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Young Scholars Academy is a virtual village that helps twice-exceptional & differently-wired students to feel seen, nurtured, and happy as heck through strength-based courses, camps, and community!

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Whether you're a parent, educator, or simply passionate about supporting neurodivergent learners, this blog is your go-to resource for all things related to strength-based education and fostering a community of belonging.

Your Child’s Big Leap: A Framework For Unleashing Your Kiddo’s Strengths
Parent Support, strenghts Sam Young Parent Support, strenghts Sam Young

Your Child’s Big Leap: A Framework For Unleashing Your Kiddo’s Strengths

Is your child a vibrant ray of sunshine in your world, radiating unique interests, creativity, and curiosity at home, but seems to be dimmed by the demands of school and other “social norms”?

Much of life can have both us and our kiddos wondering, "What am I doing wrong?

Let’s be clear, it doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with you or your child! Quite the contrary…

The problem that you’re facing is simply a challenge of alignment- your kiddo may be out of alignment with their strengths and the tasks that they’re being asked to do.

Would you like to know how to help your kiddo break free from this cycle? It starts by….

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The Twice-exceptional Elephant: What 2e Is, and Most Importantly, What It Isn’t.
Sam Young Sam Young

The Twice-exceptional Elephant: What 2e Is, and Most Importantly, What It Isn’t.

What exactly does 2e mean? How do you know your child is 2e? Who gets to define what 2e is, and maybe more importantly, what it isn’t? The Twice-exceptional Elephant analogy can help define what 2e is, and maybe more Importantly, what it isn’t.

I often joke that I will retire the day that when I tell people my purpose in this world is serving “twice-exceptional students,” they will say “nice!” instead of “what’s that mean?” While the term 2e, or twice-exceptional, has been around for a while as a concept, the terms are fairly new in the fields of psychology and education. If you haven’t heard it, don’t worry, you're not alone. It just means there’s still lots of work to do!

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Illuminating Interview- Dr. Joseph Renzulli Pt 2
Sam Young Sam Young

Illuminating Interview- Dr. Joseph Renzulli Pt 2

“‘they find out what I can’t do, don’t want to do, and don’t like to do, and they spend the rest of the year beating me to death with it’” - former twice-exceptional student of Dr. Joseph Renzulli.

This was a moment in which Dr. Renzulli made a decision that would define his career: he committed his life’s work to find out what students:

✅ can do

✅ want to do

✅ like to do

and build authentic, interest-based learning experiences around the students, rather than the other way around.

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Illuminating Interviews- Dr. Joseph Renzulli
Sam Young Sam Young

Illuminating Interviews- Dr. Joseph Renzulli

After the launch of Sputnik in 1957, a young Dr. Renzulli, a then middle school science teacher, was put in charge of the gifted science program at his school. He was given students with 130+ IQs. The plot thickened when he snuck some quirky students in who he knew were just as bright, but were not on that list.

This led Dr. Renzulli to a major aha moment!

He realized that there were these 3 Key Factors that contributed to the students who were not on the original list of highly gifted students to do as well, if not better, than the students with the 130+ IQs!

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