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Twice-Exceptional Newsletter 2March/April 2011 for Parents, Teachers and Professionals

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Twice-Exceptional Newsletter 2March/April 2011 for Parents, Teachers and Professionals TM Twice-Exceptional Newsletter 2March/April 2011 For parents, teachers and professionals. Issuee 45 Helping twice-exceptional children reach their potential. Featured in this Issue Twice-exceptional By Judy Willis, M.D., M.Ed Page Find out about the cycle of stress reactivity 3 Children, Exceptional present in all of our brains and a particularly Challenges limiting roadblock to 2e kids. The Bridges Academy By Susan Baum, Ph.D., and Cynthia Novak, Ph.D. Page How Bridges Academy celebrates and ac- 8 Model in Action commodates the neurodiversity present in the student body of this school for the twice- Quote exceptional. Different The Value of By Marlo Payne Thurman, M.S. Page Is not Thurman wants to know what the world’s 12 Neurodiversity coming to in terms of classifying, labeling, Deficient. treating, and medicating our children. — Jonathan Mooney Also Inside From the Publishers ...................................................................................................................... 2 ! Book Review — Neurodiversity ....................................................................................................14 Letter: Dear Case Manager .........................................................................................................16 Letter: My 2e Son — To Whom It May Concern ..........................................................................18 News .............................................................................................................................................20 Bob Seney on Books: Out of My Mind ........................................................................................22 Dr. Sylvia Rimm: Mother Sees a Problem; Father Doesn’t .......................................................23 Events ...........................................................................................................................................24 2e From the Publishers Welcome! We at 2e Newsletter plan most issues around a theme. In this issue the theme is “neurodiversity,” a term that Wikipedia defines as “an idea which as- serts that atypical neurological development is a normal human difference … to be recognized and respected as any other human variation.” Neurologist turned educator Judy Willis leads off this issue by providing a brain-based explanation of how twice-exceptional students may experience stress and how that stress affects their learning experiences. Willis also points out certain learning circum- stances that can help twice-exceptional learners. In the following article we discover that Bridges Academy not only incorporates what Willis suggests but has also developed an entire strength-based model for allowing twice-exceptional, neuro-diverse young people to thrive. The Bridges authors also provide a great example of how the model can change a life. Next, Marlow Payne Thurman delivers an essay celebrating neurodiversity and bemoaning what she sees as exces- sive (and perhaps unnecessary) labeling and medication, along the way offering a life lesson from the farm on diversity. Also in this issue we feature a review of the book Neurodiversity. Author Thomas Armstrong focuses on the positive aspects of neurodiversity and concludes with a call against “ableism.” The themed portion of the newsletter concludes with two letters, neither solicited but both fitting marvelously into the theme. One is an eloquent piece written by a young 2e high-schooler to his IEP case manager; the other is a “word picture” which a mother often uses to explain her 2e son to others. We hope you enjoy the issue. As you read through it, please take the time to provide feedback to us about the vari- ous articles and features; doing so will help us deliver future content that you can use and enjoy. Thanks for subscribing! — Linda C. Neumann and J. Mark Bade Glen Ellyn Media March, 2011 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter is a publication about twice-exceptional children, children who are gifted and who have learning difficulties that go by many names, including learning disabilities, learning disorders, and just plain learning differences. Our goal is to promote a holistic view of the 2e child — not just the high IQ, or the quirkiness, or the disabilities, but the child as a whole person. Comments and suggestions are always welcome by phone, fax, or e-mail. 