We started this chat by asking the question, “Who should advocate for gifted children?” and the list seemed limitless. Among those mentioned included parents, grandparents, educators, higher-ed faculty, superintendents, politicians, and policy-makers to name a few. As Corin Goodwin, Executive Director of Gifted Homeschoolers Forum, pointed out, “The thing is, advocating for a population isn’t just an education issue. It’s a humanity issue. Part of being civilized.” And Toby Brown added, “Like most things, we should model advocacy for all those who need support.” Experienced advocates already have a network which includes decision makers at the local, state level & beyond.
Global #gtchat then explored why people should advocate for gifted students beyond their/our own children’s school years? Many great responses were given. “Experienced advocates already have a network which includes decision makers at the local, state level & beyond.” “Lifelong advocates provide continuity in local gifted groups and state organizations.” A full transcript may be found here.
Special thanks for the many links added during chat by @Les Links (Leslie Graves), @cybraryman1 (Jerry Blumengarten) and @GiftedHF (Corin Goodwin).
This week’s #gtchat was a follow-up to our recent interview with Dr. James Webb about the Misdiagnosis Initiative from SENG. A link to that interview appears in the links below.
Since the interview, a major announcement by the National Institute of Mental Health in the U.S. had a major impact on this chat. The NIMH will no longer be supporting the DSM (Data and Statistical Manual for Diagnosing Mental Disorders). With the newest DSM-5 set to be released on May 24th by the American Psychiatric Association, this decision sent shock waves through the Psychiatric community. Justification for the decision was that in the future, diagnosis needs to be based on physiological results rather than on strictly observable behaviors.
Unfortunately, this new approach is at least a decade off; leaving the DSM still a key diagnostic tool for most U.S. health care professionals. Ultimately, it may prove highly beneficial for gifted children and decrease the probability of misdiagnosis. Time will tell.
The Educators’ Guide to Gifted Children is a new brochure from Gifted Homeschoolers Forum. Our guests for this chat included Corin Goodwin, Executive Director of GHF; Mika Gustavson, MFT, Director of GHF Professionals; and Marlow Schmauder, on behalf of GHF. When asked why GHF decided to write about this topic, they explained that they wanted a tool to help parents begin a conversation about their gifted kid with other adults. They added that many good teachers are still confused by the social and emotional needs and the difference between gifted & high achieving students. The brochure is free and can be downloaded here. A full transcript of the chat can be found here.
There will be no #gtchat next week. Our next chat will be Friday, May 10th @7PM EDT/6PM CDT and our topic will be “The Misdiagnosis Initiative” from @SENG_Gifted. Follow @gtchatmod on Twitter for all the latest information on #gtchat. Our Facebook Page can be found here.
Global #gtchat Powered by the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented extends its thanks to PAGE (Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education) for hosting #gtchat at their Annual Conference in Pittsburgh.
Throughout the conference, all sessions were visited by the moderator and then tweeted for the benefit of conference attendees to enhance their experience, and for those who were unable to attend this year. Tweets included not only information from the presentations, but also background on each of the presenters as well as other presentations and projects in which they were involved.
PAGE provided the moderator with a central location at the conference to serve as a resource for anyone wanting to sign-up for and learn more about Twitter, prior to #gtchat on Friday. All of the information tweeted ~ including the keynote ~ can be searched on Twitter at #PAGE13 and clicking ‘All” at the top of the search results page.
A highlight of the conference was the keynote by Lisa Van Gemert, Youth Specialist with American Mensa. As a former teacher, administrator and parent of three gifted sons, her presentation, “The Five-Headed Dragon: Threats to Giftedness”, combined her wit and extraordinary life-experiences to connect with the audience in a deep, personal way. Twitter provided a unique record of Lisa’s keynote. If you ever have the opportunity to be at a conference with Lisa, make sure to attend her session. You’ll be glad you did!
