Standardized testing might be hoop-jumping, but those are some high-stakes hoops. If students do not meet set standards for test scores, potential consequences can be in-school (such as schedules limited to remedial classes), out-of-school (such as limiting driving privileges), and beyond-school (such as delaying or preventing graduation). It can also lead to more testing, as … Read more
On the Road of Knowledge, Kids are Thinking at Light Speed When gifted kids disrupt class, it might not be an impulse problem. It might be due to frustrations related to pacing and wait time. Every gifted education teacher should expect to get complaints about highly gifted kids being disruptive in the regular classroom. There … Read more
Programs and Students Need Advocates in Times of Funding Questions People involved in gifted education – whether they are the teachers, the students, the parents, or the administrators – should actively promote gifted programming. In times of financial difficulty, hungry eyes look at each line of the district budget, questioning if the school really needs … Read more
When parents reject public schools, gifted education suffers the loss of talented students in the classroom community and the voices of powerful advocates. Ideally, parents and public schools should be a team. The parents should support the schools’ efforts to educate all of the children in the community, and the schools should support the parents’ … Read more
A Checklist of Characteristics for Giftedness While many schools and educational professionals are trained to identify gifted children, here is an easy way for parents to get a first glance at their child’s potential Some parents choose not to know the gender of their baby before birth, and some want to know what color to … Read more
The Five Senses Advanced students journal their explorations as they learn about taste, touch, smell, hearing, and sight. So, what’s with all that mushy stuff gifted students see when they study the human brain? To many, the brain looks like a soggy clump of limp cauliflower, and that’s a pretty disturbing sight. Still, it is … Read more
Children diagnosed with cerebral palsy live with symptoms that range from barely noticeable to severe and profound. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), cerebral palsy is: “an umbrella-like term used to describe a group of chronic disorders impairing control of movement that appear in the first few years of life … Read more
The Special Education Process A how-to for the process of special education. Definitions of individualized education plans, evaluation reports, and the local education agency. ER…IEP…Help! Is this education or alphabet soup? If you are new to the special education process you may feel as if you have been transported to another country. Something that is … Read more
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD): Everything You Need to Know Among the less talked about disabilities encountered in education, today is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, or FASD. The fact that it is not a topic of conversation doesn’t mean that it is uncommon. Outside a medical setting, the technical definitions often get blurred in conversation … Read more
Down’s syndrome Also known as trisomy 21, Down syndrome (or Down’s Syndrome in the UK and many countries) is the most common genetic cause of mild and moderate intellectual disability. March 21 is celebrated as World Down Syndrome Day. The reason that the date was picked seems obvious to those familiar with the condition. Chromosomes … Read more