We’re so glad you’re here! We’d like to extend a special welcome to all our new friends from the NASP Convention. If you’re looking to explore the details of our Young Scholar Program, you can find that information at the end of this newsletter.

How are you doing?

In many ways, March is a month of transitions. And, traditionally, transitions have not always been a fan favorite in the gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) community. How can you and your learner more smoothly navigate the transitions of March?

Let’s explore that!

In like a Lion, Out like a Lamb

One of the most obvious transitions of March, depending on where you’re located, is probably the transition from winter to spring. Depending on where you’re located, March might start off blustery, cold, and thoroughly wintery, and it ends with the promising starts of spring renewal and rebirth.

Many of you probably “sprang forward,” with the time change on March 8^th. And while that means more hours of sunlight (yay!), that may also have resulted in disrupted sleep schedules (not so yay!).

While many of us are excited for the start of spring, and the end of winter, disruption to our sleep, changes to our schedules, and an increase in seasonal allergies may still leave us dreading this seasonal transition.

In terms of school, many will be going on Spring Break later this month. Any school break can lead to tricky schedule changes and big feelings around transitions.

While we may have started the month feeling sluggish or ready to trade the last dreary days of winter for some spring warmth, the start of spring can also feel overwhelming. Much like New Years resolutions in January, ideas of spring cleaning, or new organizational flows, or a final push to the end of the school year, can make March and the start of spring feel pressure-packed, despite its pastel color scheme.

What can you do to help these transitions feel more approachable and manageable?

Lots!

Let’s explore how reflecting on and reevaluating your understandings of and approaches to organization can help create softer, more manageable, more intuitive transitions. Let’s find some approaches or strategies that might be a fit for you and your learner.

What Does Organization Have to Do with Transitions?

We often talk about how gifted and 2e individuals struggle with transitions because they struggle with executive functioning (EF). EF can be described as “the little CEO in the frontal lobe.” Working on EF skills often becomes crucial as learners progress through school and start having to manage more class changes throughout the school day, longer and more complex school assignments, and more nuanced social interactions.

A lot of strategies to develop EF skills focus on helping learners see time, understanding the flow of time, seeing their task (and all of its components), and understanding the flow of their task. Eventually, the goal is generally to be able to do all these parts at once—to understand the relationship between you, your tasks, and time and then to efficiently work within that relationship.

EF supports typically focus on strategies to better organize your time and/or the components of the tasks in front of you.

When you set alarms to remind you it is time to transition from one activity to another, you are employing an organizing structure over your experience with time. When you use a daily planner or a giant wall calendar in your kitchen, you are organizing. When you habit stack or lay out your clothes for the next day and make your lunch at night, so you’re ready to go in the morning, you are integrating organization into your routine.

So, to discuss transitions or struggles with EF, without discussing organization, would be missing the point.

But, as with all things we discuss here at Guiding Gifted, the aforementioned “point” is not one size fits all.

That is, forcing yourself (or your learner) to adhere to an organizational system that doesn’t fit your needs and support the ways in which you organically move through the world may end up causing your more suffering than success.

Is Shame Getting in the Way of Your Organizing?

Have you ever tried to stick to a schedule or organizing method that everyone swore to you would change your life, but it just didn’t click for you? Have you been teased throughout your life about your cluttered desk, but when things aren’t all piled up in front of you, you are actually more lost? Do you have a complex Post-It note system and/or a multi-alarm system in morning that no one but you quite understands, but you swear it’s the only thing that works for you?

If any of those examples resonate with you or sound vaguely familiar, you’re definitely not alone.

As adults, we’ve had lots of time to trial and error our ways into systems and strategies that work for us—whether we realize that’s what we’ve done or not. Sometimes, we stumble into our best rhythms and routines without realizing it.

Still, we may feel the need to amend those rhythms and routines for no other reason than they don’t look like what experts or other advice-givers have decided is efficient or effective.

What if those people were wrong? What if their approach is efficient or effective—in theory—but it’s not the right approach for you (or your learner)?

Should you still try to force yourself to adhere to it?

Is that how you want to spend your energy?

What could you do with that energy if you weren’t trying to mold yourself to an ill-fitting organizational system?

Gifted and 2e brains experience the world and processes information differently than others. Even when two people have, on paper, the exact same diagnoses and profile, they still experience the world distinctly as individuals.

Devon Price, Ph.D. has written two books that we find useful in deconstructing some of the lies we tell ourselves about what productivity and organization should look like, Laziness Does Not Exist and Unlearning Shame. If you’ve been with us a while here at Guiding Gifted, you’ve probably seen us reference these books before.

If you (or someone you’re guiding) are struggling with understandings of productivity or organization that are not aligning with your lived experiences and needs, maybe these books can be helpful first steps to finding more aligned approaches.

What Does Your Version of Organized Look Like?

Everyone’s definition of what it means to be organized is different. It may come as no shock at all that what organization means to you may differ vastly from what it means for your learner.

Typically, there is what we have been taught about how to organize, and there is our natural sense of how to organize. These two do not always overlap. Sometimes, they are absolutely opposed to each other. This tension between what we’ve been taught we should do, versus what our natural patterns are can cause a lot of frustration, shame, and feelings of defeat.

What if it didn’t have to be this way?

That’s right.

What if the way your mom told you things had to be organized isn’t the only way things can be organized? (Sorry, moms!) Neurodivergence often runs in families, so the supports and strategies that worked for other family members may not work for you, and that’s ok.

What if the way your 4^th grade teacher said your work had to be organized wasn’t the only way to organize your work?

What if what works for someone else doesn’t work for you?

Simple!

Let’s figure out what works for you, and try it out!

Below are a variety of resources that all explore neurodivergent approaches to organization and executive function.

Why are there so many resources on the same topic? Because, if you’ve met one gifted/2e person, you only met one gifted/2e person.

Even when folks have similar profiles or the “same” diagnoses, the ways they experience and move through the world is going to differ. That’s why we’ve shared a variety of resources. Even when they overlap, the differing approaches and perspectives of one resource might speak to you or resonate with you in a way that the others don’t.

Articles:

• Neurodivergent Organization Strategies That Actually Work -Motley Bloom

• 33 ADHD-Friendly Ways to Get Organized - ADDitude

• The Tools that Help Me Organize a Neurodivergent Life - Becca Alley

• Tips for Families: Is Flexibility a Superpower? - Peg Dawson, Ed.D.

• Executive Functioning and Gifted Children - Davidson Institute

Videos:

• Organizing While Neurodivergent: There’s an App for That - Neurodiversity Podcast

• Overwhelmed? Too Busy? Here’s How To Get Through It - How to ADHD

• 5 Lies I Believed About Productivity (As Someone With ADHD) - How to ADHD

• Why Is It So Hard to Do Something That Should Be Easy? (Wall of Awful pt. 1) - How to ADHD

• How to Do Something That Should Be Easy (But...Is...Not) - How to ADHD

• How to Deal with Clutter When You Have ADHD - How to ADHD

• SPRING BREAK - do this! - Seth Perler

Books:

• Perfectionism - Lisa Van Gemert, M.Ed.T.

• How to Keep House While Drowning - KC Davis, LPC

• Brain-Body Parenting - Mona Delahooke, Ph.D.

• Plus, check out the Devon Price books we linked earlier in this issue.

What have you learned from these resources? Did you watch or read one and feel a wash of relief? Did a concept that you’ve long struggled with finally seem to click? Did you let go of some of the shame or negative self-talk that you used to hold related to a particularly onerous organizational task?

We hope so. We hope the strategies and ideas discussed in these resources can serve as a springboard for brainstorming more ways you can support your learner and yourself through transitional, executive function, and organizational challenges.

Conclusion

Whether this is your first issue with us or if you’ve been here since the beginning, we are grateful to be part of your advocacy community, and we’re here to support you how we can.

If you’re in one of our programs already, you know there are lots of resources for you to access via our private, member’s only website.

If you’re not currently participating in one of our programs, there is still a wealth of information and support available to you. Check out our Resource Library or our free resource guides or any of our other curated resources (like our Spotify and YouTube playlists or our Bookshop.org reading lists).

Finally, a fundamental part of advocacy is making sure basic needs—like food and shelter—are being met for both us and our learners. If you or someone you know might need extra support, findhelp.org may be a useful resource. It can also help you find organizations to support, if you’re in a position to help others.

We hope you find ways to more comfortably navigate this month’s transitions and changes. We’ll see you in April!

What’s New at the Davidson Institute?

Apply to Young Scholars!

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!

If you want to learn more about our program, explore our website, or register for our upcoming virtual Application Q&A. Our next Q&A is taking place on March 16, at 4 pm (Pacific). Does that time not work for you? Don’t worry. If you register for the event, you’ll receive a recording of the Q&A.

Remember! Annual Summit Weekend is only open to Young Scholars. If your family wants to join us for Summit 2026, be sure to apply to Young Scholars!

Testing Opportunities – Spring Test Dates Available NOW!

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

To learn more and register for Spring 2026 test dates (or to join the Fall testing waitlist), check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here!

How are you doing?

We hope you are doing well. We hope, in this month so often associated with love, that you’re finding some opportunities to experience love through your community and through your advocacy.

Advocacy and love might, at first glance, seem as if they are not all that related. However, in so many ways, advocacy is one of the greatest expressions of love. Gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) advocacy is the practice of working to make a world that is accepting and accessible for your neurodivergent loved one. As Jess Steele writes (source article linked below):

At its core, advocacy is love in action. It is the willingness to speak up, show up, and fight for what is right—not just for ourselves but for those whose voices are unheard, whose struggles go unseen, and whose paths need clearing. Advocacy is a deep expression of care, commitment, and connection. It is love that fights. Love that refuses to be silent. Love that demands change.

And as with so many things, neurodivergent expressions of love can look different than we might expect, since we are often so used to seeing love discussed in a neurotypical framework.

On your advocacy journey, we encourage you to explore what love looks like for you and your learner, in a practical, day-to-day way. Below are some resources that might help you with this exploration:

• “The Five Neurodivergent Love Languages” - Stimpunks Foundation

• “Neurodiverse Love Languages: The Ultimate Guide” - Barbara (Blaze) Lazarony, LMFT

• “Advocacy as a Love Language” - Jess Steele

• Guides to Gifted Friendships and Social Skills - The Davidson Institute

• The Serviceberry - Robin Wall Kimmerer

• How to Keep House While Drowning - KC Davis, LPC

• How We Show Up - Mia Birdsong

Some of the resources above are more geared towards romantic love, some towards community love, and some offer a more broad, general discussion of love and care. However, as with all things Guiding Gifted, we hope you can see the opportunities for customization and personalization that exist within the resources linked above. We hope that exploring the different approaches to love in these resources will help you to find new understandings of your learner, yourself, and your advocacy.

Advocacy can be daunting and exhausting. Recognizing advocacy as the act of love that it is can be an opportunity to breathe new life into your advocacy and open yourself up to new possibilities, approaches, and ideas.

And, ultimately, at the end of the day, a little more love and care in the world never hurts.

Conclusion

Whether this is your first issue with us or if you’ve been here since the beginning, we are grateful to be part of your advocacy community, and we’re here to support you how we can.

If you’re in one of our programs already, you know there are lots of resources for you to access via our private, member’s only website.

If you’re not currently participating in one of our programs, there is still a wealth of information and support available to you. Check out our Resource Library or our free resource guides or any of our other curated resources (like our Spotify and YouTube playlists or our Bookshop.org reading lists).

Finally, a fundamental part of advocacy is making sure basic needs—like food and shelter—are being met for both us and our learners. If you or someone you know might need extra support, findhelp.org may be a useful resource. It can also help you find organizations to support, if you’re in a position to help others.

We hope you find ways to practice the love of advocacy this month. We’ll see you in March!

What’s New at the Davidson Institute?

Apply to Young Scholars!

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!

If you want to learn more about our program, explore our website, or register for our upcoming virtual Application Q&A. Our next Q&A is taking place on March 16, at 4 pm (Pacific). Does that time not work for you? Don’t worry. If you register for the event, you’ll receive a recording of the Q&A.

Remember! Annual Summit Weekend is only open to Young Scholars. If your family wants to join us for Summit 2026, be sure to apply to Young Scholars!

Testing Opportunities – Spring Test Dates Available NOW!

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

To learn more and register for Spring 2026 test dates (or to join the Fall testing waitlist), check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here!

How are you doing?

How is your transition into 2026 going?

January is often an overwhelming time. There is so much talk and promise related to new starts. And at the same time, for many of us, it is winter, it is still getting dark early, and there is a strong urge to crawl under the blankets and not come out until spring.

But you can’t just squirrel away for the winter. You can’t just hunker down in coziness with your favorite show and enjoy soup and naps all the time. Right?

There are things you need to do. Responsibilities don’t stop for coziness!

But the fact of the matter is that neurodivergent individuals don’t always experience time in the same ways those around them—whether neurodivergent or neurotypical—do.