Lisa Van Gemert at PAGE Conference
Another popular presenter, East Carolina University Assistant Professor Dr. Brian Housand, spoke at two packed sessions about “Technology with Purpose: The Gifted Learner Connection”. Providing educators with practical tips on using technology in their classrooms, Brian reviewed a myriad of tools to enhance the quality of education necessary for today’s tech-savvy gifted student. As a member of Global #gtchat’s Advisory Board, he referred to the benefits of our Twitter chat in his presentation, noting the global collaboration which goes on each week.
Friend of #gtchat, Erik Schwinger of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, presented, “Get Out of the Classroom! The Value of Service Learning and Social Entrepreneurship.” Erik explained that it is important to provide gifted students with avenues to make a positive impact in their communities. These experiences can become a venue for teaching executive skills such as leadership, task commitment, organization, civic responsibility and communication.
Behind the scenes with Lisa Van Gemert, Dr. Brian Housand and Erik Schwinger waiting for #gtchat to start.
Global #gtchat would like to especially thank Mrs. Cynde Frederick for her role in bringing #gtchat to the PAGE Conference. Her forward-thinking involvement in conference planning included providing each attendee with a (sponsored) flash-drive loaded with materials from all the conference presentations including the new #gtchat flyer from TAGT. Cynde was also instrumental in holding the conference at Robert Morris University which provided free Wi-Fi to all attendees and technical support to presenters. This made connecting people to Twitter a simple process.
Utilizing Twitter at conferences is a great way to extend the experience for conference attendees. With multiple sessions being offered, it is impossible to attend all of them; but easy to follow updates on Twitter. Saved hashtag searches can create a permanent record of tweets and the links they contain. Background information about presenters further enhances the value of tweeting your conference. So, consider Twitter when you’re planning your next conference!
One of the most recognizable educators on Twitter today is Jerry Blumengarten, aka @cybraryman1, and #gtchat was privileged to have him as our guest at our live chat from the Annual Conference of the Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education in Pittsburgh, PA. Jerry has been a mentor and friend to thousands of teachers on Twitter. He is well known for his expansive website ~ Cybrary Man’s Educational Web Sites where he has curated over 20,000 links for parents, students and educators.
Although Jerry was with us virtually, it was a bit of a homecoming for him as he is a proud graduate of the University of Pittsburgh. After Pitt, Jerry taught in New York City for 32 years before retiring to Florida with his lovely wife, Gail. He is the father and grandfather of gifted children.
When Deborah Mersino began #gtchat in 2010, Jerry helped her with logistics & promotion of the chat. He now co-moderates #edchat and contributes to numerous other chats. In a very perceptive post entitled, “Beyond Curating and Sharing – How Cybraryman Teaches on Twitter“, one reviewer described Jerry this way ~ “… if you’re reading this and you know anything about Cybraryman, what makes the difference is Jerry. The teacher makes the difference. You see, Jerry doesn’t just blindly promote the Cybrary at any old time, linking folks to the front page and telling them good luck from there. No, Jerry does what great teachers do – he listens. … and he responds with resources. He shares his own experiences and then provides external sources so that we can further explore based on our need and desire to learn.”
Jerry shared some great insights about Twitter with us during the chat. “[The] Beauty of Twitter [is that] it is a level playing field. [You] can tweet with educators, parents, policy makers, politicians, experts in all fields. The key to Twitter are the hashtags. I firmly believe that not only hashtags are important but the chats associated with them are what makes Twitter so valuable. Just look today at the wonderful participants from all over the world. It trends & has a global reach that is amazing! Chats enable the sharing of all points of view and many you were not aware of. Also extends your learning.” A full transcript can be found here.
For the second week in a row, #gtchat became a Trending Topic on Twitter from the U.S. and Canada to Australia! Our discussion centered on the why and how of disorganized gifted learners. Participants from 16 states and 6 countries (1st time for China!) chatted about whether being organized was all that important, where to find resources online and the best organizational tips. A full transcript can be found here.
