ADHD, Advocacy, Education, More

FIRST UP: ADHD
— From ADDitude, an article titled “ADHD Neuroscience 101, in which “an expert on attention deficit and learning disabilities talks about the biology behind ADHD and why it’s sometimes so difficult to diagnose and treat symptoms in children.” Read more.
— From Healio Psychiatry, a report showing an inverse relationship between nature-based (as opposed to paint-based?) greeness at schools and ADHD. Find the study write-up.
— And from JAMA Psychiatry, reported by the UPI: “…researchers were essentially able to predict attention problems, as well as mood disorders such as depression and anxiety, in young grade school children using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI.” Read more.

GIFTED CHALLENGES. Psychologist Gail Post writes about tumult in 2019, and how “All of this highlights the even more pressing need for families to embrace their role as advocates for their gifted, high achieving and twice exceptional children.” Want some motivation for your advocacy efforts? Read her blog post.

TILT PARENTING’S newest podcast is with an education reformer, “a deep conversation about what the schools of the future will look like, how parents can shift their thinking about success, and the importance of creativity in our rapidly changing world.” Find the podcast.

EDUCATION POLICY, FUNDING, LEGISLATION
— The Washington Post gives the big picture on education funding recently approved for the fiscal year that started last October. The net-out: “Congress for the third year ignored the secretary’s request to slash billions of dollars from the agency’s budget.” The end of the article also quotes an Education Department spokesperson on this unusual turn of events. Find the article.
— Education Week focuses on special education, specifically Elizabeth Warren’s pledge to fully fund IDEA, something that has not been accomplished since the legislation originally passed several eons ago. Read more.

MORE SCIENCE, RESEARCH, AND MEDICINE
— The adolescent brain, from Science Daily: “New research from University of Alberta neuroscientists shows that the brains of adolescents struggling with mental-health issues may be wired differently from those of their healthy peers.” Find the study write-up.
— Treating anxiety, from Science Daily: “Between 30 to 50 percent of youth in the United States diagnosed with an anxiety disorder fail to respond to cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT). A new study reports that computer-based attention training could reduce anxiety in children and adolescents.” Find the study write-up.

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We wish you the best in your efforts to raise or teach or counsel those great twice-exceptional kids in your world.