We spend a lot of time, and many issues of Guiding Gifted, discussing how to find the routines and rhythms that work for you and your gifted or twice-exceptional (2e) learner. We talk about slowing down to avoid burnout. We talk about listening to the rhythms and needs of your body and nervous system. And more than perhaps anything else, we advise that you take what you need and leave the rest—knowing that everyone has different needs and is at a different point in their journey.

We have all of these conversations to reinforce the reality that time doesn’t work the same for everyone. When you are navigating things like anxiety, executive functioning challenges, or processing speed challenges, time can seem as if it is moving differently. Those differences in perception of time can pose their own challenges.

So, instead of telling you all the ways you can organize your schedule or find opportunities for rest and reset amidst the busy start of the calendar year, we’re going to share some resources this month to help you better understand your unique relationship with time.

Some of these are short articles. Some are long. Some are videos. As always, take what you need, and leave the rest.

• “Monotropic Time & Neuroqueering Temporalities”

• “NeuroDivergence Time & Hyperfocus – Managing Time & Hyperfocus as a NeuroDivergent Person so it Doesn’t Ruin Your Life (an Autistic ADHD Perspective)”

• “5 Must-Have Tools to Help You ‘See’ Time”

• “Why You Should NOT Plan Out All Your Time”

• “Unpopular Opinion: Nothing in Life is a Waste of Time”

• “What is Crip Time”

• “Crip Time is Necessary for My Survival”

• Laziness Does Not Exist

Each of the resources above talks about neurodivergence and time differently. They also each talk about neurodivergence differently. Some focus on neurodivergence broadly. Some discuss time in relation to specific diagnoses, such as ADHD, autism, or non-verbal learning disability.

While the specifics of some of these resources may not apply to you or your learner directly, we hope you will find aspects of these resources to resonate with. We hope that they help you find understandings of time that validate and support both you and your learner.

Much of Gifted Guide work, and neurodivergent advocacy as a whole, is the practice of grappling with the fact that we live in a world that is most often oriented toward neurotypical experiences. Sometimes, simply the act of exploring other forms of experience and perception can help you refresh and revitalize your advocacy work.

Conclusion

As we move through 2026, know that you’re never alone in your advocacy journey. Whether this is your first issue with us or if you’ve been here since the beginning, we are grateful to be part of your advocacy community, and we’re here to support you how we can.

If you’re in one of our programs already, you know there are lots of resources for you to access via our private, member’s only website.

If you’re not currently participating in one of our programs, there is still a wealth of information and support available to you. Check out our Resource Library or our free resource guides or any of our other curated resources (like our Spotify and YouTube playlists or our Bookshop.org reading lists).

Finally, a fundamental part of advocacy is making sure basic needs—like food and shelter—are being met for both us and our learners. If you or someone you know might need extra support, findhelp.org may be a useful resource. It can also help you find organizations to support, if you’re in a position to help others.

We hope you have a curious time exploring time this month, and we’ll see you in February!

What’s New at the Davidson Institute?

Apply to Young Scholars!

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!

If you want to learn more about our program, explore our website, or register for our upcoming virtual Application Q&A. Our next Q&A is taking place on March 16, at 4 pm (Pacific). Does that time not work for you? Don’t worry. If you register for the event, you’ll receive a recording of the Q&A.

Remember! Davidson summer programs and events are only open to Young Scholars. If you want your learner to join us for Summer 2026, be sure to apply to Young Scholars!

Join us for Davidson Summer Programs 2026!

February 6, 2026 is the last day to apply to Young Scholars in order to be eligible to participate in 2026 Davidson Summer Programs (DSP)!

To learn more about DSP offerings, visit our website or check out the recording of the recent DSP info session.

Testing Opportunities – Spring Test Dates Available NOW!

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

To learn more and register for Spring 2026 test dates (or to join the Fall testing waitlist), check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here!

How are you doing?

We hope you’re doing well. We hope you’re finding some cozy moments to reflect on 2025 and bask in the glow of all you’ve done this year.

When we’re in the thick of advocacy work, it can be hard to recognize the progress we’re making or the successes we’re achieving. Often times, gifted guide work can feel like we’re just trying to keep up.

But as we draw closer to the end of 2025, and many schools here in the U.S. are getting ready for Winter Break, it is important to take time to reflect on and recognize all you’ve accomplished this year and all the ways you’ve grown—as both a gifted guide and a person. Look at all the ways your learner has grown and changed.

It may seem like there is no time to rest and reflect right now. The end of the year is often busy with holiday plans, end of semester hustle, and to-do lists galore. And just when you’ve caught your breath from all of that, you’ll start seeing messages about “New Year, New You.”

In all the busyness of the end of the year, when your inbox is full of emails with coupon codes from every store you’ve ever purchased something from, we want to encourage you to find some gentleness as we move into the winter season.

During winter, the world is often described as quieter and slower. Winter is a time of year when nature rests and regroups. Leaves have fallen. Trees are bare. Animals have moved to winter routines, to account for changes in food sources and temperatures.

On the eve of the Winter Solstice and start of the winter season, we want to encourage you to consider a slower pace of rest and restoration.

We know you might not be able to hibernate in a blanket fort until spring (doesn’t that sound nice though!), but there are probably some opportunities to enjoy a little quiet and a little slow in your day-to-day life.

Maybe instead of a rigorous study and work schedule, you and your learner can take a little time over the winter holidays to enjoy some cozy reading or craft time. Maybe you block out time to do a movie marathon or to play your favorite games.

Maybe instead of an intense workout, you can enjoy a family snowball fight or a stroll around the neighborhood to look at decorations and lights.

Help your learner listen to the rhythms of the season and their body to find what rest and reset can look like for them.

So much of gifted guide work is a practice of learning and tuning into your learner’s needs and rhythms. Use those skills now to find some comfort, gentleness, and joy here at the end of the year—for your learner and yourself.

Comfort, gentleness, and joy will look different for everyone. Maybe yours is more high energy. Go with what works for you, but please take time to marvel a little bit at all your extraordinary advocacy efforts this year—no matter how small they may seem. Because, some days, sending one more email or answering one more “but why?!” question is truly a Herculean task.

We are all well aware of that!

We see how hard you’ve worked this year. We hope you can find the celebration and reset that is meaningful and restorative to you.

And if you’re gearing up for holiday celebrations and feeling apprehensive about what advocacy and family dynamics might look like during that time, check out last month’s newsletter for some resources that may be helpful.

Conclusion

Thank you for joining us in 2025—whether this is your first issue of Guiding Gifted with us or if you’ve been here from the beginning; whether you’re part of one of our programs or if this is your first interaction with us. We are grateful to be part of your advocacy community, and we’re here to support you how we can.

If you’re in one of our programs already, you know there are lots of resources for you to access via our private, member’s only website.

If you’re not currently participating in one of our programs, there is still a wealth of information and support available to you. Check out our Resource Library or our free resource guides or any of our other curated resources (like our Spotify and YouTube playlists or our Bookshop.org reading lists).

Finally, a fundamental part of advocacy is making sure basic needs—like food and shelter—are being met for both us and our learners. If you or someone you know might need extra support, findhelp.org may be a useful resource. It can also help you find organizations to support, if you’re in a position to help others.

We are honored to be part of your advocacy community, and we will see you in 2026!

What’s New at the Davidson Institute?

Apply to Young Scholars!

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!

2026 application dates are available now! Start your application today!

If you want to learn more about our program, explore our website, or register for our upcoming virtual Application Q&A. Our next Q&A is taking place on January 12, at 11 am (Pacific). Does that time not work for you? Don’t worry. If you register for the event, you’ll receive a recording of the Q&A.

Remember! Davidson summer programs and events are only open to Young Scholars. If you want your learner to join us for Summer 2026, be sure to apply to Young Scholars!

Testing Opportunities – Join the Spring Waitlist!

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

To learn more and join the waitlist for Spring 2026 test dates, check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!

Please note: There will not be any new 2026 dates prior to Davidson Academy and Davidson Academy Online applications for the 2026-2027 school year closing.

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here! And we’d like to give a special welcome to our new friends from the annual NAGC Convention. (For our new friends, if you’re looking for Davidson Institute program info, that is all at the end of this newsletter.)

How are you doing?

No, really.

Pause.

Take a breath.

Do a body scan.

How are you feeling?

Where are you feeling your feels?

As we inch closer to the end of 2025, where are you spending your energy? What feelings do you find yourself coming back to?

Our inboxes are suggesting that folks might be feeling overwhelmed, as they struggle with decision fatigue. Maybe you’re struggling to find the resources, community, or support you need. Maybe you’re keeping things afloat, but you’re not quite sure how. Maybe things are actually going great for you and your learner, and you’re worried the other shoe will drop soon. Maybe you’re just waiting to enjoy the special dish or tradition that your family takes part in every holiday season.

Maybe, and perhaps more likely, you’re a mix of these and many other feelings.

We’re right there with you.

Last month, we welcomed you to “dysregulation season,” and last year, the title of our November issue of Guiding Gifted as “What if I Don’t Want to be Grateful!?”

While the holidays offer a lot to look forward to, we also know the holidays can be an overwhelming mix of emotions.

While holiday disruptions to our normal day-to-day routines can be fun and special and magical, they are also disruptions. And disruptions can find us juggling busy schedules, feeling scattered, and struggling with transitions.

If we, as adults, are struggling with these things, chances are that our gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) learners may also be struggling, even during activities they’ve been looking forward to.

These are all reasons why this is the time of year when there are many articles, blog posts, newsletters, and podcasts about neurodivergent needs during the holidays. There are guides and tips and strategies galore.

It’s wonderful that we get to share all these suggestions and resources with each other. It can help us feel seen and understood. It can also help us to build experiences that work for us.

Here are some of our favorite holiday guides:

• “Stop Unsolicited Advice from Families in Its Tracks” - Carol Brady, Ph.D.

• “A Gifted and Distractable Guide to Making it Through the Holidays” - Julie F. Skolnick, M.A., J.D.

• “Parenting Gifted Children Through the Holidays” - Molly A. Isaacs-McLeod

• “Surviving the Holidays with a House Full of Gifted Folks” – Institute for Educational Advancement

• “Tips for Low Stress Holidays for Gifted Families” - Davidson Institute

At the same time, too much advice can feel like just that: too much!

It can feel like there is a “right” way to accommodate us. It can feel like if we’re truly accommodating our needs or the needs of our learners, then we will simply be able to bypass dysregulation all together. If we plan enough or accommodate enough, certainly we’ll be able to remain emotionally regulated, right?

That’s a very nice thought, but that’s not how emotional regulation, or, quite frankly, being a human works.

You will experience emotional dysregulation. Even if you have a big list of tools. Even if all your accommodations are in place. Even if you plan your activities and rest in the “best possible way.”

We are emotional beings, and emotions aren’t always predictable. The strategies, suggestions, and tools shared in advocacy conversations are never meant to erase your emotional responses. They are there to help you navigate moments of dysregulation—not to prevent you from ever experiencing dysregulation.

So, as you travel “over the river and through the woods” or wherever holiday festivities may take you, our holiday wish is that you give yourself and your learner grace to be exactly who you are. Give yourself time to celebrate and time to rest. Give yourself time to socialize, as well as quiet moments.

Gifted and 2e advocacy is not an endeavor to erase needs or to mask your feelings and reactions. Advocacy is work we do to allow ourselves and our learners to explore and experience the world in ways that work for us. Exploration and experiences are not uniformly monotone or static. There are ups and downs, loud times and quiet times, laughter and tears. All of these things come with being human.

As always, when we offer you resources or suggestions, we hope you take what you need and leave the rest. You don’t need to “strategy” yourself into a perfectly emotionally regulated holiday. That’s not even really possible.

Take the strategies and suggestions that will help you have the experiences and interactions that are meaningful, interesting, and enjoyable to you.

Take the strategies and suggestions to make the abrupt or jarring transitions or schedule disruptions more tolerable.

Take strategies and suggestions that help you navigate crowds, cold temperatures, or unfamiliar foods in ways that help you more fully participate in events and activities that you want to participate in.

Take the strategies and suggestions that help you support your learner or other loved ones—including yourself!

Conclusion

This month, the Davidson Institute is especially grateful that you are part of our community—whether this is your first issue of Guiding Gifted with us or if you’ve been here from the beginning; whether you’re part of one of our programs or if this is your first interaction with us. We are grateful to be part of your advocacy community, and we’re here to support you how we can.

If you’re in one of our programs already, you know there are lots of resources for you to access via our private, member’s only website.

If you’re not currently participating in one of our programs, there is still a wealth of information and support available to you. Check out our Resource Library or our free resource guides or any of our other curated resources (like our Spotify and YouTube playlists or our Bookshop.org reading lists).

Finally, a fundamental part of advocacy is making sure basic needs—like food and shelter—are being met for both us and our learners. If you or someone you know might need extra support, findhelp.org may be a useful resource. It can also help you find organizations to support, if you’re in a position to help others.

