Discipline, Limits, Studies, More

SPANKING. Most of us as parents are probably opposed to spanking in theory but sometimes tempted to use it in practice when a strong-willed, bright, frustrating, argumentative child refuses to follow our “reasonable” requests. Psychologist Gail Post, in her most recent blog entry, summons reason and research to support her advice on the topic, which is simply: Never spank your gifted child. Find the blog.

NEURODIVERGENT ADULTS. In the second podcast of a two-episode TiLT series on neurodivergence in adults — specifically, on discovering as an adult that you are differently wired — Debbie Reber interviews four parents of differently-wired children, parents who have made their own interesting discoveries. Find the podcast.

LIMITS ON GAMING. Got a computer game aficionado at your house? You might be interested in an article at the site of the Child Mind Institute on avoiding gaming problems and setting limits. Find the article.

EDUCATION POLICY. For those who want to keep tabs on what the U.S. presidential candidates think about special ed, specifically IDEA, we offer a piece from the Disability Rights Center with responses from 16 of the Democratic contenders to a question on IDEA. (We already know President Trump’s attitude toward education and special ed — somewhere on the far side of indifference.) Find the candidates’ responses.

SCIENCE, RESEARCH, MEDICINE
— Psychiatric diagnoses and mental health, from Science Daily, from the “Now They Tell Us” department: “A new study, published in Psychiatry Research, has concluded that psychiatric diagnoses are scientifically worthless as tools to identify discrete mental health disorders.” Find the study write-up.
— Tics in children, from NewsWise: “[R]esearchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis discovered that tics don’t go away completely; rather, most children simply exhibit tics less when others are watching. Learning how they do that may provide insight to help others at risk for significant tic disorders.” Find the study write-up.
— Bullying and depression in children, from the website News18: ” Young adults, who were bullied as a child, are at significantly greater risk of depression due to a mix of genetic and environmental factors, a study has found.” Find the study write-up.

CLEANING UP OLD NEWS. Sometimes we don’t post all the items we’ve found in a particular week (for reasons of space or sloth), and they remain “in the queue.” Today we empty the queue.
— The Times of London ran a piece on how to tell the difference “between normal teen angst and genuine anxiety.” Find it.
— US News did an article on the topic of the signs of anxiety in children — what to look for, the dangers, and how to help. Find the article.
— Radio WBUR, NPR’s Boston station, had a review/excerpt from a book titled Raising an Organized Child, written by a pediatrician. Of course, your child is probably perfectly organized — but if not, check out the excerpt.

Yes, the Next School Year Will Arrive
One way to ease the way into the next school year is to provide the new teacher with a copy of Understanding Your Twice-Exceptional Student, part of our Spotlight on 2e Series. The booklet tells how to recognize a 2e student, provides strategies for teaching such a student, and gives resources for further investigation. A PDF version is just $8; a print version is also available for $11. Find out more.