The Broward County experiments change the face of gifted education research – this is why.
Most Gifted Children Have Never Been Studied
Yellow Readis is Back and Writing!
There’s been a lot of writing happening behind the scenes at Yellow Readis – just not on the website. But now we’re back and writing here too!
So what’s coming up?
Continue reading “Yellow Readis is Back and Writing!”Top Posts of 2018
It’s been a long year here.
As with all years, there are good and bad things that happened; Some big and minor crises, and so many adventures and misadventures. 2018 has been a wild ride.
One of the massive good things has been my fellowship with Writers Victoria. It’s been fantastic to work with the wonderful people there in the Write-Ability team, and I am thoroughly enjoying it – with the usual caveats for my own anxiety, imposter syndrome and general ADHD-ness which always adds interesting flavours to anything.
So, there has been, as usual, a lot of work happening behind the scenes, which I will hopefully I be able to share with you all soon.
In the meantime, here are the top posts at Yellow Readis for the year.
Top Posts for 2018
ADHD and Giftedness: It’s Complicated
For gifted ADHD kids, their hyperactivity is in their brain – not their body. So they may never get referred for testing.
This goes doubly for ADHD girls. I was in my late 30s before I was diagnosed. And that only happened after both of my kids were diagnosed first!
Executive Functioning isn’t Magically Fixed by ‘Higher’ Behaviour Standards
For a gifted ADHD brain, the doing is the easy part – the starting is the mountain. And though the talking may pause, the inner monologue never, ever stops.
Twice-Exceptional in Plain Sight: We Missed it.
Eventually we realised the simple truth: Twice-exceptional parents have twice-exceptional kids. And quirky people like hanging out with other quirky people.
We are what we are.
We didn’t miss it because we were terrible parents. We missed it because our kids . . . are just like us.
ADHD and Giftedness: Strategies That Work
There are strategies that work for gifted kids. There are strategies that work for ADHD kids. But sometimes, it’s not an easy copy/paste to find learning strategies for gifted ADHD kids.
Best Books for Parents of Highly Gifted+ Kids
If you are a parent who has been plunged off the deep end, I think these books can really make a difference. I know many of them helped me a lot. And some I wish I had found a lot earlier.
Honourable Mentions from 2017
And some honourable mentions from 2017 as well, as I didn’t do a best-of post last year! Yes, we have had more than a year of chaos and weirdness. Also: organising, it’s not my strength.
Gifted Vs. Gifted
I think it is vitally important to understand exactly what we are talking about when we talk about gifted kids.
Before we can make decisions on what to do about helping gifted kids, we need to understand exactly which group of kids we are talking about. We’ll have the same circular arguments again, and again, if we don’t. We’ll fling facts, not listen and get nowhere.
Teaching a Child Who Won’t Be Taught
Today, I’m going to talk about a few of the strategies I use to create a welcoming learning environment that steers my kids in the direction they need to go, without explicitly ‘teaching’ them.
Advantages of Minimalism for Executive Functioning
Due to ADHD, the kids and I all have trouble concentrating . Things are very distracting, whether it’s mirrors, paintings, or seeing toys and clutter.
As we were homeschooling, finding a spot where I and the kids could concentrate was a high priority. Minimalism gave us a framework for figuring out how to do that.
And that’s a wrap!
Hoping everyone has a wonderful, peaceful and not-too-stressful holiday break. And then it is onward to 2019 . . . for better or worse. I’m crossing my fingers for better!
The Struggle to Test 2e Kids
We’ve had a lot of experience with testing over the years. We have gone through the gauntlet of testing many times. Each time, we were sure this was the ‘definitive’ test. After all that experience, and the benefit of hindsight, I know think there is no such thing as a definitive test. There is only the best you can get at the time.
Specialists and doctors are neither omnipotent, nor mistake free. But there are a number of things you can do to make testing for giftedness and disabilities a more useful experience.
So here are my best tips.
Best Books for Parents of Highly Gifted+ Kids
When you first realise you are parenting a highly, exceptionally, or a profoundly gifted child, it can be very bewildering. Not only are there few resources, most of those are not geared to the far right of the bell curve.
So today, I thought I might list a few of the books that helped me when I felt utterly lost and alone.
Continue reading “Best Books for Parents of Highly Gifted+ Kids”
Stages Towards Homeschooling for Gifted/2e Families
Today, I am going to talk about the stages of disengagement from the education system* that I have witnessed over the years.
Now, I am not an expert, nor am I a teacher. In fact, I am one of those rare things – a parent of twice-exceptional children who has never had to sit through an IEP (Individual Education Plan) or ILP (Individual Learning Plan) meeting.
But I do volunteer as a contact for families who are in trouble. After more than 100 emails, phone calls and chatting in person, I have a pretty up front and personal view of exactly how these go wrong.
Actually it’s probably far more than 100, but I lost count once it hit triple digits.
I would love to say that each situation is different and unique. That it does not follow any kind of pattern and is always just the intersection of a set of unusual circumstances. But I can’t.
So, what are the stages?
Continue reading “Stages Towards Homeschooling for Gifted/2e Families”
ADHD and Giftedness: Strategies That Work
One of the problems for gifted kids with ADHD is finding strategies that help them that actually work.
In this post, I would like to go through some of these: both the research, and what has worked for us personally.
It’s cool, it’s fun, and it actually works.
Continue reading “ADHD and Giftedness: Strategies That Work”
ADHD and Giftedness: It’s Complicated
I have been trying for a long time to figure out a quick and easy way of explaining the complex interaction of ADHD and Giftedness.
It’s actually caused a lot of sleepless nights, courtesy of my own ADHD, hyperfocus, and the inability to actually finish anything!
Hopefully this actually makes some sense. Continue reading “ADHD and Giftedness: It’s Complicated”
Review – Boost: 12 Effective Ways to Lift Up Our Twice-Exceptional Children
Boost: 12 Effective Ways to Lift Up Our Twice-Exceptional* Children, by Kelly Hirt is a book for parents and teachers who want to find ways to communicate and teach kids who think differently.
In an easy to read format, it has concrete strategies to help by respecting all communication styles and putting the parent and teacher firmly in the learning seat.
By stressing the importance for adults to adapt and learn how neurodiverse kids think and communicate, I believe it will help create real and authentic learning, tailored to the needs of their children and students.
*Twice-Exceptional (2e) children are gifted children with disabilities.
**Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own!
Continue reading “Review – Boost: 12 Effective Ways to Lift Up Our Twice-Exceptional Children”
Review: Making Child Prodigies
This is a (rather rambling) review of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s new show, “Making Child Prodigies ” which aired this week.
“Making Child Prodigies” follows a number of families and charts their struggles, triumphs and life. It is (thankfully) very different from the “Child Genius” series. It also seems, at least from episode 1, to be more interested in understanding the lives of the families, rather than playing to stereotypes, which is nice.
NB. I am aware that this show may be hard to access for non-Australian viewers, but Gizmodo describes one option here. You can also see clips here, here, here and here.