrespected in this manner. This language is an attack on all women and has been used throughout history to silence our voices…..we will not be silenced. “

It takes courage as a bystander or a target to speak up and take a stand against bullying but we really don’t have an option to sit back anymore. If we provide a social and political environment that tolerates the destructive words of a bully, then our children will no longer be safe as they venture out in the world.

I truly love to write and as a classroom teacher, I wasn’t shy about sharing my enthusiasm for writing with all my students. However, I learned from experience and reading the research that writing was more than just an opportunity to develop creativity and language skills. It is an essential key to helping students improve their reading comprehension and develop their communication, collaboration and critical thinking skills.

So now when I consult with parents about their gifted/2e child, I welcome their questions about how to best help their own children with writing assignments. Unfortunately, there is no easy or a one-size fits all answer. Writing is truly a complex task and impacted by so many internal and external factors.

Yet, now with the availability of the iPad and some incredibly helpful apps, parents and teachers can provide the tools, strategies and encouragement for beginning and developing writers. All the students need is the desire, patience and willingness to work hard to conquer the writing process.

Whether you have a motivated or a struggling writer at home or in your classroom, there are numerous iPad apps that are worth trying out. Some of these apps are highlighted in Bakari Chavanu’s January 11, 2011, online article, “7 Apps That Will Help You Use Your iPad for Writing Projects” which can be found at: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-apps-ipad-writing-projects/
Here are three of the seven apps that Chavanu reviewed:

1. Infinite Pinboard: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/infinote-pinboard-for-todos/id364356810?mt=8
This is a great app for brainstorming ideas in a note card format, is easy to use and available from iTunes.
2. Evernote: http://www.evernote.com/
This is a Web syncing service that allows you to combine text based files, photos and audio notes and sync it all to your iPad, your Mac or your PC.
3. Clockwork Notebook https://market.android.com/details?id=com.evernote&hl=en
Anyone who likes to combine typing with handwritten notes and doodling will love this app. It even has the ability to add stickers and allows you to create a PDF file and send it via email.

I hope you will consider using an iPad as an essential writing for your child. Equipped with an iPad and user-friendly apps, your child will become engaged quickly in the writing process and discover that while writing takes time, patience and persistence, it is a process that can turn into a rewarding journey into the fascinating world of self-expression and creativity.

She is gifted and kept a painful secret for 2 and ½ years from her parents until she could keep it no longer. She had been bullied by her gifted peers and no one knew about it. She didn’t tell any adults, including her parents and if any teachers saw it, no one spoke up on her behalf. So no adults intervened.

When her parents learned of her secret and told the school what had happened, school officials expressed sadness that there was nothing they could do without witnesses. Her parents knew in an instant that she was no longer safe in that school and with less than 3 months of school left before graduation, made other plans for her to finish out the school year.

Today, this student has recovered fully from the tremendous emotional pain she endured and has put the months of hidden emotional/verbal bullying, commonly called relational aggression, by her peers behind her. She is thriving in high school and looks forward to a bright and promising future in college and beyond.

But this student is one of the very lucky ones to receive effective intervention and support by her parents and other caring adults in her life. Other students aren’t always so lucky. Long-lasting depression, anxiety, and violent thoughts are some of the darker consequences for anyone who has been bullied.

Yet as this student’s parents discovered, there is much each parent can do by taking a proactive stance to prevent bullying and to minimize its impact if it does happen. Here are some truly valuable tips for parents from the article, “Bullying and Gifted Learners” by Teri M. Guilbault:
1. Ask your child directly if he or she has been bullied.
2. Encourage your child to make contact with friendly students in their classes.
3. Teach your child how to safely seek help from a trustworthy adult at school.
4. Practice assertiveness with your child. Have him or her stand with arms at sides (not crossed), look at the bully with body turned slightly at an angle and say in a calm, but assertive tone, “Stop it! Leave me alone.”
5. Discuss the difference from tattling and telling.
6. Teach your child never to walk alone in areas where bullying occurs.
7. Listen to your child’s concerns and validate them.
8. Empower your child to come up with possible solutions and ask how you can support or help him or her.
9. Help your child to express anger and deal with stress in safe ways.
10. Develop your child’s strengths and talents.
11. Know your child’s friends and stop teasing and bullying behavior in your home
12. Teach your child to intervene and speak up when others are being bullied.

Guilbault has excellent insights into the problem of bullying of gifted learners so you might want to read her entire article to help you stop the bullying in your school. As parents, you can make a difference in breaking the cycle of bullying so do not hesitate to begin today.

Have you ever been around a child who exhibits puzzling behavior? This child might be your own or a child of one of your friends. While this child might appear to be very precocious in a variety of areas, some of the child’s behavior might be difficult to manage and hard to understand. It is at this point of misunderstanding, that these children are frequently labeled as ADHD instead of possibly gifted.

