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Category: Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Trauma
Education & Homeschooling
Teresa Brown

Organization, Accountability, and the Gifted Child

Gifted children often carry heavy cognitive loads and need ongoing support with organization and executive functioning. Teachers and parents must collaboratively teach and model routines, planners, and tracking systems, reinforce them at home and school, and maintain accountability so students develop lasting skills for academic and life success.

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Teresa Brown September 16, 2021
Education & Homeschooling
Vanessa Ewing, Gail Stine, and Stacey Pendleton.

Supporting the Well-Being of Gifted Learners

Gifted learners need emotional health and supportive environments to thrive. Adults should provide choice, mentorship, social connection, and strategies for anxiety and perfectionism. Schools can use clubs, communication, collaboration, low-stakes projects, and daily reflection to build resilience and support gifted students’ well-being.

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Vanessa Ewing, Gail Stine, and Stacey Pendleton. June 15, 2021
Miscellaneous
Neve Spicer

Meditation: A Valuable Coping Tool For 2E Children

Meditation can help twice-exceptional (2E) children manage stress, anxiety and emotional regulation. Research links meditation to improved self-esteem, reduced school-related stress, better coping skills, and symptom improvements in ADHD. World Meditation Day highlights these benefits and promotes meditation education for children and adults.

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Neve Spicer June 15, 2021
Communication
Lin Lim, Ph.D.

Open Our Hearts to Inspiration

During a visit to Laguna Beach tide pools, a parent describes discovering a lone fish then a school of fish, which inspired her son to write a spontaneous short story. The post encourages parents to expose children to new experiences, as inspiration can arise unexpectedly and foster creativity.

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Lin Lim, Ph.D. May 7, 2021
Over-excitabilities
Matthew J. Zakreski, PsyD.

Helping Them Climb: Gifted Kids in Therapy

Gifted children often experience intense, frequent, and long-lasting emotions that adults misunderstand. Therapists, teachers, and parents should listen, validate, and join their feelings rather than dismiss them. In the author’s case, supporting a grieving, angry teen led to productive action—an environmental club—and improved functioning.

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Matthew J. Zakreski, PsyD. April 13, 2021
Misdiagnosis
Steven Pfeiffer

Helping Them Climb: Optimizing Favorable Outcomes When Counseling the gifted

This article integrates child psychotherapy research and four evidence-based counseling principles for gifted students: use empirically supported interventions, emphasize the therapeutic alliance and clinical expertise, involve families, and progress-monitor outcomes. It advocates a strength-based focus and illustrates practice with a dialectical behavior therapy clinical case.

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Steven Pfeiffer February 11, 2021
SENG Director's Corner
Kate Bachtel

The Complex Simplicity of Gifted Well-Being

Kate Bachtel argues gifted well-being is both complex and simple: shaped by trauma, physiology, and multiple developmental dimensions. Schools should listen, validate, challenge and create opportunities. Regular practices—strengths-based engagement, creativity, nature connection, emotional skill-building and agility—support empowerment and healthier outcomes for gifted youth.

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Kate Bachtel November 15, 2019
Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Trauma
Patrick Bailey

Are Gifted Teens at Greater Risk of Taking Drugs?

This article examines substance use among gifted teens, noting high rates of alcohol and marijuana use, risk factors such as peer influence, isolation, mental health and trauma, common behavioral and physical warning signs, and recommends monitoring, early intervention, social support and tailored rehabilitation to prevent and treat addiction.

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Patrick Bailey April 12, 2019
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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Nicole A. Tetreault, PhD February 27, 2019