Author Christine Fonseca and I have a lot in common (I can’t believe we haven’t met in person…. yet), but what I don’t have and wish I did are her seemingly limitless energy and ability to get things done. I am honored to be a part of a Christine’s new group blog, An Intense Life: Embracing chaos every day, where my first monthly post is up today: ”When Gifted Children Grow Up.”
“As a first-generation college student hundreds of miles from home, I hit the wall. Hard. Never having developed the study skills or work habits necessary to handle challenging classes, I was the textbook example of someone with what Carol Dweck has termed a fixed mindset: I believed that my ability was set and ultimately unknowable, something to protect at all costs rather than develop…” Read More
Be sure to check out the other terrific bloggers at An Intense Life while you are there.
Life has been busy, in a good way, so here are some quick updates and links until I have time to write a more meaty post.
ADHD Diagnoses in Young Gifted Children
As a board member for SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted), I am eager to promote our new global public awareness campaign to education pediatricians and others about the complexities of ADHD diagnosis in young gifted children. Please share and read ournews releaseandlist of resources, and watch SENG’s video on The Misdiagnosis of Gifted Children:
If you have your own story to share, please feel free to do so in the comments.
New Psychology Today Post: Many Ages at Once
As part of the SENG effort, my newest post atPsychology Todayfocuses on the out-of-sync development of gifted children and the science that supports what parents and teachers have long known from personal experience: that very bright children develop on a different timetable.
“Parents often describe these children as being many ages at once. A five year old, for example, might read third-grade books, lack the small motor coordination necessary for kindergarten art projects, have lengthy conversations with adults, and struggle to communicate effectively with age peers—all at the same time. Asynchronous development becomes less of an issue as children grow up, but the challenges can last well into adolescence.“Read More
Summer in Colorado! The 10th International Dabrowski Congress
I am looking forward to attending and giving a presentation at the 10th International Dabrowski Congress, sponsored by the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development and hosted by R. Frank Falk, Ph.D and Linda K. Silverman, Ph.D. This year’s theme is From Conflict to Peace: Globally and Personally. I hope to see some of you there.
Last night, all of my dreams were filled with conflict and confrontation. By turn, my students were confronting me and yelling, then my family, then people I work with. I mentioned this to my husband over our morning coffee, and he said, “Me, too!” Then we remembered what movie we had watched last night before going to bed: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1966 Movie Trailer:
I hadn’t seen the film in years (and had seen it only once before), and this time around I was hyper-aware of how uncomfortable I am around intense confrontation, even when it’s fictional. At the same time, I consciously was watching the film from the perspective of story-telling, which helped to blunt my discomfort somewhat.
My work in the field of giftedness has taught me this:
“The most important thing we can do to nurture emotionally intense gifted children is to accept their emotions: they need to feel understood and supported. Explain that intense feelings are normal for gifted children. Help them to use their intellect to develop self-awareness and self-acceptance.” ~ From “Emotional Intensity in Gifted Children,” by Leslie Sword
The same can be said for writers. One thing that sometimes holds me back from writing as powerfully as I can is that I haven’t always accepted all of my emotions, whether because of my “nice girl” Midwestern upbringing or my temperament. In any case, I’ve begun to use my mornings pages practice as a way to acknowledge the full range of what I’m feeling, if only to myself, even when I’m afraid that my feelings make me a bit of a monster.
George: “You’re a monster. You are!”
Martha: “I’m loud, and I’m vulgar, and I wear the pants in the house, because somebody’s got to! But I am not a monster. I’m not!”
Are there any emotions that you shy from, either in real life or in your writing? Do movies or books or plays help you to tap into those feelings?
Click on the poster below for A. O. Scott’s recent “Critics’ Picks” video review of the movie:
