“Recognize the importance that God places on your happiness.” – Karen Maloy
“Recognize the …
January 26, 2013 by
How firm is you…
January 25, 2013 by
How firm is your foundation?
A Firm Foundation is recognizing that God is not trying to ruin your life, He is trying to show you how to enjoy it! Karen Maloy
Healthy Gardens
January 23, 2013 by
Your garden will remain healthy, as long as you rip out the weeds – often!
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee… 2 Cor. 2:9
“Mommy, I have a present for you!” she said with a smile across her face that could only come from a child, “Aren’t they beautiful?” There she was, standing there with a bouquet of beautiful flowers – dandelions. I couldn’t help but smile at the look of satisfaction that she had on her face. Now, anyone who knows anything about gardens, also know that dandelions are also weeds. They grow faster than plants, and being the parasites that they are, will sap the life out of them as well.
I couldn’t help but think of the correlation between sin and dandelions. Sin works in pretty much the same way as those dandelions. It comes to us disguised as something good and pleasurable, and yet in the long run is very harmful to you. We have to be careful that we are not allowing things into our lives that are sapping the very life out of us, and realize that everything that looks good for someone else – isn’t necessarily good for us!
We have all been given a measure of grace but, we have only been given the grace to handle that which we have been called to do. Doing something that you have not been called to do, will only rob you of what you need in order to handle “your ministry” – grace. For starters, you have to know what you have been called to do, focus, and then rip out anything from your life that is pulling your away from your call. And if you are carrying someone else’s cross with your grace – It is time to see it for what it is – a weed. Pull up your weeds that your garden may grow, and be all that God has created you to be. And remember that checking for weeds is a lifelong process – make it a point to check out your garden – often..
Twice-exceptionality and learning myths
November 26, 2010 by
There are many misconceptions regarding expectations for a child who is gifted. Some commonly accepted myths are 1) gifted students are not at risk if they are really gifted, they can get by on their own; 2) giftedness can be easily measured by intelligence tests and tests of achievement; 3) good teaching is all that is needed to teach any student; 4) or you really learn something when you teach it, and it never hurts students to review what they have already learned (Clark, 2008). These misconceptions would make the learning experience difficult for the learner with an exceptionality of gifted giftedness and increasingly more difficult for a learner who is gifted and has a learning disability. It is because of these misconceptions that teachers enter the educational environment, ill-equipped and ill-prepared to face the challenges of having a twice-exceptional child (G/LD) within their classroom. This is what ultimately hinders their development. The question remains as to what practices can be implemented to increase their potential for success?
Clark, B. (2008). Gifted Education and Talent Development: Myths and Misconceptions. Retrieved November 22, 2010, from Education.com: http://www.education.com/reference/article/gifted-education-talent-development-myths/
Current practices such as differential and adaptive learning strategies are more conducive to the elementary school environment as it requires more time for observations and preferably an established teacher/student relationship. Given that middle school teachers generally have a student base of more than 100 students, and spend approximately 40 – 50 minutes with student daily, adhering to these guidelines are more difficult. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what practices would be better suited for middle school students?
The IDEA and Twice-exceptionality
November 16, 2010 by
Research has proven that learners are more successful if their parents are involved in their education. This is the reason that many school districts strive to get parents involved. In reality that is usually not the case. There is the unspoken guidelines which state that parents are welcome to be involved as long as it does not require more work of the educational system.
The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) provides legal support for parents of children’s with exceptionalities, in that the school must provide each learner documented with a disability an individualized educational plan. In addition, they must meet the needs of that unique learner in the “least restrictive environment” in which the child learns. That means that schools now have to put forth the extra effort. Although there have been many concerns raised regarding the IDEA, guidelines have at least been established giving parents options for their child. This is true for most parents unless they are the parent of a twice-exceptional learner. These parents often do not know that their child is exceptional, and are relying on the educational system to recognize these things in their learners. Unfortunately for the parents, many educators are ill-equipped for this type of learner.
Some exceptionalities such as mental retardation; hearing, speech or language impairments, serious emotional disturbances and autism, are a lot easier to diagnose then giftedness and ADHD. In many cases these learners do not receive any type of enrichment interventions at all, as schools believe that the behaviors must be remediated before the child can be enriched. However, could it be possible that the behaviors that need to be remediated are the result of the learner not be enriched? In any event, these learners are not entitled to the safety of the IDEA because they are often not identified due to excessive behavior problems. In another study exploring teacher perceptions regarding giftedness and ADHD, it was revealed that teachers are more likely to refer learners for giftedness programming if they have mild behavioral problems (Rinn, 2009).
Rinn, A. N. & Nelson, J. M. (2009). Preservice teachers perceptions of behaviors characteristic of giftedness and ADHD. Roeper Review, 31, 18-26
.
Concerns with identification
November 10, 2010 by
The current assessment system is indicative of a “fail first” ideology that believes that unless there is a visible problem of a child adjusting to the “traditional” classroom environment, there is no reason to look for any differences. Although many learning disabilities are based on physical deficiences, exceptionalities such as giftedness and ADHD are both cognitive disorders, and in the case of ADHD many children have executive function deficits. You are correct in stating that it is hard to access “when there are no behaviors indicators”. In the event of these disorders there are behaviorial indicators, and behavioral problems are usually indicative of a problem that has not been previously addressed. Unfortunately educators who are the ones who spend a great deal of time with the learner are the ones who are expected to “refer” learners for additional services, are not properly trained to recognize those indicators.
admin@karenmaloy.org
kmaloy
http://karenmaloy.wordpress.com
1
November 6, 2010 by
A learner who is twice-exceptional are those students who have two areas of exceptionality. An area which is increasing growing are gifted learners which have ADHD. When we consider the alarming rate that twice-exceptional learners are being identified, we have to also take into consideration that our schools are not properly prepared to deal with these students. Many teachers are ill-equipped and lack the basic skills necessary to identify and teach these specific learners as they are not addressed within teacher development programs. The question remains what are the options that a parent has in the event that they have to advocate for their child? I will be exploring this subject further in future posts.