Next week on Friday, April 19th, #gtchat will be LIVE from the Annual Conference of the Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education in Pittsburgh, PA at a special time ~ 3PM EDT/2PM CDT/Noon PDT/8PM UK/ 5AM (Sat) Melbourne, AU. Our guest will be Mr. Jerry Blumengarten, aka @cybraryman1 on Twitter. He will be talking to us about his involvement with #gchat and the transformative power of Twitter in the lives of educators and parents of gifted children. Jerry is a retired teacher who taught in the New York City school system for 32 years. Jerry received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and Master’s from Hunter College. With over 25,000 followers, he is one of the best known teachers on Twitter. His website, Cybraryman.com, has curated over 20,000 educational links with an extensive page for Gifted & Talented.
This past week, #gtchat partnered with SENG Gifted when it conducted an interview with Dr. James Webb, founder of SENG and president of Great Potential Press, about the Misdiagnosis Initiative. This silent crisis which affects millions of children who are misdiagnosed with mental disorders, but whose gifted characteristics are too often ignored or overlooked by healthcare professionals. Please take time to read the interview (link below) and share with your friends and organizations in (and outside) the gifted community.
Dr. Webb, thank you for taking the time to talk to us at Global #gtchat Powered by the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented on Twitter about this important issue to the gifted community. Parents and educators of gifted and twice-exceptional children have long struggled with the consequences of misdiagnosis and how to approach their health care professionals about the matter.
Moderator: What is The Misdiagnosis Initiative and why did SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) decide to promote it at this time?
Dr. Webb: The Misdiagnosis Initiative is SENG’s latest effort to make parents and professionals aware of the possibility that gifted children and adults may be misdiagnosed as having ADHD, Asperger’s, OCD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Bipolar, or other behavioral disorders, and that many of them may be placed inappropriately on medication. Additionally, SENG is raising awareness concerning twice-exceptional gifted children—i.e., those who are gifted yet do, in fact, have a disorder. In these cases, it is usually the person’s disability that is emphasized, and the gifted aspects are too often overlooked.
In addition to informing parents, SENG is making concerted efforts to reach healthcare professions, such as pediatricians, family practitioners, psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers, etc., because extremely few of these professionals have received any training about the characteristics of gifted children and adults and how these characteristics can result in behaviors that are mistaken for disorders or that have implications for disorders.
SENG’s Misdiagnosis Initiative, which really has been going on for several years, has several components:
Producing a brochure titled “Decreasing Medical Misdiagnosis in Gifted Children,” available from SENG both in English and in Spanish to give to health-care professionals. This brochure is available in print or as a free Internet download from SENG here, and nearly 10,000 copies have been distributed.
Producing bookmarks for parents of gifted children, available free from SENG, that list Internet and book resources. To date, over 30,000 have been distributed.
Featuring a brief video (see above, also) now on YouTube, developed a few years ago by SENG, on misdiagnosis and dual diagnoses of gifted children that has been viewed over 28,000 times.
Highlighting a video of a Grand Rounds lecture on misdiagnosis and dual diagnoses that I did at the University of Wisconsin Medical School that has been watched over 7,800 times.
Drawing attention to the book Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults, which has sold over 35,000 copies.
Conducting Continuing Education classes on this topic for psychologists and other counseling and health care professionals.
Establishing communication with the American Academy of Pediatrics to encourage them to incorporate characteristics of gifted children into their diagnostic guidelines for disorders such as ADHD.
Writing, and encouraging others to write, articles in general media as well as for professional publications in order to bring attention to this neglected area.
Conducting a nationwide survey of parents of gifted children to ascertain their experiences with physicians who see their gifted children.
Although these activities may seem like a lot, they do not come close to accomplishing the task and are really just the beginning. We continue to hear horror stories of gifted children who are overlooked, neglected, misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and inappropriately treated. Because of this, SENG is actively seeking funding from various foundations to continue and expand the Misdiagnosis Initiative.
Moderator: Last year, SENG sent a letter to the American Academy of Pediatrics questioning why their diagnostic guidelines fail to mention the possibility that a child’s intellectual giftedness may contribute to symptoms similar to ADHD. What was their response?