We are honored to be part of your advocacy community, and we will see you next month to wrap up “dysregulation season”!

What’s New at the Davidson Institute?

Apply to Young Scholars!

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!

2026 application dates will be announced next month, but you can start your application today!

If you want to learn more about our program, explore our website, or register for our upcoming virtual Application Q&A. Our next Q&A is taking place on January 12, at 11 am (Pacific). Does that time not work for you? Don’t worry. If you register for the event, you’ll receive a recording of the Q&A.

Remember! Davidson summer programs and events are only open to Young Scholars. If you want your learner to join us for Summer 2026, be sure to apply to Young Scholars!

Testing Opportunities are OPEN! REGISTER TODAY!

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

There are limited test sessions left in 2025. To learn more and register, check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!

If you’d like to join the wait list for 2026 test dates, CLICK HERE! Please note: There will not be any new 2026 dates prior to Davidson Academy and Davidson Academy Online applications for the 2026-2027 school year closing.

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here.

How are you doing?

Are you feeling a little (or a lot) overwhelmed and out of sorts? If so, you’re not alone!

We often affectionately refer to October as the start of “dysregulation season.”

Why?

(Maybe you can already guess!)

We refer to the period between October and December as “dysregulation season,” because from now until the end of the calendar year can feel like a race—if not a full-on sprint, with no let up.

For some, the stress might be rooted in parent-teacher conferences or the approach of midterm exams. For others, the stress, festivities, and disrupted schedules of the holidays are overwhelming. Halloween alone can cause a lot of anxieties, stress, excitement, and dysregulation for many gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) students.

Maybe you or your learner is sensitive to the change in weather. Maybe you’re eyeing the time change that’s coming up (at least for most places in the US) and dreading what that will do to nighttime and morning routines in your home.

This is all to say, there may be a lot coming up for you and your learner over the next few weeks. Anticipating those events and activities can be a lot of fun. It can also be a lot of stress and anxiety.

Sometimes, we can’t tell the difference between excited and anxious. That can leave us feeling stuck in a mishmash of overwhelming feelings.

This month, we’re going to start discussing how to navigate times when you and your moods, emotions, and regulation may be pulled in a variety of directions.

With busy schedules, come external expectations.

Between now and the end of the year, there are a lot of opportunities to celebrate. That said, each of those opportunities likely requires you to allocate a certain amount of time and energy. Some days that expenditure of time and energy may feel like a joy—something you’re genuinely looking forward to, something you’re confident you’ll enjoy. Other days, that expenditure may feel more like a demand.

When things feel like demands, gifted and 2e individuals—child or adult—may find themselves trying to run as far away as possible from the obligation facing them.

Baking 12 dozen cookies when you feel like it and want to be in the baking zone? Fun. Relaxing. Creative. Baking 12 dozen cookies at midnight because you worked all day, but there is a cookie swap or bake sale tomorrow afternoon? Awful.

Making a homemade Halloween costume for your learner or having a pumpkin carving contest with your family and friends? That can be seasonal fun, where you make loads of wonderful, funny, cozy memories. Realizing you have had pumpkins in the back of your van for a couple weeks and completely forgot you were going to carve them, but now you feel like you have to either decorate them or cook with them, but the thought of either is repulsive and overwhelming? That’s less cozy and fun, for sure.

Celebrations, just like anything else, depend a lot on context. While there can be a lot of unspoken expectations around holidays—what traditions to uphold, what is acceptable to skip, etc.—there can also be a lot of opportunity around celebrations. Focusing on opportunities, as opposed to focusing on demands, can help make your celebrations feel more aligned with your needs and energy levels.

Celebrating the things, events, traditions, and people that are meaningful to you doesn’t have to look just one way. You don’t have to celebrate the same way others do. You don’t even have to celebrate the way Past You did. You can curate and cultivate what works for you, your learner, your schedule, and the current moment.

Transferable advocacy skills: You’ve got them! So, use them!

It can be easy to think of accommodations in a school or work setting, yet it can be hard to consider accommodations in a home or social setting.

Why is this?

There, of course, can be many reasons why this is often the case for neurodivergent individuals. One reason is commonly rooted in the fact that settings like work and school, or roles like employee or student are based on expectations of productivity and performance. When expectations or standards aren’t being met, that is usually fairly demonstrable, and the need for a solution or accommodation is tied to notions of success in the workplace or school.

“Success” at home or in our social lives is harder to quantify. This can leave us feeling uncertain, stressed out, frustrated, or as if there is something wrong with us. Because home life and social life don’t come with clear cut standards or definitions of success, it can be harder to understand how to support ourselves in these situations. It can also be hard to see when others may also be struggling, leaving us to feel as if we are all alone or as if something is wrong with us.

We can’t tell if the fabric of someone else’s shirt is irritating them to the point of distraction. However, we can tell if that’s happening to us, and it can be incredibly easy to unnecessarily shame ourselves for having such a reaction or need.

This is of course not because these needs or reactions are anything to be ashamed of!

Still, you were probably taught at some point that there is a “right and wrong” way to celebrate or to uphold traditions. Diverging from these traditions can seem like you’re doing something wrong. These are all valid feelings.

In these moments, we challenge you to find what the “right and wrong” way to celebrate is for you, your learner, and your loved ones. What works for you won’t work for everyone, and that’s just fine.

Figuring out what works for you can feel tricky, especially when it also feels like there are high expectations to honor traditions or celebrate just so. So, let’s talk more about how to find what works for you and your group.

Hearing your gut and then listening to it.

A big part of advocacy is not just listening to your gut but also taking action. If you are looking to Halloween or other festivities you and your learner might have coming up, you can probably make some guesses on where you all might encounter some challenges.

You probably have an ever-evolving list of factors to take notice of and accommodate for. This is not exclusively a gifted or 2e consideration. This is typically just how most of us move through the world. You gather experiences and information throughout your life, and that helps you to prepare for other experiences.

You might know that your favorite aunt loves to bring pizza casserole to every family gathering. You might also know that pizza casserole doesn’t necessarily agree with you, so you probably make a note of the other foods you have access to. Maybe you’ve started volunteering to bring a dish yourself, to help ensure you feel good about the food you’ll be having at family gatherings.

That’s not behavior or advocacy tied to any specific diagnosis. It probably doesn’t even look like “advocacy” the way we often think of and discuss advocacy. Nevertheless, you’re advocating for yourself by making sure your dietary (and digestive!) needs are accounted for.

If you can make this accommodation, you can make others. That process doesn’t have to feel shameful or disruptive or different.

As with so many accommodations, accommodating your holidays, celebrations, and traditions doesn’t need to be an overhaul of the gathering in question. You don’t need a spotlight saying, “we made THIS change for XYZ personal reasons.” There are probably already tools in your Advocacy Toolbox to help you through these more personal or social gatherings.

What are things you, your learner, or your group as a whole typically do to make environments more accommodating and accessible in your day-to-day lives?

Start there!

Do you wear noise canceling or reducing earbuds at work or school? You can probably incorporate those earbuds into a celebratory gathering that you have noise concerns about.

Is mobility a challenge? What accommodations do you already use other places? Can they be applied to the setting in question? If something is in the way of using your typical mobility accommodations, can you chat with those organizing or attending said event to see what options might be available, based on the tools and strategies you already use?

Is food a challenge? What accommodations do you already use other places? Can they be applied to the setting in question? If something is in the way of using your typical food-based accommodations, can you chat with those organizing or attending said event to see what options might be available, based on the tools and strategies you already use?

Is there a sensory challenge you’re concerned about? You guessed it! See what you’re already doing and how it can apply to the situation you’re currently planning for or experiencing.

You don’t have to ask permission to have needs. You might just have to ask for some help or collaboration to incorporate your accommodations into a specific environment. There’s nothing wrong with that.

The point of celebrations, holiday gatherings, and traditions is to spend time with people you care about, doing things that are fun and meaningful to your group. You finding and implementing accommodations to make that true doesn’t detract from the fun and memories at all. If anything, it makes it easier for EVERYONE to enjoy the moment—yourself and your learner included.

You are a tremendous advocate. You work on your advocacy all year round. There is no reason that you shouldn’t be able to bring this skillset into your celebrations to make them even more accessible, enjoyable, and memorable for you and your loved ones.

Conclusion

As you work to be a Gifted Guide and to advocate and support your learners—both insides and outside of the classroom—know that the Davidson Institute is always here to support you how we can.

If you’re in one of our programs already, you know there are lots of resources for you to access via our private, member’s only website.

If you’re not currently participating in one of our programs, there is still a wealth of information and support available to you. Check out our Resource Library or our free resource guides or any of our other curated resources (like our Spotify and YouTube playlists or our Bookshop.org reading lists).

Finally, a fundamental part of advocacy is making sure basic needs—like food and shelter—are being met for both us and our learners. If you or someone you know might need extra support, findhelp.org may be a useful resource. It can also help you find organizations to support, if you’re in a position to help others.

We are honored to be part of your advocacy community, and we wish you a good start to “dysregulation season”!

What’s New at the Davidson Institute?

Apply to Young Scholars! 2025 Application Open Now!

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!

Our next application deadline is November 21! This is the last deadline of 2025. If you’ve been thinking of applying, now is the time!

If you want to learn more about our program, explore our website, or register for our upcoming virtual Application Q&A. Our next Q&A is taking place November 3, at 11 am (Pacific). Does that time not work for you? Don’t worry. If you register for the event, you’ll receive a recording of the Q&A.

Remember! Davidson summer programs and events are only open to Young Scholars. If you want your learner to join us for Summer 2026, be sure to apply to Young Scholars!

Testing Opportunities are OPEN! REGISTER TODAY!

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

To learn more and register for a Fall 2025 test session, check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here.

How are you doing?

Somehow, we’re at the end of September. For many of you, this will mean your learner’s school year is in full swing. As such, you may be starting to see the shine and novelty of the new school year wear off, giving way to advocacy concerns.

Maybe you’re noticing issues with classroom dynamics or appropriate challenge levels. Maybe you have concerns that accommodations aren’t being honored or aren’t working the way you and your learner’s educational team had hoped.

Maybe nothing in particular is wrong, but you feel yourself wanting to build more rapport with your learner’s educational team or other parents at school (or extracurricular activities), but you’re not sure how to go about doing that.

This month, we’re going to talk about the role of community in advocacy work. However, instead of focusing on who you can recruit to be part of your advocacy team or community, we’re going to explore how you can actively open yourself up to community.

We often hear from parents that advocacy is lonely, and parenting is lonely—even when there are others around who are willing or available to help. Why is this?

Why do we feel alone in a room of people? When we have an inbox of unreturned texts from friends and family we know want to be able to help and support us?

The answers to these questions are complex, but one place to start the conversation is vulnerability.

To respond to those text messages, we need to be vulnerable about what’s going on and the types of support we need. If we tell everyone we’re fine all the time, we’re not giving those who care about us an opportunity to show up for us and provide support.

But if we accept help, doesn’t that mean we have to give help? And how can we do that, when we’re already at our limits?

If you’re burnt out, how can you accept help, when you know you don’t have the capacity right now to offer help in return?

Ask for help anyway.

No, really.

Ask for help.

If you truly don’t need help in this moment. Offer help.

What do we mean by this? How can you do this in a practical way?

Let’s explore that.

Asking for Help and Offering Help in Ways that Won’t Make You Cringe

Asking for help from someone you don’t know very well, like a teacher, administrator, or other parent at school can be an intimidating and vulnerable experience. If you ask for help, does that show everyone else that you have no idea what you’re doing? Does everyone else know what they’re doing? Can they tell you have no clue? Are they judging you?

Everyone who is working to support, educate, and raise gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) learners is most likely trying their best, but none of us can do this important work alone.

As the landscapes of gifted and 2e education—and education more broadly—continue to evolve, it is hard for anyone, no matter their experience or expertise, to know everything all the time. We have to ask for help.

The nuances of a neurodivergent learner’s asynchronies and intensities often require an interdisciplinary approach—pulling on resources, skills, and expertise from one of more areas of experience. Because neurodivergence doesn’t begin and end with the school bell, supporting a learner’s neurodivergence typically requires a holistic approach—bridging divides between school, home, and other extracurricular experiences.

For all these reasons, asking for help and brainstorming with others is a key, foundational part of gifted and 2e advocacy and support. Asking for help is not a moment of defeat. Asking for help is a moment of opportunity and community.

We’ll say that again…

But how do you do this practically? What does asking for help (or offering help) look like in a day-to-day situation?

Let’s brainstorm!

You probably wish your schedule was a little easier to navigate or less stressful. That’s something almost everyone can relate to, so let’s start there.

