- Be proud of who you are.
- Know that you are learning-enabled.
- Get your community in line. Find your people, you're not alone.
STRESS. Our friends at the Belin-Blank Center have posted tips for recognizing and helping manage stress in students. Find it.
SMART KIDS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES has just published an article in which a young college graduate recounts ways her mother helped as daughter grew up with dyslexia. Mom found ways to help daughter keep up with books friends were talking about; learn math and spelling skills; engage in activities that fostered self-efficacy; and more. Find the artlcle.
THE GIFTED SIDE OF 2e is what psychologist Gail Post writes about in her most recent blog posting, titled "Boredom, school, and the gifted child." She lists four things that must change to eliminate boredom in the classroom for the gifted kid:
- Recognizing that gifted kids are different
- Providing appropriate services
- Eliminating certain misconceptions concerning giftedness
- Adopting legal provisions for gifted services.
SPECIAL FONTS FOR DYSLEXIA? There are differences of opinion on whether they help. Find out more.
SCREEN TIME FOR KIDS. The American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its guidelines for the amount of and kind of screen time kids should be exposed to. According to USA Today, one of the guideline's authors says screen time, “is not evil, it does not need to be avoided. It just needs to be balanced with all the other things kids need.” Find out more in USA Today, The Washington Post, or the LA Times.
POSTING ABOUT KIDS. Parents who post online about their children create a digital footprint, often starting shortly after birth. A presenter at the AAP's annual conference in San Francisco discusses the risks involved in disclosing information about children and offers guidelines for parents about sharing. He notes that the first kids to be spotlighted on social media by their parents are now entering adulthood. From a write-up of the presentation: "The authors propose public health based, best-practice guidelines that include encouraging parents to familiarize themselves with the privacy policies of the sites they use, to post anonymously if they choose to share about their children's behavioral struggles, and to give their child 'veto power' over online disclosures, including images, quotes, accomplishments, and challenges. They also advise never to share pictures that show their children in any state of undress or share their child's actual location in a post." Too strict? Just right? Read more.
ADHD INTO ADULTHOOD. Sixty percent of children with ADHD in a recent study demonstrated persistence of symptoms into their mid-20's, and 41 percent had both symptoms and impairment as young adults, according to a new study. One key in the research: asking family members about an adult's potential ADHD behaviors. Read more.
THE BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR RESEARCH FOUNDATION has recently published two articles on the topic of depression:
- One is about efforts to develop a fast-acting drug that can alleviate treatment-resistant depression, based on research indicating that the drug ketamine's antidepressant effects are actually caused by a metabolite of the drug and not the drug itself, which is addictive and has undesirable side effects. Find the article.
- The other article is about a mouse study of SSRI antidepressants indicating that the drugs can decrease bone density. More research needs to be done, and the article states, "The [research] team is not able to say whether the mechanisms observed in the mice are the same as those operating in humans." But this could be a heads-up for any family with a member who takes an SSRI. Find the article.