Dr. Webb: When the American Academy of Pediatrics lowered the recommended age for diagnosing ADD/ADHD from age 6 to age 4, it caught our attention, particularly since there was no mention of the need to consider gifted child behaviors. In November 2011, we wrote a letter to the American Academy of Pediatrics, and follow up contact was made primarily by Marianne Kuzujanakis, M.D., MPH, who is not only a Harvard trained pediatrician, but also a SENG Board member and parent of a highly gifted child. (See Dr. Kuzujanakis’ most recent article for Huffington Post here. )At the time, I frankly thought that despite her credentials the American Academy of Pediatrics would brush us aside. I am happy to say that they did not. What is emerging is a continuing dialogue with AAP about how SENG might help to inform pediatricians about issues regarding gifted children. This dialogue has also resulted in several publications on the topic in pediatric journals, and we are optimistic that this increased attention will continue.
We are also hoping to have similar dialogues with the American Psychiatric Association. However, we have delayed this partly because we are such a small group attempting a very large task, and also because we are awaiting the arrival of DSM-5 to see what changes have been made and the implications those changes will have for the issues of misdiagnosis and dual diagnoses of gifted children and adults.
Moderator: Mental disorders are generally diagnosed solely on the basis of observable behaviors reported by parents, teachers, school counselors, etc. Are pediatricians the best personnel to diagnose ADHD/ADD and other disorders often confused with gifted behavior; especially in young children? Who would be a better alternative for parents of gifted children to seek out for a diagnosis?
Dr. Webb: Psychologists, in my experience, are generally the best at making an accurate diagnosis of ADD/ADHD—particularly if they are neuropsychologists who are also knowledgeable about gifted children. Regrettably, there are not a lot of these professionals around the country. The next best will be pediatricians, if for no other reason than that they often have a very longstanding relationship with the child and the child’s family. It is important, however, for parents to appreciate how difficult it can be for a pediatrician to make such a diagnosis; the typical office visit is often only 15 to 20 minutes, and the physician must rely on short child observation and rating scale information provided by teachers or parents. Parents must recognize, too, that these brief rating scales were not developed for gifted children.
Whether you seek help from a physician or a psychologist, it is particularly important to find someone who will not see gifted behaviors as necessarily representing behavioral disorders. Parents should openly ask the psychologist or physician about prior knowledge and experience with gifted children or adults, and perhaps about SENG’s Misdiagnosis Initiative. Giving the professional a copy of SENG’s brochure can help, too, or perhaps even a copy of the book, Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses of Gifted Children and Adults. If you and your child have a good relationship with the treating professional, and if the professional is open to considering gifted behaviors and treats the child with intellectual respect, then you probably are in a good situation.
Moderator: How do gifted characteristics put children at risk for misdiagnosis?
Dr. Webb: Perhaps the biggest risk comes from the gifted child’s high level of intensity and sensitivity. However, these characteristics, often referred to as “overexcitabilities,” are not necessarily problems. Most often, the problems come because such a child is inappropriately placed in an educational system (e.g., spending large amounts of time waiting for others to catch up), or is criticized by his family members who do not understand that the behaviors are characteristics of gifted children (e.g., “Do you have to question everything?” or “You are just stubborn and strong willed!”), or the child has substantial difficulty relating to her age peers (“Why do you have to be so bossy” or “Why don’t you want to play with the other children?”). When a bright, intense, and sensitive gifted child is put in such an ill-fitting and unsupportive situation, the result often are problematic behaviors. However, these behaviors are not indicators of emotional problems.
Some years ago, the educator May Seagoe composed a list of characteristics of gifted children. On the left side, she wrote the strength that derived from that characteristic. On the right side, she wrote potential problems that could arise from that very same characteristic. For example, a strength might be that the child acquires information quickly; a related problem area might be that the child is impatient with others who do not learn as rapidly. Or perhaps the child has high energy (a strength), but also his frustration with inactivity may lead him to interrupt others (a problem). I would be pleased to provide a chart of these if people would email me at jwebb@greatpotentialpress.com, or you can find them here.
Because of the high energy level of gifted children, ADHD is perhaps the most common misdiagnosis, and parents might find it helpful to look at how behaviors of gifted children can be similar to those of ADHD. For this, I often recommend that they look at a brief article titled “ADHD and Children Who Are Gifted”.