However, just recently, Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG), an international nonprofit organization, embarked upon an international campaign to educate and enlighten parents, teachers and pediatricians about “possible misdiagnosis of ADHD in gifted children.” The importance of their efforts to educate us all about the potential misdiagnosis follows a new American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guideline that “extends the range of ADHD diagnosis from ages 6-12 to 4-18. The problem with this, according to SENG, is that it does not include the reality that “a child’s intellectual giftedness may contribute to symptoms similar to ADHD. Thus, precocious preschoolers may be at even greater risk for misdiagnosis.”

Parents of all preschoolers and older children who may exhibit both precocious and puzzling behavior will benefit from seeing a video SENG posted recently on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XN7IOteagI This video will provide parents of gifted children tools to better obtain the understanding, support and advocacy their uniquely gifted children need as they navigate the world. Please share it with all of your family, friends, schools and your pediatricians.

So much depends upon all of our children, including those who are gifted and twice-exceptional who may exhibit puzzling behavior, receive the acceptance, respect and education they deserve without the dangers of unneeded medication.

Has your child has ever been the target of direct bullying, either physical or verbal? Has your child ever been a target of relational aggression, the more hidden and behind the scenes bullying where social exclusion and gossip are just a few of the negative and hurtful tactics that are used?

Well, it is good to know that there are numerous effective tools you can utilize that can make a huge difference when your child encounters bullying behavior. With these tools, parents and schools can equip and empower all children and parents to take a stand against bullying. One of these tools is the resource-filled web site, StopBullying.gov., sponsored by the federal government.

According to StopBullying.gov, http://www.stopbullying.gov/, “Bullying is not a normal rite of passage. It can have serious consequences. You can help your child learn how to prevent bullying. These tips can help:
• Help your child understand bullying. Explain what bullying is. It is more than physical; it can be done in person or over the phone or computer.
• Keep open lines of communication with your child. Check in with your child and listen to any concerns about friends and other students.
• Encourage your child to pursue their interests. Doing what they love may help your child be more confident among their peers and make friends with other kids with similar interests.
• Teach your child to take a stand against bullying. Give guidance about how to stand up to those who bully if it is safe to do so.
• Talk to your child about seeking help from a trusted adult when feeling threatened by a bully. Talk about whom they should go to for help and role-play what they should say. Assure your child that they should not be afraid to tell an adult when someone they know is being bullied.
• Know what is going on in your child’s school. Visit the school website, subscribe to the student paper—if there is one—and join the PTA listserv or mailing list. Get to know other parents, school counselors, and staff. Contact the school by phone or e-mail if you have suggestions to make the school a safer and better learning place.”

The first key to your ability to stand up against bullying is to recognize the bullying situation that you might have experienced/ witnessed as a child or are experiencing/witnessing right now as an adult. And once you have been able to develop the communication skills of assertiveness (speaking with respect and clarity/boundaries), self-control and empathy/compassion (understanding another person’s pain/perspective), you will be able to equip your own child with these skills. Then you and your child will be able to fully leverage the StopBullying.gov tools and take a stand against bullying. If you do, then know that you have demonstrated a sense of courage and boldness that will make our world a safer and saner planet for everyone.

Who knows what is best for a child? Do you think just classroom teachers or parents, who collaborate with teachers and outside support resources, might know better how to address a child’s learning challenge? These are the very questions I discussed with a concerned mom who called me last week.

She wanted to know what I thought of a teacher who would say “I am concerned about your child’s ability to ever reach his full potential. While I am not recommending meds for your child, I want to share some success stories of students I know who did go on meds for ADHD.”

The mom said she was truly surprised and caught off guard by the teacher’s remarks and asked me for my reaction. My response, that a teacher was not qualified to even “hint” at the appropriateness of meds for a child, brought a sense of relief to this mom.

She felt relieved because she said her son had changed and grown so much since 1st grade when he was first identified with ADHD. She described his truly amazing gifts in music and art and shared the fact that he had recently scored quite high in standardized tests in reading and math.

Truly this mom could see, as I could after listening to her tell me about her son, all the strengths and gifts her 9 year old son possessed. She rightly wanted to find other strategies to help her son deal with the moments of classroom distractibility instead of starting him on medication.

Since we both agreed that the teacher was not qualified to recommend or “hint” at the need for meds, I provided her with a list of psycho-educational testers who are familiar with students who are both gifted and twice-exceptional (gifted with learning differences) to find out more accurately his learning strengths and challenges. Since many gifted children are frequently misdiagnosed and not identified as gifted but labeled as ADHD, a second opinion is quite useful in determining what truly is behind a child’s behavior.

So if you ever find yourself as a parent in a similar situation, be sure to seek a second opinion. If you aren’t sure where to start, feel free to contact me at mindsthatsoar@gmail.com and I will be happy to send you a list of 2e friendly psycho-educational testers who work in various regions of the U.S. and Canada and I will be happy to answer your questions during a no-charge consultation.

And if you want a great resource if you suspect there might be a misdiagnosis of your own child, consider reading Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults:

http://www.amazon.com/Misdiagnosis-Diagnoses-Gifted-Children-Adults/dp/0910707642

Remember, as your child’s parent, you truly do know what is best. Trust your instincts and collaborate with the school and outside resources. This truly is the best response when it comes to figuring out what works best for your child.