Below are a few questions you can ask to help you build rapport or offer help/community to others:

When talking to your learner’s educator:

• “We’ve been working on XYZ skill at home. One approach that seems to be helping is [insert approach]. I thought it might be helpful to share in case this can be applied in the classroom. If there’s anything we can do at home to support what you’re doing in the classroom, please let us know.”

• “At home, I’ve been noting ABC concern. Have you noticed this in the classroom? Do you have any suggestions about how we can support our learner at home? Are there any strategies that you’ve noticed that help?”

• “In the past LMNOP has been a challenge for our learner. We have a couple of strategies that sometimes help, but we’re still working on finding better approaches. I’d love to brainstorm with you to see how we can be on the same page at school and home.”

• “Thank you for recommending that book series. My learner is loving it! I so appreciate you recognizing their advanced reading level and interest in this subject. This means a lot to both of us!”

When talking to other parents or caregivers at school:

• “If you ever want to set up carpool to and from practice, let me know. I know we’re both busy, so maybe sharing the driving duties would take a little off our plates.”

• “Your older child had this teacher before right? What was your experience with them? What’s the best way to send this teacher messages if I have a question – email or through the school portal?”

• “Do you understand this new policy? I have concerns. What do you think about it?”

• “Wow! These early morning practices are starting to get chilly. How about next week I’ll bring us coffee if you bring some snacks. That’ll make waiting for the kids a little more bearable!”

• “If you ever need someone to drop off your learner after school or this extracurricular activity, just text me. It’s on my way. Glad to help out.”

• “Thanks for offering to drive my learner to that activity last week. It really helped me out when I was running late from work. I really appreciate you!”

These are all just examples and suggestions. Customize them to fit your life, your needs, and your communication style.

We’re offering these phrases as a starting point, to show you that building rapport, asking for help, or offering help do not need to be herculean tasks. They can be small and casual.

Small actions can often be the most impactful because they are often more sustainable or more easily repeated or maintained than grand, involved gestures.

You don’t need to be best friends with another parent to share a snack while waiting for your kids. You don’t need to be best friends and deep confidantes to participate in carpool. You don’t have to agree with every assignment your learner’s teacher assigns in order to work together on figuring out what types of accommodations, acceleration, or other support would work for your learner.

If you show up as your genuine, curious, kind self, others are more likely to return that energy. From there, you can begin to work together as members of the same community.

While our examples mainly drew on some traditional school structures, these strategies and suggestions can be adapted and customized to fit your situation—whether related to an educational setting, your family, or any other communities you’re a part of.

Community as an Antidote to Burnout

Many will say that inconvenience or annoyance are the cost of community. In part, that is true. You sometimes have to do inconvenient things in support of your community members.

But community is also an antidote to burnout. We’re more likely to burnout if we feel we have to do everything perfectly and on our own. By practicing acts of community, we can help to prevent burnout. We can help to prevent the isolation that tends to amplify the effects of burnout.

Practicing vulnerability by asking for help and offering help as we build rapport with others will give us more tools to work with when we do find ourselves overwhelmed or burnt out.

Conclusion

As you move further into the school year, try to find ways to be of community, so you can begin to experience all the benefits of community. We often say advocacy is a team sport. Building rapport at the start of the school year and practicing asking for help can help you build your advocacy team and community even more.

As you work to be a Gifted Guide and to advocate and support your learners, know that the Davidson Institute is always here to support you how we can.

If you’re in one of our programs already, you know there are lots of resources for you to access via our private, member’s only website.

If you’re not currently participating in one of our programs, there is still a wealth of information and support available to you. Check out our Resource Library or our free resource guides or any of our other curated resources (like our Spotify and YouTube playlists or our Bookshop.org reading lists).

We are honored to be part of your advocacy community and wish you the best as you dive into further into the school year.

What’s New at the Davidson Institute?

Apply to Young Scholars! 2025 Application Open Now!

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!

Our next application deadline is October 10!

If you want to learn more about our program, explore our website, or register for our upcoming virtual Application Q&A. Our next Q&A is taking place November 3, at 11 am (Pacific). Does that time not work for you? Don’t worry. If you register for the event, you’ll receive a recording of the Q&A.

This Q&A event will answer all your application questions ahead of the last application deadline of 2025, which is November 21.

Remember: Davidson Summer Programs are only open to Young Scholars. If you want your learner to join us for Summer 2026, be sure to apply to Young Scholars!

Testing Opportunities are OPEN! REGISTER TODAY!

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

To learn more and register for a Fall 2025 test session, check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here.

How are you doing?

Are you eagerly counting down the days to school starting? Or are you definitely not ready for back-to-school? Maybe you’re somewhere in between.

Back-to-school is often a type of New Year celebration. There are a lot of preparations. There are a lot of goals and ambitions. And for a while, everything is shiny, novel, and new, which makes it interesting and easy to stay engaged with.

However, much like New Year’s resolutions, even the coolest of school supplies will start to lose their allure (if you’re of a certain age, you may be longing for the coveted Lisa Frank supplies of yore – or maybe that’s just us!). New routines, fresh supplies, and reconnecting with school friends can make the start of the school year appealing to students, even if there are some disconnects when it comes to appropriately challenging course work or other advocacy challenges.

While your learner is exploring new classes and routines and friendships, you might find yourself bracing for familiar challenges and issues.

So, what do you do as a Gifted Guide?

How do you balance new school year excitement with new school year apprehension? How much is too much to share with your student’s new teacher right away? When is it time to sound the advocacy alarm bells? How long do you “wait and see,” before you start sending emails and requesting meetings?

These are the questions that many Gifted Guides are thinking about during back-to-school. These questions can quickly turn into an overwhelming thought spiral. But what if asking and finding answers to these questions didn’t have to feel so stressful?

Let’s explore ways to help make that a reality!

ABCs of Back-to-School Balance

To help us streamline and simplify our back-to-school advocacy, we’re going to focus on: Attention, Brainstorm, Communication.

What the heck do we mean by that?

Attention

One of the reasons back-to-school is so stressful for many Gifted Guides is because they remember school years past, as well as the advocacy challenges that went with them. If you’re new to advocacy, you might not have that same history and may instead be worried about how to contact your child’s educational team and when.

Those are very valid responses to back-to-school. They can also get overwhelming very quickly. This is often because the approach described above—worry about repeats of years past and concerns about conversations and meetings that haven’t happened yet, but probably need to—are focused on unknown factors that you have little if any control over.

In these situations, you’re likely focusing on hypotheticals. They may be educated hypotheticals, based on past experiences, but they are hypothetical nonetheless.

So, what can you do during the first few weeks of the school year to help effectively inform your advocacy efforts this year?

Put your attention on your learner. Ask yourself:

• What is their attitude and demeanor like before school?

• What is their attitude and demeanor like after school?

• How are they talking about school?

• What are they prioritizing when they talk about school?

• What are they not mentioning at all?

• Have you noticed shifts in their mood throughout the first few weeks of school?

• Have you noticed shifts in their engagement with their hobbies or passions?

• Have you noticed changes in their routines (ex. sleep, eating, socializing, etc.)?

Paying attention to your learner’s moods, needs, rhythms, and responses over the first few weeks of school can be a great way to assess where your advocacy efforts should focus.

Maybe sleepy, slightly cranky mornings are typical for your learner, because they aren’t a morning person. A grumpy morning wouldn’t necessarily flag an issue then. However, maybe you notice that your learner isn’t reading in the evenings like they normally do.

This shift in your learner might not be cause for concern at all. Maybe schedules have shifted, or they have picked up a new hobby, or homework is taking longer this year than last year.

In these cases, the shift in behavior seems like a natural reaction to other environmental factors. There isn’t necessarily an advocacy action. Still, noticing these shifts can help you better understand your learner’s needs this school year.

These observations can also provide you with concrete examples to share with your learner’s educational team, should you need to pursue accommodations or other advocacy action.

Brainstorm

Often, Gifted Guides feel like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders and that they have to come up with all advocacy actions on their own. That’s not true.

Ask for help.

Ask for perspective.

Ask for ideas.

Does that seem easier said than done? Wondering who you should ask to brainstorm with you?

Start at home.

Talk with your learner.

Your student will likely not have a list of action items for your 2025-2026 school year advocacy. But they probably have opinions about their education experience.

Instead of asking them big, open-ended, potentially overwhelming questions like, “How was school?” or “What do you want to change about school?” or “Do you feel challenged?” try some of the following questions:

• What’s your favorite part of the school day? Why?

• What’s your least favorite part of the school day? Why?

• What are you excited about learning this year?

• What would your ideal school day look like?

The above questions are broad, holistic questions. If these questions aren’t a good fit for your learner, you might consider asking some more specific questions, such as:

• What’s the funniest thing that happened during school today?

• What is the coolest thing you learned today?

• What was your favorite moment of the day?

• What was your least favorite moment of the day?

• If you could change one thing about your day, what would it be?

• If you could repeat something from this day, what would it be?

These are just sample questions. You know your learner best. Feel free to tweak these questions in the ways that work for you and your learner.

Having these conversations helps to incorporate your learner’s voice into your advocacy work. Again, the information you gather from these conversations will provide you with concrete examples you can bring into your other advocacy conversations.

Communication

Communication is an important part of advocacy work. It can also be overwhelming and daunting to reach out to others, especially when you’re asking for help or change.

Below are some tips for keeping your advocacy communication effective:

• Remember who you’re talking to. Sometimes, Gifted Guides might find themselves in a situation where they feel like they are in a “me vs. you" dynamic. This can make advocacy feel adversarial. To be completely honest, sometimes, such a dynamic may unfortunately be unavoidable. Nevertheless, it’s always helpful to remember that the person on the other side of your email is a person. They are likely trying their best—even if it doesn’t seem that way to you. Making efforts to build rapport with your educational team and those you’re working with in your advocacy efforts is important.

• Know what your point is. When you’re advocating for a child, the stakes can feel especially high. This can prompt us to overexplain, and in turn, overwhelm our audience with information. If you are reaching out to someone, try your best to keep your communication focused on one goal or ask. If you don’t know what specifically you’re trying to accomplish, your audience may not either. For example, you need to go deeper than asking for “challenging learning,” because “challenging learning” looks different for every learner. Try asking yourself:

  • What are you trying to accomplish in this email or conversation?

  • What do you want to happen at the end of this encounter?

• Have a clear ask. Just like it is important to have a clear focus and goal, it is also important to have a clear ask. If you are not making it clear to your audience what you’re asking for, you may not get a response in line with your intentions. Having a clear ask can help to keep you and your educational team on the same page. Even if the response you get is “No,” you have made progress. You now know what is off the table and can explore other options. For example, if you ask for “things to be better,” that is a vague request that your audience may not know how to respond to. Asking for subject acceleration is more specific. Even if subject acceleration is not an option at your school, your specific ask makes it clear that you what a particular type of acceleration action on behalf of your learner. If subject acceleration isn’t an option, maybe you and your team can discuss other subject-focused acceleration options.

The crux of advocacy is community, relationship, and growth. Those are concepts that may, from time to time, also include misunderstanding, disagreement, hurt feelings, and frustration. However, if we focus on clear communication and remember that everyone we’re working with is probably trying their best, we may find it easier to move through and navigate these challenging conversations.

Our resource guides can be a great resource to get you started in your advocacy efforts.

Conclusion

We know the start of the school year can be overwhelming—regardless of your role in the back-to-school process. As you adjust to the new year, we hope you and your learner can find opportunities for joy and discovery. We wish you a curious, thoughtful, and collaborative school year.

As you work to be a Gifted Guide and to advocate and support your learners, know that the Davidson Institute is always here to help how we can.

If you’re in one of our programs already, you know there are lots of resources for you to access via our private, member’s only website.

If you’re not currently participating in one of our programs, there is still a wealth of information and support available to you. Check out our Resource Library or our free resource guides or any of our other curated resources (like our Spotify and YouTube playlists or our Bookshop.org reading lists).

We are honored to be part of your advocacy community, and wish you the best as you dive into this new school year.

What’s New at the Davidson Institute?

Apply to Young Scholars! 2025 Application Open Now!

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!

If you want to learn more about our program, register for our upcoming virtual Application Q&A. Our next Q&A is taking place September 22, at 4pm (Pacific). Does that time not work for you? Don’t worry. If you register for the event, you’ll receive a recording of the Q&A.

Testing Opportunities are OPEN! REGISTER TODAY!

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

To learn more and register for a Fall 2025 test session, check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here.

How are you doing?

We’d like to give a special welcome to all of our friends from the American School Counselor Association conference! It was great meeting new friends and reconnecting with old friends!

As July ends, the end of summer inches closer. This can be a bittersweet time, when you are savoring the last few weeks of summer vacation, yet the realities of the school year are starting to creep back in. Maybe, despite your best efforts, you find your mind wandering to concerns about IEPs or 504s or the classroom dynamics that lay ahead for you and your learner(s) this 2025-2026 school year. All of that is natural.

Around this time of year, we typically talk about ways to mindfully prepare for the new school year, without overwhelming yourself or getting lost in a stress spiral.

