Amber K Willburn 7/5/23 Amber K Willburn 7/5/23

The Most Overlooked Support for 2e Students: Acceleration

Twice-exceptional students are often denied access to accelerated learning paths because of their learning differences, especially in traditional school environments. If this sounds like your learner, don’t fret: There are many paths to help your accelerated learner access appropriately leveled materials outside of the traditional path. We’ve gathered a few ideas to help your 2e learner access accelerated materials.

Amber K Willburn 6/20/23 Amber K Willburn 6/20/23

Kids Who Shine – Helping Children Avoid Burnout: Part 2

Every year, businesses spend millions of dollars trying to apply the best practices and newest research into employee productivity, far more than education dollars spent on children and burnout.

There is so much research out there on the things adults can do to avoid burnout in their professional lives. We are applying some of that hard-earned research to help our children thrive.

Each of the steps on the Path to Shine includes strategies to help your child build resilience and avoid burnout. This week, we’ll cover the last four steps….

Amber K Willburn 6/5/23 Amber K Willburn 6/5/23

Kids Who Shine – Helping Children Avoid Burnout

Burnout is work-related stress that looks like mental exhaustion and a general lack of motivation. While there is a ton of research around burnout for adults, I can’t help but draw parallels to so many of our 2e kiddos.

How many children (especially 2e kids) start this path to burnout before they even enter high school or college?

Is our education model, full of perfection and tedium, actually training kids to grow up into adults that are primed for burnout? And most importantly…

Samuel Young 5/30/23 Samuel Young 5/30/23

6 Proven Study Strategies To Take Studying To The Next Level!

We all want to maximize our child’s learning and help them to achieve. The thing is, studying is a skill in and of itself that often gets rushed over.

Studying is not one size fits all! In fact, it’s more like a Frankenstein thing that we build over time as we’re exposed to different systems.

One of the biggest hurdles is that there are countless study methods and techniques available and it can be challenging to determine which ones are effective.

Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 5/22/23 Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 5/22/23

The Last 2 Miles: Finishing The Year Strong 💪

This year has been a marathon, and we are now 2 miles from the finish. Some folks will say this is the easiest part because you can see the finish line, hear the crowds, and your adrenaline can kick in to carry you through the end.

Some will say that this is the hardest…

This school year has been a marathon. You and your child are almost to the end. Finish strong with whatever energy you both have left by following a few tips:

Help your child take stock of…

Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 5/15/23 Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 5/15/23

Say Goodbye To Social Skills Classes And Hello To Dungeons & Dragons

Roleplaying games (RPG) like Dungeons and Dragons (DND) have seen a resurgence in recent years.

As parents and teachers of twice-exceptional students, we can learn a lot from RPGs. Beyond the basic joy of playing a game, RPGs enforce three critical ideas for 2e students: 1) not every skill is equal, or needs to be, 2) lean into your strength, and 3) a balanced group is more powerful than a balanced individual.

Samuel Young 5/10/23 Samuel Young 5/10/23

Happy Mother’s Day To The Women Who Do It All!

Moms, never underestimate your power! As far as I can tell, there is no one more powerful in this world than you!

You are the courageous few who:

go up against the system and fight for accommodations
see strengths in your child when the rest of the world seems to see shortcomings
entrench yourselves in learning about neurodiversity and taking creative approaches with your kiddo
invest in programs that offer your child what you know is right
give so much by being a working professional and supporting your child full-time OR putting your career on pause to support your child full time

Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 5/2/23 Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 5/2/23

Building Strength-Based IEPs/504s

Children are amazing!

They are funny, clever, and brave. They can remind us of all of the very best things about this world, and they are so much more than any IEP, 504, assessment, report, or document could ever say. They are more than a moment in their educational career, and they deserve to be seen as the complex, unique beings that they are.

So here are a few tips for helping the IEP/504 team develop a strength-based approach to your child’s educational needs.

Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 4/25/23 Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 4/25/23

Top IEP & 504 Tips for Twice-Exceptional Families

Ah, spring.

A time of new beginnings: Flowers are blooming; eggs are hatching; and American parents are navigating the ins and outs of IEPs/504s at the end of a school term.

This time of year usually brings with it a few specific questions around IEPs and 504s, so I wanted to take a moment and answer a few of the most commonly asked questions.

Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 4/10/23 Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 4/10/23

Comparison- The Thief Of Joy

My mom always told me that “Comparison is the thief of joy.” It was right up there with, “If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you follow them?” Both turned into maxims that I still follow… at least most of the time. It’s hard not to compare your child when the world seems so set on gauging growth and success as some sort of delta between where you are to where “normal” is. From the first moment a child enters into your life, there are growth charts and development metrics.

Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 3/27/23 Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 3/27/23

The Kids Are Alright – At least, They Will Be [An Open Letter]

Hey friend,

How are you? Are you doing alright?

I’m here to tell you that you are doing a great job. I know you are exhausted looking at all the information and reading everything you can. It makes a difference. We can only ever do the best we can with the information we have at the time

Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 3/6/23 Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 3/6/23

Creating Learning Plans That Work: The 3 KEY Ingredients

Odds are, you are looking for a way to better align learning with your child.

Perhaps you’ve caught yourself fantasizing about learning that excites your child that you can feel good about.

You may be looking to supplement or create a learning plan for your child. Maybe you have been thinking about homeschooling for a while now.

Wherever you are on your journey, you may not know exactly where to start...

I'm here to tell you that that’s ok!

There are many paths to provide interest-led learning for your child, and not all of them are homeschool-focused.

To create a workable learning plan, one that both you and your child will like, you need to keep three things in mind. I call these the 3 KEY Ingredients. These are...

Samuel Young 2/19/23 Samuel Young 2/19/23

Every Hero Story Has This…

In every Hero Story there is always a guide. There is always a mentor who helps the hero come into themselves and do what they could not do themselves. Our hero is already extraordinary, but they often don't see their own powers...

More often than not, it's not even clear that our hero is a true hero until the mentor sets them on their journey of rebirth and growth.

Heroes become heroes because…

Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 2/13/23 Amber Willburn and Mr. Sam 2/13/23

Alternative Education Paths: Removing Barriers to Learning for 2e children

I invite you to see a different way to approach education – one that is passion-driven rather than proscriptive, one that is interest-led rather than top-down, one that caters to the unique learning strengths and challenges of EVERY SINGLE CHILD rather than a cookie cutter education that eschews anyone who doesn’t fit the mold.

I know. I am asking you to depart from culturally entrenched ideas of what school has been for a century. Instead, I want you to embrace what learning CAN be.

Samuel Young 2/6/23 Samuel Young 2/6/23

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!

Samuel Young 1/22/23 Samuel Young 1/22/23

Put On Your Mask: Recovering From The Dysregulation of Vacation

Phew. You made it. Winter break is over. I hope you are nice and relaxed and ready for the year ahead.

But… maybe you aren’t. That’s ok too. Here’s the thing though: You and your family don’t have to stay feeling stuck and overwhelmed after a holiday or vacation. To get your family back on track, you need to focus on yourself first. Think of it like an airplane…

Samuel Young 1/13/23 Samuel Young 1/13/23

Kicking-Off 2023 With Strengths: Week-1 In Our Virtual Village

By today, Friday, I have received 76 emails from families just like yours, who all had a story to tell about the magic of this week.

Each email detailed a special moment, or two, that really made this week special. Just like each student who is a member of our Virtual Village, each story was so different. What made classes special for one child was worlds apart from another. Across most of the messages, 2 clear trends emerged…

Samuel Young 1/2/23 Samuel Young 1/2/23

A Strength-Based New Year!

As 2022 closes out and 2023 begins, it can be tempting to look back at the past year and only focus on the trials, tribulations, and turmoil.

Real life can be really hard and raising a neurodivergent child certainly presents no shortage of challenges.

While our minds can often shift to the negative, it's important that we make a conscious effort to look for the positive. This doesn't always come easy and might take real work for you to get the hang of it, but it's worth it!

Samuel Young 12/26/22 Samuel Young 12/26/22

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.

Samuel Young 12/18/22 Samuel Young 12/18/22

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!

Blog

How A Strength-Based School Year Will Change Your Child’s Life!

Goodbye to Social Skills Classes. Hello to Dungeons & Dragons!

Creating Learning Plans That Work! The 3 KEY Ingredients

Alternative Education Paths: Removing Barriers to Learning