Category: Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous
Nicole A. Tetreault, PhD

Neuroscience of Anxiety in the Bright Brain

Bright children may be more prone to anxiety due to intensified imagination, heightened emotional and sensory processing, and altered brain circuitry. Unrecognized anxiety can lead to physiological and behavioral symptoms, misdiagnosis, and chronic stress. Holistic interventions, CBT, mindfulness, exercise, sleep, and supportive parenting help reduce anxiety and build resilience.

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Education & Homeschooling
Kate Bachtel

We are our Environment: The Eco-System of Gifted Development

Kate Bachtel argues that eco-literacy is essential to gifted development, urging educators to foster environmental connections, improve learning habitats, and address cultural climate. The essay highlights nature’s health benefits, sustainability practices, distributed leadership, and calls for moral responsibility to nurture ecosystems for youth and communities.

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Miscellaneous
Nicole A. Tetreault, PhD

Creatives unlock unique brain networks

Study shows creative thinking engages three large-scale brain subnetworks — default mode, salience, and executive networks — which synchronize to produce divergent thinking. This coordination across multiple regions, rather than a left/right brain split, supports imagination, problem solving, and idea translation.

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Miscellaneous
Nicole A. Tetreault, PhD

Loving Kindness Meditation

This post explains loving-kindness meditation: a practice cultivating kindness toward all experiences and beings. It guides a simple meditation—focusing on the heart, breathing, and sending intentions for safety, happiness, ease, and self-acceptance—then shifting those intentions toward oneself, with additional phrases and single-word mantras.

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Education & Homeschooling
Richard Olenchak

Creative Development and Twice Exceptional: Where Art Thou?

An educator recounts revising a fourth-grader’s IEP to recognize her twice-exceptional profile. By integrating accommodations with creative development and advanced math opportunities, the revised plan fostered the student’s strengths, improved reading outcomes, and established programs like a creative math club to support talent alongside remediation.

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Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Nicole A. Tetreault, PhD

Brain fingerprints

This post argues that neurodiversity is normal and humans cannot be boxed; brains are uniquely individual. Recent neuroscience mapping identified 180 cortical areas, revealing individual ‘brain fingerprints’ that highlight brain individuality and advance understanding of functional brain differences across populations.

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Miscellaneous
Nicole A. Tetreault, PhD

Three minute mindful breath

This short guided mindful-breath practice outlines a simple three-part exercise to bring awareness to the present moment. Steps guide posture, breath awareness, body scanning, tracking inhalation and exhalation, counted breathing, and reopening awareness. It can be done anywhere and repeated as needed.

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Miscellaneous
Stephanie Tolan

Election 2016: A Message to the SENG Community

The author reflects on post-election distress and advises parents of gifted children to acknowledge fears, model compassion and civic engagement, and take constructive action. She urges addressing parents’ own anxieties, teaching the Golden Rule, and supporting children to think and act responsibly in uncertain times.

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Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Gilman Whiting

Strength in America: A Message to the SENG Community

The author reflects on the 2016 election’s impact, describing anxiety among gifted students and the broader resilience of American communities. He urges parents and educators to guide children through political outcomes, explain the electoral process, encourage civic engagement, and teach respectful dialogue across differences.

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