In her October 27, 2011, post on Edutopia’s blog, Audrey Watters wrote an entry titled “Should We Be Concerned about an “App Gap?” She commented on statistics from Common Sense Media that demonstrate an “app gap” is developing between children living in high income families and those living in low income families.

Watters wondered if this “app gap” is any different than our concerns over the “digital divide.” And she asks the question as to whether or not access to software on an iPad is superior to that of a PC.

Her question raises some important issues given some of the findings regarding mobile learning devices like iPads, iPods, iPod Touch and smart phones and their ability to personalize learning for a wide range of students.

Countless studies have demonstrated that student engagement in learning increases and that even our youngest students are able to learn basic skills more quickly with a portable, small device with touch-screen capabilities.

While sitting at a PC might work for some of our learners, educators know that all of students are uniquely designed and for a growing number of students mobile learning devices grant educational equity by providing access to and acceleration of the curriculum.

So yes, Audrey, we should be concerned about the “app gap.” It reminds us of our responsibility as a society to provide equal educational opportunities for every student in America and to be advocates for the same educational opportunities for children around the globe.

Yesterday, I came back from New Orleans where I attended and presented at the National Association for Gifted Children’s 58th Annual Convention. It was another wonderful learning experience and a time to network with so many individuals involved with gifted education.
What I really enjoyed was the chance to hear the different perspectives of people from around the world who care very deeply about the education of all children. In talking with fellow educators and parents, it was clear that they would love to have their voices heard more clearly by school administrators and legislators. And they would like to see some changes take place in our schools now so that all children can benefit immediately from some very fundamental and research-driven changes.
Here’s just a sampling of some of the thoughts that were shared this past week at the conference:

1. Pay attention to implementing strategies and programs that reflect best practices and educational equality for all students. There is plenty of research and information that is available to help teachers identify and serve the unique learning needs of every child, including those who are gifted and twice-exceptional (gifted students with learning differences, including dyslexia, ADHD and sensory processing difficulties). Students need to have both access to and acceleration of the curriculum.

2. Put all of our children at the center of the learning equation by leveraging technology to provide personalized instruction which Karen Cator, U.S. National Director of Educational Technology, has indicated is essential if we are to transform teaching and learning.

3. Help parents and teachers to teach all children that learning takes effort over time and increases when children encouraged are to become self-directed and self-reliant. Once our children are given more choice to follow their passions and their interests, their motivation to learn will increase and they will be able to advance towards their true potential.

4. Please provide effective professional development opportunities so teachers can deliver 21st Century teaching and what ed tech blogger David Warlick describes as “irresistible, relevant and rigorous learning experiences” to all students.

5. Make equitable educational funding a priority and understand that educating all of our children is essential for a strong economy, national security and maintaining a position of global influence in world affairs.

6. Encourage parents to get involved in advocating for educational change in a way that demonstrates positive communication skills, including assertiveness (clear and respectful language), self-control and empathy. As school administrators and legislators, model these characteristics to your customers, the parents, and constituents. Let’s all take the high road and show our children that civility in a society always matters.

Just like the people around the world participating in the Occupy movement, parents and educators everywhere are beginning to get rather weary of waiting for change to happen in our schools. They are ready to speak up. They are ready to Occupy the Schoolyard to respectively, collectively and persistently make their voices heard.

If you are one of those voices, contact your schools and your legislators and let them know what you are thinking. Most importantly, be sure to register and vote in the 2012 election. By getting involved and voting in 2012, you can send your state and national legislators and leaders the clear message that making the education of our children a priority has never been more important.

Imagine how difficult it would be if your child had communication challenges. These difficulties are common among children with diverse learning profiles. How would you be able to know what your child needed or might be feeling? And how would your child manage to reach his/her true potential as a diverse learner without a quick and easy way to express his/her thoughts and ideas?

Just a few years ago your choices were limited. But now with the explosion in mobile learning devices and apps, all parents have a choice in helping to advance their child’s potential.

One of the most frequently mentioned mobile apps for overcoming communication barriers is Proloquo2go. The Proloquo2go website provides this description of this incredible app:
“Proloquo2Go™ is a product from AssistiveWare that provides a full-featured communication solution for people who have difficulty speaking. It brings natural sounding text-to-speech voices, close to 8000 up-to-date symbols, powerful automatic conjugations, a large default vocabulary, full expandability and extreme ease of use to the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.”

Of course, if you check out YouTube, you will find numerous videos showing this app in action. The videos are quite inspiring and give you a glimpse of the potential impact Proloquo2go can have to provide a communication pathway for many individuals, especially those living with autism. While this app works to open up communication channels, it is worth noting that it is mentioned in at least one of the videos that each autistic learner responds in an individual way and the app doesn’t help all autistic learners to the same degree.

However, Proloquo2go definitely does offer the possibility it will be a helpful app to many individuals living with autism. It provides the needed hope to parents of autistic learners that once communication has been opened up and increased, their children might just be able to advance to their true potential. No parent could ask for more.