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter is published bi-monthly in January, March, May, July, September, and November. The cost for a one-year electronic subscription is $30. Contact us for group and institutional rates. Send changes of address to [email protected] or by mail to 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter, PO Box 582, Glen Ellyn, IL 60138-0582. Linda C. Neumann, Editor; J. Mark Bade, Business Manager. Phone: 630.293.6798; Fax: 630.344.1332. Web: www.2eNewsletter.com. E-mail: [email protected]. Editorial Advisory Board: Susan Assouline, EdS, PhD; Susan Baum, PhD; Kathi Kearney, MA Ed; Deirdre Lovecky, PhD; Pat Schuler, PhD; Linda Kreger Silverman, PhD; Joan Franklin Smutny, MA; Marlo Rice Thurman, MS; Meredith Warshaw, MSS, MA. The contents of 2e Newsletter are not intended to constitute medical or clinical advice, which should be obtained from a licensed practitioner. The use of information from 2e Newsletter for commercial purposes is prohibited without consent in writing from Glen Ellyn Media. Copyright © 2011 by Glen Ellyn Media, unless otherwise noted. The yellow and red 2e logo on blue is a trademark of Glen Ellyn Media. 2e Newsletter • March/April 2011 2 www.2eNewsletter.com 2e Featured Topic A Brain-based View Twice-Exceptional Children, Exceptional Challenges By Judy Willis, M.D., M.Ed first priority is to be alert for potential threats and to avoid them. The most primitive parts of the brain are those that As Calvin Coolidge once said, “The most common determine what gets our attention and what information commodity in this country is unrealized potential.” Stu- gets priority entry into the brain. This primary attention dents currently in public high schools in large U.S. cities system, called the reticular activating system (RAS), is a are more likely to drop out than ever before. When the series of long nerve pathways located in the brain stem. reasons for dropping out are examined, almost 80 percent of the students report that the main problem is boredom. When asked what bores them most, the usual response is that the material they are taught is either uninteresting or irrelevant to their lives. There are an estimated three million children in America who could be classified as gifted but are not rec- ognized as such. Estimates of the percentage of drop-out students who are gifted range from 5 to 20 percent. The gifted students most at risk for falling through the widen- ing cracks are twice-exceptional (2e) children. The circumstances in today’s classrooms are such that stress is increased for all students and teachers. The consequences for twice-exceptional children include de- creased identification, insufficient opportunity to connect with their gifts, and the misinterpretation of their behav- iors. This article will describe the cycle of stress reactivity present in all of our brains that is a particularly limiting Approximate Locations of Brain Structures roadblock to twice-exceptional students. From neuroimaging studies, we see that higher up The Impact of Stress on the Brain from the brain stem is another filter that determines Most children experience stress when they encounter where incoming information is sent. This structure, the the overloaded, homogenized curriculum that dispenses amygdala, is found on each side of the brain, deep in the facts to be memorized without providing experiences of network of the emotionally responsive limbic system. The discovery or opportunities to connect to content in the fol- function of the amygdala is to direct incoming information lowing ways: to one of two locations in the brain — either the higher, • Through their strengths and interests thinking, reflective brain (prefrontal cortex) or the lower, • By following their curiosity reactive, automatic brain. The destination of the informa- • By using new learning to achieve personally valued tion depends on the emotional state of the human (or ani- goals. mal) and the expectation of potential threat. Stress cuts off students’ access to higher-order In the absence of high stress, fear, or perceived thinking, logic, creative problem solving, and analytical threat, the amygdala directs incoming information to the judgment. Stress also renders students unable to reflect prefrontal cortex (PFC). There the information is further before reacting to situations or emotions. Instead, they evaluated by the brain’s high-order thinking networks as to respond with fight/flight/freeze reactions, which are not meaning and relationships to stored memories of previous voluntary choices and often bring punitive consequences. experiences. The ability to evaluate one’s emotions before What takes place in the brain when we experience either responding to an emotional trigger or choosing stress? The brain has evolved to promote our survival. Its 2e Newsletter • March/April 2011 3 www.2eNewsletter.com 2e Featured Topic Exceptional Challenges, continued to ignore it is a uniquely human trait. However, this reflec- Further studies of environmental influences that tive response can only take place if the overall emotional cause the amygdala to go into reactive mode reveal that state of the individual is not in a high-stress mode, which
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