July is a good time for this, because by this point in the year, you are likely in a position to reflect on what went well last school year (and what didn’t go so well), in addition to what has gone well this summer (as well as what didn't go so well). You can use your knowledge about what strategies and supports worked (and which didn’t), as your learner grew and evolved through out the last year—and within the last few months especially.

You and your learner have both grown and changed. You are not the same Gifted Guide you were this time last year. Even if you don’t feel like anything monumental has happened to you in the last year, you have changed. Simply by the function of being a human navigating the world you have taken in new information, met new people, and had experiences that have influenced you—your ideas, your needs, your approaches to supporting your gifted or twice-exceptional (2e) learners.

As such, around this time of year, we often urge you to reflect on what strategies, supports, routines, or rhythms have been working for your learner, asking you then to consider how you can incorporate this knowledge into your Gifted Guide work this Fall.

And that still remains a solid suggestion if we do say so ourselves!

However, this year, we would like to urge you to go a step further and consider how the communities you’re a part of help support you through those strategies, routines, and rhythms.

The core values of the Davidson Institute are indelibly focused on community. Neither educating nor parenting happens in a vacuum. Being a Gifted Guide is, in large part, a team sport. Supporting neurodivergent learners is a multidisciplinary pursuit that requires the efforts and collaboration of many different people along the way.

It’s easy to assume this collaboration includes teachers, parents, and other professionals like neuropsychologists, counselors, occupational therapists, and many others. Those are some of the experts that often get named in articles talking about how to support a gifted or 2e learner.

We'd like to explore who else might be in your community, who you may be collaborating with to support your gifted or 2e learner without even realizing it.

Thank you for being a friend...

Advocacy is community work. So, let’s talk about who is in your community—even if they don’t seem directly tied to or involved in your advocacy efforts.

Do you have friends or neighbors that can somehow always make you smile or chuckle, even on a rough day? Who do you find yourself wanting to talk to when you just need someone to “get it”--without overexplaining or defending yourself?

Who feels like home? Like comfort? Like a breath of fresh air, or an exhale of relief after a long day? Like you can be your true self with them?

The folks you’re thinking of in response to these questions are part of your community. And by seeing and understanding you in the ways they do, they are helping you on your Gifted Guide journey.

These might not be people you see every day. They might not even be people you necessarily talk to a lot about your gifted or 2e advocacy. They are, however, people who make you feel seen, supported, and understood in one way or another.

How can someone you don’t discuss your advocacy with be a support to you through your Gifted Guide work?

That’s a great question—to which there are many answers.

The people in our lives, with whom we’re in community, shape us. We learn from them. We are influenced by them. People we care about and are in community with contribute to our worldview. That shapes how we learn, love, and advocate.

If all this is true, then it is probably worth taking some time to reflect on what routines, rhythms, and supports have worked for you this summer—even, and perhaps especially, if they didn’t have anything directly to do with your Gifted Guide work. What activities or schedules helped you to feel rested, restored, and resilient? What has helped you feel curious and energized?

Based on your answers to those questions, what can you take into the school year with you? What parts of these routines or activities can you find time for during the school year so that you are supporting yourself, while you’re supporting your learner?

The time will pass anyway...

So often, parents, teachers, and others who also fall into the Gifted Guide category can find themselves deferring their own needs in order to support their learner. There can be a sense that once our learners get settled into the new routine of the school year, or after XYZ activity or sport season has ended, or once we make it to a school break, we can spend time on ourselves.

In theory that could maybe work (that’s what we tell ourselves anyway), except for the fact that learners still need care and support during those times. Being a Gifted Guide doesn’t have an easily accessible “off switch,” even if we’re convincing ourselves that things will slow down in a few more weeks or that we just have to make it to the next long weekend.

The time will pass whether you take time to nourish yourself or not. That much is true. But if the time will pass either way, could it make sense to spend some of that time making sure you’re not neglecting yourself in service of someone else?

Is there a way to be a good advocate and Gifted Guide while also meeting your needs?

We think so!

Take summer strategies back to school with you!

As you’re starting to make your back-to-school plan, you’re likely thinking what will make the back-to-school transition work for your learner. How many activities are too many? How many is just enough? Are there certain activities or routines you are planning to prioritize for your learner?

We bet there are.

But are there routines and activities you’re prioritizing for yourself?

These priorities don’t need to be set in stone. If you decide going to monthly book club meetings is something that really brings you joy, or if setting aside uninterrupted time for a pick-up basketball game or the newest episode of Grey’s Anatomy (yup – we're still watching it too – you're not alone!) is a release valve on your week, consider consciously and thoughtfully working these things into your regular routine.

Sometimes, schedules will change. And in those moments, maybe you’ll have to watch the latest episode of Below Deck later, or you might show up having only read half of a summary about your book club book, or you might feel like you have to skip your morning runs for a week. That’s ok.

Because if you’re keeping this activity or routine as a priority, you’ll likely be able to find your way back to it, even if there is a disruption to your typical routine.

Also, demonstrating the fact that you are prioritizing a preferred activity and being flexible when circumstances require it models important flexibility and planning skills for your learner.

Flexibility does not mean sacrificing everything that helps make you the thoughtful, curious person you are. Flexibility means the balance of your routines and rhythms will ebb and flow from time to time. Keeping your priorities in mind as you practice flexibility will help you to return to the people, activities, and rhythms that nourish you and help you to be yourself—even in the hardest or most stressful of times.

Conclusion

Maintaining priorities even when you’re stressed and your obligations pull you in a million different directions is not easy to do. It’s even harder to do if you forget to ask your community for help.

Earlier in this issue, we asked you to think of who makes up your community. Who helps to bring you back to yourself? Who helps you grow and evolve into your truest self? You’ve already started to think who is in this community for you.

We’d like to add ourselves to that list. As you work to be a Gifted Guide and to advocate and support your learners, know that the Davidson Institute is always here to help how we can.

If you’re in one of our programs already, you know there are lots of resources for you to access via our private, member’s only website.

If you’re not currently participating in one of our programs, there is still a wealth of information and support available to you. Check out our Resource Library or our free resource guides, or any of our other curated resources (like our Spotify and YouTube playlists or our Bookshop.org reading lists).

We are honored to be part of your advocacy community, and we can’t wait to dive into back-to-school with you next month!

What’s New at the Davidson Institute?

Apply to Young Scholars! 2025 Application Open Now!

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!

Testing Opportunities – JOIN THE FALL WAITLIST

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

Be the first to learn about Fall test dates, join the Fall 2025 waitlist. Fall test dates will be announced later this summer. Be sure to join the waitlist so you can be the first to know when new dates are available!

To learn more and join the Fall 2025 waitlist, check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here.

How are you doing?

For many of you, summer is in full swing. School is out, and you might be preparing your gifted or twice-exceptional (2e) learner for some new adventures. Maybe you’re going on a family vacation, maybe your learner is headed off to a sleep away camp, or maybe you’re staying close to home this summer and have some day trips planned to zoos or museums or classes/workshops in your local community.

Whatever you have planned for the next few months, chances are good that there will be some changes or disruptions to your “normal, school year” schedule. In this issue of Guiding Gifted, we’ll be talking about how to make your summer plans and travel work for you and your learner.

Not going anywhere this summer, and you don’t anticipate your schedule changing that much? That’s of course fine. We think you will find these tips and strategies useful too. Why? Because changes in routines and rhythms—big or small—can benefit from a lot of the same support strategies.

Let’s explore!

If you’ve heard one person’s definition of “summer fun,” you’ve only heard ONE definition of summer fun. Make your own!

One challenging aspect of summer is that there is the stereotypical image of an ideal summer, and then, there is your image of an ideal summer, your learner’s image of an ideal summer, and then, you have the lived reality of your summer. It is rare that all four of these versions of summer are identical. Maybe there are some similarities or overlaps. Maybe there aren’t.

As we so often discuss, what works for one person might not work for another. Take what you need and leave the rest.

We’d like to encourage you to take that attitude with you into summer.

Why?

The reason is simple: Neurodivergence doesn’t start and end with the school year, and neither do the support needs of a neurodivergent person—regardless of age. (That means this can apply to you and/or your learner.)

When exploring school advocacy, there is often a lot of focus on the intensities and overexcitabilities that can be part of a gifted or 2e profile. While these characteristics can be present at home too, the focus of many families we work with is getting support in the classroom. But what happens when you aren’t in the classroom for a few months? What happens to those needs and supports?

It can be easy to think that no school and no homework means no accommodations. However, that may not entirely be the case.

Your learner may not need the accommodation of extra time on exams over the summer. Instead, maybe they need extra time for transitions between activities. If they spend the whole day at the neighborhood pool on Wednesday, do they need Thursday to be more of a chill at home day? That is an example of adapting the accommodation to fit the circumstance.

Or maybe, instead of needing reminders to turn in homework, your learner needs extra reminders to do their laundry or take out the trash. Because they no longer have the rest of their “normal,” school year routine, they may have a hard time remembering to do even their most routine tasks or chores, because the context and flow of their days is different over the summer. In cases like this, adapting reminder techniques that help during the school year can help make summer flow a bit more smoothly.

Do you have a student who struggles with environmental stimuli? Summer can be a hard time for folks who find themselves overstimulated in hot, humid, crowded, noisy, wet, and/or sticky situations. Even a trip to your local ice cream truck can end up being less of sweet treat and more of a sensory nightmare. While playing in a sprinkler can be so much fun for some, for others, running in wet grass is just awful.

But just because ice cream trucks are hard because there’s a crowd of people and your ice cream always ends up dripping down your arm in a way that makes your skin crawl, it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy all the special things about summer.

Maybe you’re more of an ice cream in a bowl kind of person. Maybe your learner likes playing in a pool or playing with water balloons instead of running through a sprinkler.

The magic of summer is more tied to the freedom that summer represents than any one activity.

Wish you could go to the beach but the heat and crowds are too much? Try a backwards beach day.

You can make meaningful summer memories and have the absolute most fun without sacrificing the rhythms, routines, and supports that help you, your learner, and your loved ones move through the world more comfortably.

In fact, taking the time and care to make sure you and your loved ones are supported and understood this summer will probably make your memories that much sweeter. And applying and adapting the routines, rhythms, and supports you typically use during the school year as you go about your summer activities will help your learner begin to understand how to transfer these skills and strategies to different situations—an important skill in and of itself.

Do you have more “help” running errands during the summer because school is out and you can’t leave your children home alone? Even a trip to the grocery store or the bank or wherever your to-do list takes you can be a good opportunity to help your children transfer skills they already have to help them get through what may be frustrating or boring moments.

Conclusion

One way to make the transition from school to summer and back to school a bit easier is by using the strategies and supports that work at school throughout your non-school days. Thinking of trying out a new support strategy? Don’t wait until the Fall? Try it now, during your summer chores, activities, and adventures. This can give you more time and flexibility to troubleshoot and tweak the strategy before school starts.

Just like giftedness—and neurodivergence more broadly—doesn't start and end with the school year, neither does being a Gifted Guide. Your advocacy and care are hard at work year-round. Use all the tools, knowledge, and expertise you have about your learner to help both of you enjoy this summer as much as you can!

Of course, your Davidson community will be with you all summer. If you’re considering applying to the Young Scholar program, you can even join us on July 7^th for our next Young Scholar Application Q&A session.

We hope you have an absolutely wonderful start to your summer, and we’ll catch back up with you next month!

What’s New at the Davidson Institute?

Apply to Young Scholars! 2025 Application Open Now!

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!

Have questions about the program? Join us for our Young Scholar Application Q&A on Monday, July 7, at 11 am (Pacific).

Does that time not work for you? Don’t worry. Anyone who registers for the Q&A will receive access to a recording of the event for one week. Click the “Young Scholar Application Q&A” link above to register.

Testing Opportunities – JOIN THE FALL WAITLIST

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

Spring test dates are full and closed to registration, but to be the first to learn about Fall test dates, join the Fall 2025 waitlist. Fall test dates will be announced later this summer. Be sure to join the waitlist so you can be the first to know when new dates are available!

To learn more and join the Fall 2025 waitlist, check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here.

How are you doing?

For many of our readers across the United States, Summer Break has started or is right around the corner.

What are you up to this summer? What is your learner up to?

It is not uncommon for Summer Break to be seen as a time for “enrichmentmaxxing” -- a time to literally max out on enrichment by participating in the maximum number of enrichment activities your learner possibly can, within the finite time of Summer Break.

The impulse to do all the things possible during Summer Break makes sense. This is especially true when many gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) learners may be eager to explore passion projects or special interests that they cannot always devote as much time as they’d like to during the school year.

Additionally, it’s important to acknowledge that parents and caregivers are often still working during the summer, even when school is not in session.

Students may also be looking to do multiple summer programs as they build their extracurricular profile for future school applications.