Moderator: What practical strategies can you offer to parents who suspect their children may have been misdiagnosed?
Dr. Webb: Here are some general guidelines that may help parents in their initial thinking as to whether the behaviors are gifted or behavior disorder.
Does the developmental history indicate early developmental milestones or precocious development?
Are the behavior patterns typical ones for gifted children or adults?
Are the problem behaviors only found in certain situations or contexts, rather than across situations?
Are the problematic behaviors reduced when the person is with other gifted persons or in intellectually supportive settings?
Are the problematic behaviors most easily explained as stemming from a gifted/creative person being in an inappropriate situation?
Are the behaviors ones that truly cause an impairment in personal or social functioning, or are they simply quirks or idiosyncrasies that cause little discomfort or impairment?
If you answered yes to any of these six questions, you should mention this to the diagnosing professional. You may also want to get more specific and detailed information from a free SENG article or from the book Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnosis of Gifted Children and Adults. I would also encourage parents to consider getting a second opinion. Second opinions have been a valued tradition in medicine for many decades, and they are equally valid with regard to behavior problems as well.
Moderator: What resources are available to parents of gifted children to assist them in talking to their healthcare providers?
Dr. Webb: I encourage parents to use all of the resources that I have listed in the SENG Misdiagnosis Initiative above. Additionally, parents may wish to look at Hoagies’ Gifted Education Page which provides not only highly relevant and informative articles, but also there is a list of psychologists who have been recommended by other parents.
Moderator: In closing, Dr. Webb, you have dedicated your professional career to help gifted children and their parents recognize misdiagnosis. What initially influenced you to pursue this path?
Dr. Webb: We founded SENG in 1981 at the Wright State University School of Professional Psychology, after the suicide of a highly gifted teenager who had not received mental health help sufficient to alleviate his misery and depression. After his death, his parents contacted us and asked us to begin a program, and in addition to establishing parent discussion support groups, we also provided testing and counseling to families of gifted children. Soon, we began to notice a significant number of gifted children who had been diagnosed as having ADHD. As we studied them, we determined that many of these children did not have ADHD. Instead, they were bright, intense, sensitive children, most of whom were educationally misplaced and understimulated, who often were not able to relate to their age peers, and who were in power struggles with adults because they were so strong willed.
I reflected on how much training I had received in my own doctoral graduate training program in psychology. I realized that I had received only about 60 minutes worth of lecture on the subject, with the professor focusing on the Lewis Terman studies as an example of longitudinal research. I also remembered one of my professors saying to me that “In testing, once a child scores above 130, you can stop testing because it really doesn’t make much difference after that” and “Bright children are far less likely to have social, emotional, and behavioral problems.” Since I was now involved in the training of clinical psychologists, I began asking other psychologists, as well as other healthcare professionals, how much training they received about gifted children and adults. I discovered that they had either received none at all, or they had received about the same as I had.
Clearly, in my mind, there was a need to educate other professionals. So, I began to give class lectures to my doctoral students, and I began writing professionally about the topic. Through SENG, I began conducting classes in continuing education for psychologists, and gradually other professionals have begun to pick up on this area.
Moderator: We at Global #gtchat believe strongly that awareness and dissemination of information is critical to combat the misdiagnosis of gifted children and adults. There will be a special Twitter chat at #gtchat on Friday, May 10th at 7PM EDT concerning the Misdiagnosis Initiative from SENG.
It was an extraordinary chat ~ rapid fire comments: averaging one tweet every 6 seconds for an hour ~ as old and new participants joined #gtchat to discuss the veracity of labeling gifted children. In the end, there were many good points made on both sides of the debate; the need to label and the negative consequences of labels. No one seemed to think labels were ‘simply wrong’. It was also obvious that it was a topic of interest for many newcomers to chat as was evident when our hashtag began to trend … across the U.S. and in Canada and in Australia! The full transcript can be found here.
