The author works with professionals and college students as a career coach certified in both the CliftonStrenths and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
During my time as a school psychologist, I learned that in many situations, the significant amounts of time and money invested in helping to improve a student’s area of weakness — e.g., social skills, executive functioning, processing speed, etc. — often only result in modest gains, if any.
Too often the process for helping twice-exceptional students stems from psychoeducational and neuropsychological assessments. These summaries, while initially useful for identifying areas of need and academic strengths, can be overlooked and/or misunderstood by students, parents, and educators.
There had to be a better approach.
Concerned about this lack of impact made by traditional special education assessments and reports, and the employability of students with learning differences, I left my career to pursue a path in career education and counseling. Focused on delivering meaningful results, I utilize the
StrengthsFinder assessment to help all students reach their potential.
This tool helps to increase students’ self-awareness of the “talent themes” that directly impact their success. Grounded in more than five decades of research around the world, StrengthsFinder ranks 34 distinct themes.
For example, a twice-exceptional high school student had difficulty making friends. The StrengthsFinder found that two of her top themes were
input and
individualization.
Input themes relate to asking questions and
individualization is characterized by customizing impressions. A “one-size-fits all” approach does not resonate with students who have
individualization in their top five themes.
To help her make friends,
input and
individualization were incorporated into her IEP goals for social skills training. She asked customized questions based on the unique qualities of classmates, and that resulted in her making friends more easily.
[perfectpullquote align=”left” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”Excellence is rarely achieved by minimizing error. It is more likely to be achieved by maximizing strengths.”[/perfectpullquote]
In another example, a college student used his
analytical and
strategic talent themes for a mock job interview exercise in a personal development class at the community college. For the first time he felt truly engaged and influential in a college course.
Students who take this assessment learn to communicate the “power-and-edge” of their talent themes with confidence and clarity. This is especially impactful for networking, college admission essays, and job interviews. Students also become adept at expressing “You get the best of me when … ,” “You get the worst of me when …,” “You can count on me to … ,” and “This is what I need from you.”
StrengthsFinder helps students to communicate the value they bring to a team process or organization. They learn to manage their weaknesses so that their strengths can produce results for themselves and their team. “Excellence is rarely achieved by minimizing error,” said Don Clifton, the developer of StrengthsFinder. “It is more likely to be achieved by maximizing strengths.”