These factors, and many others, all lead to many of us finding ourselves overscheduled over the summer. But what is the alternative?

Learners should be able to explore new interests and projects that they can’t always work on during the school year. The opportunity for learners to meet new peers and friends through interest-based activities can be really wonderful and rewarding.

With school out of session, having a safe, engaging place for learners to go while parents or caregivers are at work is essential.

All these factors lead to the patchwork schedule of camps, workshops, playdates, classes, and family vacations that keep many families running from activity to activity all summer long.

This can work for some, and it can be overwhelming to others. In particular, it can create a lot of anxiety and stress, especially if you or your learner(s) find transitions to be challenging. A lot of time is given to discussing and planning for the back-to-school transition, but not as much is given to the start of summer transition.

In this issue of Guiding Gifted, we’ll explore alternatives to enrichmentmaxxing, and we’ll help you think through ways to make summer transitions a little smoother for you and your learner. (Summer transitions can be multifaceted and complicated, so this issue won’t be the last you’re hearing about them!)

Enrichment or Rest? Why Not Both?

“What are you doing this summer?” is a question many of us have asked and answered countless times. There is often a lot of implicit pressure to make summer fun and memorable. Many parents lament that they only have a set number of summers before their child goes off to college. That makes it seem like summer is a limited resource that we have to capture while we can.

In some ways, that’s true.

In other ways, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Summer is not a finite resource. It is simply a season.

Summer camps are finite experiences with specific start and end dates. Summer camps also have specific packing lists and limited capacity. Summer classes, workshops, and boot camps have similar limitations. The summer vacations that your family may enjoy are limited by start and end dates, banked PTO hours, flight times, hours you can stand to be in a car with your whole family, the operating hours of the attractions you’ll be visiting, the number of camping supplies you have room to pack, etc.

These specific experiences have parameters, details, and requirements that you need to be cognizant of when you plan to fit them into your summer schedule. However, these are limitations on the experience or activity—not limitations on you and your learner.

What do we mean by that?

Signing your learner up for a 3 week summer camp, followed by a family wedding, followed by a coding bootcamp, followed by diving into your local library’s reading challenge, followed by a 3 day family reunion at the lake, followed by the crunch of back-to-school planning and preparation, followed by remembering your promised your youngest you’d camp in the back yard and make smores, just to realize it’s now August and too hot to sleep outside, can leave you and your learner(s) feeling overscheduled and burnt out.

Did you even get a chance to rest and regroup this summer? Who can tell? Your summer flew by in the blink of an eye (rhyme unintended), and it hasn’t even started yet. Still, flipping through your calendar for the next few months has already left you anticipating overtired and cranky kids arguing about screen time, snacks, and summer bedtimes.

Some of the activities in the fever dream of an example above can’t be rearranged or reconfigured. A wedding or family reunion are not events that can be duplicated. However, the rest of the activities in that example have some flexibility.

Too hot where you live to sleep outside in August? Maybe you do your backyard campout earlier in the summer or in the early fall.

Does it feel like too much to go straight from summer camp to coding bootcamp? Maybe your learner can do a different coding class or workshop. Whether at a different time in the summer or during the school year, that coding bootcamp isn’t your learner’s only opportunity to work on their coding skills.

Did your learner have their heart set on a specific summer camp, but the registration date has passed, or it’s out of budget, or it just isn’t logistically feasible with everything else going on for your family? That’s ok!

What aspects of summer camp are they most looking forward to? Can you find those aspects in different settings?

For example, if your learner was eager to go to this camp because there was an academic component they were looking forward to, can you find a class or day camp that covers similar info? Can you and your learner set up a “Listen, Watch, Read” list, so they can explore this academic component throughout the summer, at a pace that works for your learner and your family?

Check with your local library. They may have ideas for alternatives to help keep your learner engaged and curious over the summer. Your local librarian can likely help you make a Listen, Watch, Read List (where you list resources to listen to, watch, and read about a specific topic).

If you’re feeling especially ambitious, your family might consider making several Listen, Watch, Read (LWR) Lists about topics you’re all interested in, and then, if summer doldrums start to sneak in, you can pull a random LWR list to explore—a type of LWR Roulette if you will.

This is just one way to dive into different topics or passion projects, even if a dream summer camp or class isn’t feasible this summer.

Check out our Online Comparison Charts (linked below) to help you find enrichment classes that might fit into your schedule.

• Online Math Comparison

• Online Language Arts Program Comparison

• Online Science Program Comparison

• Online Music, Theater, Visual Arts and Creative Writing Comparison

• Online Foreign Language Program Comparison

• Online Social Science/Humanities Program Comparison

• Online Coding Program Comparison

• Social Engagement, General Enrichment, and Executive Function Support Program Comparison

Shouldn’t I Push to Make Things Happen Though?

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking that your jampacked summer schedule is worth it, and you don’t want to change it. Great. You know your learner best. You know what works for your family.

We are offering suggestions and perspectives based on our work with gifted and 2e families. However, as we have said time and time again: If you’ve met one gifted or 2e learner, you’ve met one gifted or 2e learner. What works for one will not work for all, and that’s ok.

We just want to make sure your summer is serving you and your learner by supporting what you all need to feel your best: engaged, rested, nourished.

If a busy summer, or a busy bit of a summer, helps you and your learner to feel energized, engaged, nourished, and fulfilled, we hope you have the very best time!

If a busy summer, or a busy bit of summer, are going to leave you or your learner feeling drained, dysregulated, overwhelmed, and stressed, please consider if there are other ways to approach the activities you’re interested in. There probably are. If you can find activities that better fit your routines, rhythms, preferences, and/or needs, feel empowered to do that, even if it’s not exactly what you had originally imagined for the summer.

Most folks will fit somewhere in between—needing a balance between the busy and the more lowkey summer schedules. Use the suggestions in this issue of Guiding Gifted to strike the balance that is right for your family. Don’t be afraid to adjust as you go. What seems like a good plan in May may not fit your needs in July. Don’t let your schedule keep you from making the changes that will better fit your needs.

Slow Summers Can be Just as Epic – We Promise!

While being the busiest is often glorified and encouraged because it means you’re “doing” and “accomplishing” and “experiencing,” taking opportunities to slow down, modify, reschedule, and adjust can be just as meaningful.

If a student takes an 8-week class, instead of the 4-week immersion class, they are still learning. The student will just reach the end point at a different time. However, when a student is in a class that better fits their learning needs, they're more likely to be engaged. So, in some cases, for some learners, a difference between an 8-week class and a 4-week intensive class can be huge. For others, they may be content in either class. This is why it’s important to take into consideration human needs in addition to logistical needs.

And if you’ve thinking your learner wouldn’t do well in any structured activities this summer, that’s ok too. Summer doesn’t have to have a goal. It is ok to take a break and rest and relax. It is ok to hang out at the library or the community pool or with neighborhood friends, with nary a registration date in sight.

Advocacy work is hard. Being a kid is hard. Being an adult is hard. No matter what you decide to do this summer, if you pay attention to the needs and rhythms of your learner, yourself, and your family, you’ll be better positioned to find the summer fun that works for you!

Conclusion

You made it to the end of the school year! Congratulations! We see how hard you’re working, and it’s an honor to be in community with you as we all work to support the gifted and 2e learners in our lives.

In June we’ll talk more about summer transitions—including travel and the often-overlooked school-to-summer-and-back-to-school transition. Then, in July and August, we’ll start looking at how what you’ve been doing over the summer can help inform your advocacy in the fall.

In the meantime, we hope you are taking some time to celebrate all you’ve done this school year and to look forward to all the summer fun ahead!

Remember, through the ups and downs of your advocacy work, you’re never alone. The Guiding Gifted and Davidson community are here to support you. That isn’t changing!

What’s New at the Davidson Institute?

Apply to Young Scholars! 2025 Application Open Now!

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!

Testing Opportunities – JOIN THE FALL WAITLIST

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

Spring test dates are full and closed to registration, but to be the first to learn about Fall test dates, join the Fall 2025 waitlist. Fall test dates will be announced later this summer. Be sure to join the waitlist so you can be the first to know when new dates are available!

To learn more and join the Fall 2025 waitlist, check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here.

How are you doing?

As many Gifted Guides in the U.S. are preparing for the end of the school year and the start of summer vacation, we thought now might be a good time to talk about the power of transitions.

Often, when discussing transitions within the context of gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) learners, we’re often focused on strategies for moving from a preferred task to a non-preferred task. However, the transition from known to unknown can be just as tricky and challenging.

When we’re working with our learners, we might navigate these transitions with strategies related to growth mindset. When met with resistance, we might explore strategies related to perfectionism or anxiety or even pervasive drive for autonomy (PDA). However, sometimes, the answer is as simple as our learner having outgrown the strategy or activity in question.

But what do you do to support yourself through transitions from the known to unknown? What happens when you’ve outgrown your go-to advocacy strategies?

For many Gifted Guides, advocacy can seem like a closed path—there is one “correct” path forward, one path to “success.” With just one path forward to success, there would seem to be an overwhelming opportunity for failure. If one set of decisions and actions is correct and everything else is wrong, the odds don’t seem to be in favor of us succeeding. That’s exactly how many of us feel as we navigate our advocacy work.

But what if one path can be “correct” without other paths automatically being labeled as “wrong”? What if one path is simply more familiar than others?

Sometimes, advocacy goals can become misaligned with advocacy needs. Sometimes, Gifted Guides are so eager and focused on making sure that their learners are ok and successful (and rightfully so), that they may not notice that their original advocacy plan no longer meets their learner’s needs—or their needs as a Guide, or the larger needs of a family or classroom.

This is ok, and this kind of change and evolution is actually a natural process of any advocacy or learning experience. It is not uncommon to get so focused on a goal that you don’t necessarily notice when it is time to change things up.

So how do you know if you’re stuck or if you’re making progress?

Of course, you will know the realities and conditions of your situation better than anyone else. So, trust your gut and the information you have in front of you and are actively experiencing.

That said, here are a few strategies to “gut check” when you’re on the right path and when you’re stuck on a path that’s not serving you and your learner.

What is the role of “supposed to” in your situation?

That is, are you doing said activity or pursuing said goal only because you feel like you are “supposed to be doing this”?

When it comes to parenting, teaching, and simply existing in the world, there are endless opinions on how to “do it right”--whatever it may be.

As a result, it is not uncommon to find yourself doing something, simply because you were told, or have come to believe, it’s just the thing you’re supposed to do next.

So, if you and/or your learner are feeling a lot of resistance, resentment, or reluctance toward a task or activity, try asking yourself the following questions?

• Why am I doing this?

• Can I name 3 ways this task/activity is helping to move me closer to my goals? If so, what are the ways?

• Do I have an obligation (real or perceived) to continue with this task/activity?

If you look at this list of questions and think they are all mostly asking the same question, you’re right. They are. But we encourage you to answer all three questions anyway.

Why?

Sometimes, it takes a minute for us figure out how we’re really feeling, and then, it can take us a little time to be able to articulate that feeling.

Have you ever asked your learner a question, just to be met with “I don’t know”? We will often say, “I don’t know,” when we really just need more time to process and reflect.

Because of the nature of newsletters, we aren’t with you right now to hold space while you think through your answers and feelings. If we ask just one question, you might read it and keep going, without pausing to reflect.

Let the three questions slow you down. Let the three questions give you time to reflect and process.

As you process and reflect, try to be as specific as possible. For example, the question really isn’t necessarily, “Why is my child in a math enrichment class?” It is maybe “Why is my child in this specific math class on Tuesdays, which is already my busiest day of the week?”

In that example, you have your child enrolled in this math class because they like math or need the extra support. In theory, it is moving you toward your goal of supporting your child’s growth and passion for math. However, the obligation of fitting one more thing in on your busy Tuesday nights may be where this activity is no longer aligned with your goals and needs.

What then?

What if “supposed to” doesn’t look just one way?

Continuing to use our Tuesday math class example, let’s explore what to do when this class isn’t working for your learner or family, but taking an enrichment math class is still key to your advocacy goals.

We often talk about how supporting gifted and 2e learners looks different for everyone. It is not one size fits all. Still, within your community, there are probably a few things that a lot of the other gifted/2e kids are doing. Maybe a lot of them are enrolled in a specific class or participate in a particular club, or they all seem to be going off to the same summer camp.

This is not uncommon. When you are part of a community or group, you’ll often find that folks may be engaging in similar activities. That doesn’t mean those are the only activities you are allowed to participate in.

More often than not, someone will say they’re doing an activity, and someone else will say, “That sounds good. Maybe I’ll join,” and then, the word spreads from there.

Why do we do this?

There are many possible reasons. Here are a few common ones:

• We want to be in community with people we know and like.

• New experiences can be less intimidating if you know someone else who will be doing this activity with you.

• Joining an activity can be easier than researching, finding, and vetting a new activity on your own.

• If you do activities with friends/people you know, you might be able to benefit from a group registration discount, a carpool arrangement, or another community-based, reciprocal benefit.