The final minutes of #gtchat was filled with several exciting announcements! On April 19th, #gtchat will be LIVE from the Pennsylvania Association of Gifted Children’s Annual Conference in Pittsburgh at a special time, 3PM to 4PM EDT. Our guest will be Jerry Blumengarten ( @cybraryman1) who was an early mentor to Deborah Mersino, founder of #gtchat, when she was starting the new chat on Twitter. Jerry is also a co-moderator of the popular #edchat on Twitter. As curator of Cybraryman.com, he has built an incredible educational portal site for students, parents and teachers.
On April 26th, #gtchat will welcome representatives from Gifted Homeschoolers Forum to introduce their new brochure, Educators’ Guide to Gifted children, written to be used as a tool for those who are working with educators who need to know about giftedness, gifted children and twice-exceptional children.
#gtchat is proud to announce an upcoming interview with Dr. James Webb on “The Misdiagnosis Initiative” begun last year by SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of Gifted). The interview will appear on this blog. A follow-up #gtchat will occur on May 10th at 7PM EDT with representatives from SENG.
This week’s chat considered the new Common Core State Standards ~ the good and the not-so-good ~ and what they mean for gifted students. A wide array of opinions were expressed. Many felt that the new standards were just another policy doomed to failure, while others thought it showed promise. There was agreement that how the plan was implemented was critical for any success. A full transcript can be found here.
Global #gtchat would like to thank Mrs. Jo Frietag for her blog post at Sprite’s Site (link below) on our chat. Jo’s blog is in the running for Best Australian Blog 2013. We would also like to thank Edtech Magazine for a nice mention and inclusion in their recent blog post, “A Printable List of the Best Education Hashtags“. Their tweet on Twitter: “You know the hashtag #edtech. But do you know #gtchat? Here’s two-dozen education hashtags every teacher should know!”
News Alert: Look for #gtchat LIVE at the #PAGE13 Annual Conference in Pittsburgh, April 19th at a special time @3PM EDT. We apologize that the month was tweeted incorrectly during chat!
This chat celebrated the 1 year anniversary of #gtchat being powered by the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented. The moderator and participants expressed their thanks to Executive Director, JJ Colburn; Past-President, Dr. Lynette Breedlove; Mrs. Deborah Mersino, Founder and First Moderator of gtchat; Assistant Executive Director, Tracy Weinberg and the fabulous staff at TAGT. Nearly 60 active participants tweeted more than 500 tweets during the hour and came from 4 countries and 20 states. The week leading up to chat included over 1,000 tweets from over 200 contributors reaching over 220,000 follows with 1.86 million timeline deliveries!
The occasion was marked by the introduction of TAGT’s #gtchat Advisory Board who provide support and advice to the moderator on a weekly basis. They are Mrs. Angie French (@teachagiftedkid), GT specialist at Tomball ISD near Houston, TX; Mrs. Stacia Taylor (@TXProfoundlyPG), founder of Texas Parents for the Profoundly Gifted, member of the Board of Directors at Rainard School, and member of the NAGC’s Parent Committee; Mrs. Nicole Shannon (@LonghornNic), coordinator of Gifted & Advanced Academic Services at Round Rock ISD; Mr. Ian Byrd (@ByrdseedGifted), gifted education writer and founder of Byrdseed Gifted; and Dr. Brian Housand (@brianbousand), Assistant Professor at East Carolina University and member of the Board of Directors at the NAGC. Special thanks also to past advisors, Mrs. Tracy Fisher, Mrs. Michelle Swain and Dr. Jan Fall.
Questions during the chat revolved around the importance of Twitter chats and how they can make a difference in the lives of both parents and educators of the gifted. Near the end, participants offered suggestions about the format and future of the chat which provided much needed insight to the moderator. A full transcript of the chat may be found here.
It was announced that #gtchat will be having a LIVE chat from the 2013 Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education’s Annual Conference on Friday, April 19th at a special time 3PM EDT. Moderator, Lisa Conrad, will be available during Thursday night sessions and during the day on Friday to assist attendees in signing up for Twitter. Lisa will also be tweeting live from the conference.
