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Purely Gifted


Anxiety and the Gifted Brain

4/4/2018

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By Jef Poskanzer (originally posted to Flickr as smash) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Thump....Thump....Thump…Thump.Thump.Thump.  I can hear my heart pounding.  I can HEAR it.  Can anyone else hear it?  The world around me starts to blur.  My thoughts are screaming in my head, but they're breaking up.  A single thought repeats itself incessantly.  A million more pile on.  Some are only snippets.  Some are entire narratives.  I'm having a conversation with myself that no one can hear, but I can't get out the words to tell anyone.   My limbs become numb.  It's only me, myself, and I in here, and it's already overcrowded.  I don't know why, but I'm sure I'm not going to make it through this.  I can barely breathe.  My skin is itchy.  
I've been through this enough times to know.  I'm not going to die. I'm going to be okay.  I'm having an anxiety attack.  That's all.  I will survive.  At this point in my life, I know how to manage this.  I force myself to take deep breaths.  I force myself to focus on something menial and repeat it to myself like it's my Bible.  ​​

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ADD, ADHD, Neuro-stimulants, and the Gifted Brain

6/21/2017

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It’s almost immediately identifiable - the moment a child is put on neurostimulants or, as I like to call them, neurological restraints.  Their eyes glaze over, the sparkle in their eyes that once gave them passion now muted.  Their response and engagement with their surroundings is now sluggish.  It’s as if all their color has faded - a black and white speck in a vibrant movie.  The world keeps going but they’re lost in it.  Sometimes, they know it -- sometimes, especially when they’re younger, they’re less aware. 

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Autism –vs- Giftedness: A Neurobiological Perspective

5/30/2017

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​Each one of my students holds a special place in my heart – ten years, thousands of students and parents – it’s been a long journey towards understanding in an effort to provide the resources that these children need so desperately.  Yet, it’s been those profoundly gifted students who present with social and communicative inadequacies – often deemed as “quirky behaviors,” and in extreme situations, autism spectrum disorder(ASD), that invoke a sense of urgency in my own professional ambitions.

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Are Gifted Minds Wired Differently?

5/11/2017

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Photo Credit: aboutmodafinil.com
I didn’t really know he was gifted.  I didn’t really know I was gifted.  He was always my little brother -- and I was always me.  It wasn’t until school started that I realized that he -- we, were different  He was always a bit more outwardly different -- absorbed in his own thoughts and ideas about the world -- never ending questions of why, and jumping from one idea to another as if there was a connection.  I’m sure there was -- we just couldn’t see. 
 This was, in many ways frustrating to him.  As much as we saw that he didn't understand the world around him -- and the world didn’t understand him -- I think he internalized this even more.  We stubbornly fought to find a place for him, though over the years, I’ve come to understand that, like my little brother, a small percentage of the world seems to operate on a different frequency, neither understanding or being understood by the masses of humanity.  ​

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Are Standardized Tests Necessary?

5/8/2017

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Source: Wikimedia/Creative Commons
I'm young enough to remember sitting down to take standardized tests each year.  I'm also old enough to remember a time when we didn't take standardized tests.  I became deeply invested in lobbying for educational reforms at a very young age.  My mom was elected to our local school board.  By middle school, I was helping to put together educational programs for gifted students.  This, in turn, allotted me plenty of opportunities to learn about our school systems -- both past and present.  Over the years, I've watched the overall goal of our education system shift  dramatically -- rapidly becoming a 12 year sentence for our children to survive, not thrive.  ​

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    Danielle Voit

    Danielle Voit is the Co-Director of HEROES Academy. ​​​

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Serving NJ's Best and Brightest since 2007


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learn more about heroes academy
  • ABOUT HEROES
    • About >
      • Placement Testing
    • History
    • FAQs
    • Gallery
    • School Calendar
  • Math
    • Math Corner
    • Mathfacts >
      • 3rd Grade
      • 4th Grade
      • 5th Grade
    • Logic, Games and Puzzles >
      • Logic Puzzles >
        • Math Facts Squares
        • Binary Puzzles
        • Multiplication Mysteries
        • Math Facts Games
    • Math Classes
  • Reading
    • The Reading Corner
    • Recommended Reading >
      • Library Catalog
      • Passport Reading Program
      • Elementary Level Reading Lists >
        • Harry Potter
        • RoaldDahl
        • Fairy Tales
        • Elementary Fiction
        • Elementary NonFiction
      • Middle School Level Reading Lists >
        • Middle School Fiction
        • Historical Fiction
        • Wonder
        • Percy Jackson
        • Hunger Games
    • Games and Activities >
      • Word Puzzles >
        • Word Searches
        • Word Mazes
        • Word Scrambles
        • Latin Based Activities
    • Writing
    • Language Arts Classes
  • Purely Gifted
    • Purely Gifted Blog
    • Identification >
      • Characteristics
      • Testing >
        • Ability Testing
        • Achievement Testing
      • Theories on Gifted
    • Education Options >
      • Acceleration >
        • Public School Policies
      • Homeschooling
      • Enrichment
    • Memoirs
    • Research >
      • Neurobiology
      • ADHD and the Gifted Brain
  • Contact
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