Note that NONE of the reasons listed above are “because everyone else is smarter and better than you, so you should trust their judgement over yours.”

Think about that!

Many times, when we do something we feel like we’re supposed to do, it is really because we’re looking for an opportunity to be in community with those around us. We want to be less alone. We want to be seen and understood. We want someone to witness our journey, our efforts, and our successes.

This is true for our learners and for us as Gifted Guides. Social dynamics of activities are often a focus when it comes to our learners. However, these social dynamics are at play for adults as well.

And when we can better name what does and does not work for us in a task/activity, we can better integrate experiences in our life that more effectively nourish us and move us closer to our goals.

But some things will just be an obligation, right? We can’t just not do things we need to do!

Sure. Not everything we do will check all the boxes to both nourish us—socially, academically, intellectually—and move us closer to our advocacy goals. Sometimes, the Tuesday night math class is really, truly the only option.

In those moments, we will each have to determine for ourselves, and in conversation with our learners, if it’s worth being a little overscheduled (and maybe cranky) on Tuesdays for the duration of this class, or if it is better to pause to wait for a class that better fits our schedule.

And it really is a choice. Using our ongoing math example, learning math does not hinge on one class. Math can be learned and explored in different ways, at different times. Does one particular class make it possible to do the next class in this particular sequence in Fall, like your learner wants? Maybe. And maybe that’s reason enough to try and make this one specific class work. However, the content of the class will be accessible in other ways, at other times. They just might not be ways you had previously considered.

The ultimate point of this issue and the questions we’ve asked you along the way is just to help you more deeply consider what is right for you. Sometimes, that will be the overscheduled Tuesday night schedule. Sometimes, it will be firing up the Google machine and turning to different discussions or Facebook groups or forums to explore what alternative options might look like.

These are decisions you, your learner, and your advocacy team can talk through and make together. The answer may be different each time. But having these conversations and asking yourself these questions can help you to better align your advocacy efforts with your advocacy goals.

Conclusion

As you start to look toward the end of the school year and think more immediately about summer plans, remember to advocate for your learner holistically. What impacts your learner will impact you, your family, your classroom, etc. Just because you’re doing what you’ve always done, doesn’t mean you need to keep doing it that way. Something that worked for you and your learner at the start of the school year may not be what you need now. Even what worked over Spring Break may not be the best fit now.

That’s the goal of advocacy, right? That our goals change and evolve with our learner’s needs and with the skills and resources we find and develop along the way.

So, if your efforts and energy need to change paths, that’s just about as far from failure as you can get! Recognizing it’s time to change things up is the mark of a thoughtful, attentive, creative, and resilient Gifted Guide. That’s you!

And the good news is that you don’t have to navigate these changes and different paths on your own. Your Guiding Gifted and Davidson Institute community is here for you!

We see how hard you’re working, and it’s an honor to be in community with you as we all work to support the gifted and 2e learners in our lives. Remember, through the ups and downs of your advocacy work, you’re never alone. The Guiding Gifted and Davidson community are here to support you. That isn’t changing!

What’s New at the Davidson Institute?

Apply to Young Scholars! 2025 Application Open Now!

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!

Testing Opportunities – JOIN THE FALL WAITLIST

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

Spring test dates are full and closed to registration, but to be the first to learn about Fall test dates, join the Fall 2025 waitlist.

To learn more and join the Fall 2025 waitlist, check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

If you haven’t already, please share what your experience supporting gifted learners has been like by filling out our Gifted in My Area Survey.

Your thoughts here will help us to better support you and the families in our programs through resources and programming that actually meets your needs.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here—and we’d like to extend an extra special hello to all the new friends we met at the 2025 CEC Convention last week!

How are you doing?

For many in the United States, it is Spring Break, a time to rest, recharge (and maybe sneak in a little fun) before the end of the school year. In that spirit, we will keep this issue of Guiding Gifted short. We want you to maximize the rest and fun of Spring Break.

While themes of Spring are often focused on growth and new changes, we also know that the approach to the end of the school year is a daunting time for many Gifted Guides.

If you’ve had a hard advocacy year, you may be crawling across the finish line of the last day of school completely exhausted and depleted. If you had a good advocacy year, you may be starting to worry about how all that work will translate into next year’s experiences. Or maybe you're feeling both: exhaustion from this year and stress about next year.

This is not uncommon. As we’ve said before, gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) advocacy is slow, hard, thoughtful work. It is an ongoing process. This means there are very rarely easy answers. Most of your advocacy wins will require time and effort—even when it feels like you don’t have any of either.

So, what do you do as you approach the transition that is the end of the school year?

Keep Calm, and Maybe Carry a Little Less

While many of us would love to see into the future and know exactly how each of our advocacy efforts is going to pan out long-term and know our learners will be ok in absolutely every way, we can’t know the future. The advocacy landscape could look different come the start of the new school year—or it might look the same, who knows for sure?

As an advocate for a neurodivergent learner, who may be on an IEP or 504 Plan, you might be particularly concerned. That’s natural. Understood.org recently put out a video that might be helpful to you, if you’re feeling unsettled or concerned about future advocacy efforts.

But what can you do if you can’t tell the future and can’t take immediate action?

You can take inventory of what you do know. Take some time to think through this past year. Consider the progress you made, what worked, what didn’t. To help you focus your reflective inventory (and to make sure you spend some time acknowledging your success, as well as noting challenges), we’ve compiled the following list of questions to get you started:

• What are three things that went well for your learner this year (inside or outside of school)?

• What are three things that were a challenge for your learner this year (inside or outside of school)?

• What are three things that went well for you this year (inside or outside of school)?

• What are three things that were a challenge for you this year (inside or outside of school)?

• If you could do the 2024-2025 school year over again with all the knowledge and experience you have in this current moment, what would you do differently?

These questions are meant to highlight the ups and downs of the last few months. Often, if we aren’t exactly meeting our goals, in the ways we had envisioned, we count the experience as a failure. But the truth is rarely so black and white.

In answering these questions, we hope you’ll be able to find a more nuanced understanding of your progress as a Gifted Guide.

We hope that your answers to these questions will show you what we already know: You are a tremendous advocate for your learner, and they are lucky to have you on their team. You have made progress this year, even when it hasn’t felt like it. You dealt with uncertainty this year, and now, you’re even better equipped to face future challenges and uncertainties with confidence.

Conclusion

We see how hard you’re working, and it’s an honor to be in community with you as we all work to support the gifted and 2e learners in our lives. Remember, through the ups and downs of your advocacy work, you’re never alone. The Guiding Gifted and Davidson community are here to support you.

We hope you find some moments to rest, recharge, and enjoy as we move into Spring!

What’s New at the Davidson Institute?

Apply to Young Scholars! 2025 Application Open Now!

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!

Testing Opportunities – SPRING TEST SESSIONS ARE OPEN TO REGISTRATION!

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

To learn more and register for Spring 2025 testing (or to join the Fall 2025 waitlist), check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

If you haven’t already, please share what your experience supporting gifted learners has been like by filling out our Gifted in My Area Survey.

Your thoughts here will help us to better support you and the families in our programs through resources and programming that actually meets your needs.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here—and we’d like to extend an extra special hello to all the new friends we met at the 2025 NASP Convention last week!

How are you doing?

February can be a time of dull drudgery, especially if you’re in a place where it is wintery, cold, and gray. In moments where our external environment is seeming depleted, frustrating, or lackluster, it can be easy to take that same energy and turn inward.

Have you ever been in a place where even the smallest of things are going wrong or seem hopeless? Where one bad thing seems to feed another and another? Where even if something does, by chance, go right, you’re still holding your breath and waiting for the other shoe to drop?

In these moments, all that is wrong seems to float to the top of your attention. At the same time, anything that is good or hopeful seems to be outshone by all that is wrong.

And is there anything more infuriating and isolating than for someone to point out the alleged bright side or silver lining when you feel like you’re drowning in terrible? (It is almost like when people tell you to calm down when you’re upset, right?!)

This month, we won’t tell you to see the bright side of things or go searching for an elusive silver lining. Instead, we’re going to explore how to decide if—and when—to act when it feels like everything is a hopeless or overwhelming crisis that is out of our control.

Advocacy is slow work—and honestly, I’m sick of it! Can I make it go faster?!

As we’ve discussed over the last year, advocacy—in particular, advocacy for gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) learners—is slow, thoughtful, ongoing work. It takes collaboration and planning and research...and then probably more collaboration. That takes time and effort, which are not always in abundant supply.

For many Gifted Guides, they are finding themselves revisiting the same advocacy topics year after year—explaining and reexplaining what their learner(s) need. The Davidson Institute team has often worked with parents who hope that a grade acceleration, an especially good IEP meeting, or some other positive intervention or advocacy result will pave the way for smoother educational experiences going forward. They feel hope and relief, only to find themselves in similar situations and meetings the next quarter, semester, or year. This, understandably, can leave those Gifted Guides feeling disillusioned and discouraged.

If advocacy—whether educational, medical, etc.—for gifted and 2e learners is inherently slow, ongoing work, how can you stay motivated and engaged for the long term? Even when things look especially bleak and out of your control?

While there is no fast forward button for advocacy, it is helpful to remember that you don’t always have to be pressing play.

Pause is an important feature of advocacy, that many Gifted Guides—motivated by the very best of intentions—may be reluctant to employ.

You get a pause! You get a pause! Everybody gets a pause!

Won’t a pause just make advocacy work even slower? What good can a pause do?

We don’t know your specific advocacy situation. Ultimately, you’ll need to do what’s right for you, regardless of what others say. So, as with all resources we share: Take what you need and leave the rest!

That said, if your attention and effort is divided too much, you may find yourself in a space of cognitive overload, decision fatigue, or even decision paralysis.

Now, at this point, we could say, “If everything has your attention, nothing has your attention.” To which, you could very rightly rebut, “But everything NEEDS my attention! How can I decide which needs get met and which don’t?” That is a more than fair response.

Instead, let’s try this: What type of attention do you want to be able to give to your advocacy work, or really any part of your life? What is getting in the way of you attending to these areas of your life in the ways you’d like to?

Another way to think of this is as a practice in priority setting. When everything is emergent, it is hard to know where to start. This is often because, if we make a decision to start, it typically means we are choosing one emergent situation over another. This can feel unfair or insufficient or just plain bad.

Let’s try and make that decision process feel a little better...or at least have it better serve our goals. You can use the questions below as a type of screener to help you assess the priority of everything on your Advocacy To-Do List:

• Is mental or physical health and/or safety being impacted or at risk?

• Are there time limits/deadlines to be considered?

• Am I the ONLY one who can do this?

  • Note: There is a difference between being the only one capable of doing a task or project and being the only one who will do it exactly like you will. Make sure you’re making this distinction!

  • At the end of the day, is “done” better than “done the way I would do it” or “done as perfectly as possible”?

• What are the short-term and long-term consequences of this not being done immediately?

  • Focus on the facts here. This is a practice in “what do you KNOW to be the consequences” vs. “what do you fear to be potential consequences.” For example, missing the registration for math camp means your child won’t attend that specific camp for that specific session. It does not mean your child will never learn math and their dream of being an engineer is destroyed.

  • What impact will the most minimal progress in this area have on your life? For example, if you just send that one email, asking to set up a call, will you feel a little relief knowing that the ball is rolling (and currently in someone else’s court)?

These questions can help you work through your list of goals and projects to help you start to determine what type of effort you may need for each.

Still, if something has to be your main focus, how do you pick what that will be?

Here, we typically turn to our “Magic Wand Question.”

If you had a magic wand, which three things would you address right now? Poof! Addressed! Exactly as you’d like them to be!

These three things can be for your gifted or 2e learner(s), for your entire classroom, for yourself. They can be for your family, community, etc.

Once you’ve identified your Magic Wand Three, you are better positioned to prioritize your advocacy work. You’re better positioned to not have 100 different things pulling your attention all with the same amount of force.

These three things do not always need to be your driving force or top priority, but at least you now have a place to start. You also have shifted your mindset somewhat, to allow you to better discern what in your life needs immediate action and what does not.

Conclusion

You cannot be all things to all people at all times. Yup. Even you. The one reading this thinking, “That might be true for other people, but I HAVE to be show up and do everything otherwise it won’t get done.”

If you show up for everything, with the same exact same amount of time and energy for each thing, there is a better than good chance you’re running yourself down, and you aren’t always showing up as much as you think you are or in the ways you wish you were. By focusing on your Magic Wand Three, you can start to reevaluate how you spend your energy.

Not every advocacy goal or concern has the same importance and impact. All your goals may be needed in one way or the other, but that does not mean you have to invest in them all at once, in the same exact ways. Give yourself the grace and space to work toward your goals in ways that do not deplete you.

We often say that advocacy is slow work to comfort ourselves when things are taking longer than we’d like. However, there is also room to understand the slow work of advocacy as a reflection of the fact that not everything happens at once.

Advocacy—whether in the classroom, the doctor’s office, or anywhere else in life—is a practice of hope. This work is done with the hope of making it possible for someone to move through the world in more accessible ways.

The advocacy work of a Gifted Guide is slow, good, important work. This is not a marathon. Take time to rest and hydrate and nourish yourself along your Gifted Guide journey. We see how hard you’re working, and it’s an honor to be in community with you as we all work to support the gifted and 2e learners in our lives. Remember, through the ups and downs of your advocacy work, you’re never alone. The Guiding Gifted and Davidson community are here to support you.

Advocacy work is not work done in isolation. We are a community. We are excited to see where 2025 will continue to take us together!

What’s New at the Davidson Institute?

Apply to Young Scholars! 2025 Application Open Now!

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!

Testing Opportunities – SPRING TEST SESSIONS ARE OPEN TO REGISTRATION!

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

To learn more and register for Spring 2025 testing (or to join the Fall 2025 waitlist), check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

If you haven’t already, please share what your experience supporting gifted learners has been like by filling out our Gifted in My Area Survey.

Your thoughts here will help us to better support you and the families in our programs through resources and programming that actually meets your needs.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here!

How are you doing?

Are you feeling energized by the promise of a new year? Or are you feeling as if January has lasted at least 100 years so far?

However, you’re feeling about the start of the year, know you’re in the right spot. As a Gifted Guide, your advocacy work does not begin and end at the start of the new year. In fact, the start of a new year—whether a calendar year or an academic year—is often the most stressful time for Gifted Guides.

Maybe you’re feeling like your advocacy efforts have stagnated. Maybe you’re frustrated with how the first semester has been going for your student, and you’re feeling discouraged or alone in your efforts to improve the situation. And, if you’re one of the many people across the U.S. dealing with brutal winter weather, that’s probably not doing much to boost your outlook or energy levels.

So, what do you do when you are overwhelmed, and morale is low?

When you’re overwhelmed, sometimes, doing less can be the answer.

Often at the start of a new year—or really any new period or season of life—we can feel incredibly pressured to fully revamp ourselves and our lives. The promise of a fresh start can make it seem like we need to instantly become the best, most efficient, most composed versions of ourselves.

In these moments, advice like “take it one step at a time” seems to vanish entirely.

However, these types of sudden, large-scale changes are rarely sustainable. Often, attempts to make these kinds of overhauls can create more stress. If you are unable to maintain this change, then you’re left feeling defeated and exhausted, and it can be harder to start over.

When you’re overwhelmed or attempting to make a big change—whether in your advocacy or in your life more broadly—making small changes is often key.

If you’re already stressed to the max, instead of adding to your plate, it may be more useful to downshift and get back to basics. Making small changes does not always mean adding more things to your life, schedule, to-do list, etc.

Winter is a natural time for rest and restoration. During this season, pushing yourself to your limit is not what your body and mind are meant to be doing.

No, don’t worry – we're not delusional. (We promise!)

We know life needs to go on. We know meetings and emails and accommodations and executive functioning challenges and advocacy efforts can’t come to a screeching halt simply because it is winter. That said, there are probably still opportunities for you to do less, in service of accomplishing more.

What do we mean?

Take a look at everything on your plate—not just your advocacy and Gifted Guide work. Look at everything you’re doing during a typical day. What do you ideally want to accomplish in the next week? In the next month?

Also, take a look at the last few days or last few weeks. When did you have the most energy and feel your best? When did your feel your energy start to wane?

Once you start to tune in to how your mind and body feel as you move through your days and weeks, you can use the patterns you notice to your advantage.

Is the highlight of your week book club? Are there more moments you can spend reading? Reading is often a huge part of a Gifted Guide’s advocacy efforts. Is now maybe a moment to pause and do some of the reading/research you’ve bookmarked or set aside for “when you have more time”?

Cold, cozy days can be a great time to catch up on reading and research. This way, you are still moving forward with your goals, but you’re also taking care of yourself and your own energy levels and rhythms.

Are you noticing that Thursday afternoons have been especially grumpy or exhausting lately?

Maybe you pack yourself an extra snack on Thursdays, or maybe you start making sure not to schedule meetings or workout classes or chores on Thursday afternoons. Maybe Thursday is your take-out night for a little while.

Any of these modifications on their own could help you feel a little less pressured and grumpy on Thursdays, which in turn may set you up for a nicer start to the weekend. And if you’re going into the weekend with a little more energy, you might be able to enjoy your weekends more, setting you up to have more energy for the next week.

In each of these examples, the idea is not to simply shirk all responsibility and wrap up in a cozy blanket (though that does sound appealing!). Instead, the idea is to take your to-do list and build in some accommodations for yourself—just as you do for your gifted learners.

But how do you modify a to-do list. The list is things you need to get done. There isn’t really a modification for obligations and advocacy work is there?

You bet there is!

What is modification? Are you already doing it? Can you do it more? Do you need to do more?

Modification is something most of us do all day long, whether we realize it or not.

Are you cooking broccoli with dinner tonight, but one of your kids can’t stand steamed broccoli? Did you put some cheese on their broccoli? Did you set a serving aside for them to eat raw with some ranch? Did you pull a leftover veggie out of the fridge and microwave it for them?

Any of those responses are modifications to your child’s anti-steamed broccoli stance.

In the examples we discussed above, adjusting how you spend your Thursday afternoons is a modification. A decision to return to your research/reading list instead of trying to schedule more meetings, especially when you’re feeling discouraged and frustrated, is another example of a modification.

In these examples, we’re not saying to never give your child vegetables or to abandon all your advocacy efforts or to simply skip work every Thursday. We’re simply suggesting that you look at the stress points in your life and see if there is a way to lighten your load a bit.

Sometimes, there won’t be a release valve. The modification won’t be clear or accessible. But that is something you, as a Gifted Guide, are familiar with. So, it becomes all the more important to attune ourselves to our bodies, minds, and to-do lists, so we can modify and support ourselves when and where we can.

This practice will also demonstrate to your gifted learners, that modifications are normal and not something to feel shame or insecurity about.

As adults, we generally have the power to say we simply can’t stand the thought of going to the grocery store after a long, busy, stressful day. We can decide that we’ll just stretch the leftovers at home another night. We can decide to order pizza for dinner. (Or we can decide that a monstrous bowl of cereal or popcorn is the only acceptable dinner.)

We can make modifications when we need to. However, we often don’t realize we are doing this. We might even go so far as to beat ourselves up or guilt ourselves for not doing more. But we wouldn’t shame our gifted learners for needing accommodations or modifications. In fact, one of the most persistent goals of many Gifted Guides is making sure that their students have the modifications, accommodations, and supports they need in place.

Why can we not extend the same effort, grace, and care to ourselves?

Instead of focusing on what you’re not doing when you’re making time and space to support yourself, we challenge you to employ your growth mindset to see how modifications are helping you redefine your relationship to your to-do list, while shifting your relationship with your own energy and motivation.

Conclusion

When you are focused on long-term or ongoing advocacy work, it can be easy to slip into a scarcity mindset. There aren’t enough hours in the day. There aren’t enough resources. There aren’t enough people who understand and support your goals. At times, all of those statements are true.

However, more often than not, there are more options than we may recognize in the moment. Sometimes, practicing the things we teach our learners—recognizing the needs of our bodies and minds, taking steps to regulate our nervous systems, adjusting our plans or schedules to better fit our energy needs—actually makes us stronger, more effective advocates.

It is easy to kick ourselves for ordering out more than we had planned to in a week or for not folding the laundry when it came out of the dryer or for not responding to that one email for the last week, but in the words of Dr. Devon Price, Laziness Does Not Exist.

You are not making modifications and accommodations for yourself because you’re lazy or don’t care. You’re making these changes so you can keep caring and keep doing the good Gifted Guide work that is important to you—and crucial to your gifted learners.

The advocacy work of a Gifted Guide is slow, good, important work. This is not a marathon. Take time to rest and hydrate and nourish yourself along your Gifted Guide journey. We see how hard you’re working, and it’s an honor to be in community with you as we all work to support the gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) learners in our lives. Remember, through the ups and downs of your advocacy work, you’re never alone. The Guiding Gifted and Davidson community are here to support you.

Advocacy work is not work done in isolation. We are a community. We are excited to see where 2025 will take us together!

What’s New at the Davidson Institute?

Apply to Young Scholars! 2025 Application Open Now!

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, you can learn more and start your application today! Get started by visiting our How to Apply page!

Testing Opportunities – SPRING TEST SESSIONS ARE OPEN TO REGISTRATION!

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

To learn more and register for Spring 2025 testing (or to join the Fall 2025 waitlist), check out our Eligibility Assessment page today!

Summer Opportunities for 11–13-year-olds!

Davidson Summer Programs (DSP) is now accepting applications from those applying to the Young Scholars program by February 14, 2025!*

Please note: You must submit BOTH your Young Scholar application AND your DSP application by February 14 to be considered for DSP. While it doesn’t matter which application you submit first, BOTH need to be submitted by February 14 to officially accepted for DSP.

Will your child be ages 11-13 during the 2025 program dates?

Davidson Summer Programs applications are first-come, first-served. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until February 14th. Apply today!*

• June 23-27, 2025: Session Two – Discoverers of the Deep: Mysteries of the Ocean

• July 14-18, 2025: Session Four – Digital Discoverers: The Ups and Downs of Tech

For additional information please visit our DSP website! For questions regarding summer programs, please contact our summer team directly at Summer@davidsongifted.org.

*All Davidson Summer Program acceptances will be considered conditional pending acceptance into the Young Scholars program. A deposit deadline of 24 hours will still apply to hold your student’s conditional-spot in the program. Should your student not receive acceptance into the Young Scholar program, your Davidson Summer Programs deposit will be refunded.

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

If you haven’t already, please share what your experience supporting gifted learners has been like by filling out our Gifted in My Area Survey.

Your thoughts here will help us to better support you and the families in our programs through resources and programming that actually meets your needs.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here!

How are you doing?

Has it been a long year for you? Or has time flown by?

No matter your perspective, we want to take some time to celebrate you and all you’ve accomplished this year.

Sometimes, it is easy to rush through the end of the year, just trying to get to a winter break or those amazing holiday foods that you wait for all year. Many are feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and in desperate need of putting up an email away message.

Sometimes, it’s hard to feel celebratory or happy when things in the world feel hard or uncertain. And if it’s already dark at 4 pm, why not just curl up under a blanket and block out the rest of the world?

All of these feelings—and anything else you might be feeling—are valid. This can be a hard, stressful, overwhelming time of year. And these types of feelings can seem at odds with the external messaging we’re surrounded, which is encouraging us to feel happy and celebratory or pressuring us to reinvent ourselves when the calendar rolls over into a new year.

The hard things don’t stop just because you’ve been invited to a delicious cookie exchange. The hard things don’t stop just because the school calendar says it’s winter break.

So, what do you do?

How do you hold space for your feelings and the hard things you might be navigating, while also finding some joy in whichever holidays you may be celebrating this season?

Big feelings and joy are NOT mutually exclusive.

When we discuss gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) profiles, conversations about big feelings, intensities, and overexcitabilities are often not far behind. Big feelings, intensities, and overexcitabilities are often discussed in a context of feeling or doing “too much.” These discussions often get overly simplified and end with the idea that we all need to focus more on practicing regulating our nervous systems and emotions.

However, you can’t simply regulate yourself out of your feelings—neither can your students. Sometimes, the joy and excitement of the holidays and celebrations are the root of the intense, big feelings we’re grappling with. Sometimes, the overstimulation a student is struggling with is stemming from an activity or experience they’re really enjoying.

The same can be true for you.

Your stress, anxiety, or other big feelings may be stemming from activities, encounters, and festivities that you’re genuinely looking forward to or know you will enjoy. Despite looking forward to an experience you’re likely to enjoy, you might still find yourself feeling some kind of dread, overwhelm, or overstimulation about the experience.

In these moments, it can be helpful to remember that big feelings are neutral—they are not good or bad, they just are. You don’t have to eliminate big feelings. Managing and navigating big feelings does not need to be code for “resolving or stopping big feelings.”

Joy has support needs too.

When we talk about accommodations or support needs, it is usually within the context of helping a student progress through or manage a non-preferred task or environment.

We have plans for scaffolding tasks and assignments with heavy executive function requirements. We have strategies to make transitions from preferred to non-preferred tasks easier to navigate. We have snacks and water bottles and rest periods to help us when we’re feeling hungry, angry, lonely, or tired (H.A.L.T.). We have fidget toys and movement breaks when we are feeling restless, bored, or antsy. We have headphones for when things are too quiet or too loud.

The examples above are all aimed at making a difficult or challenging situation easier to endure and move through.

But what happens when the situation is AMAZING?! What happens when the situation is the most fun and something we’ve been really looking forward to?

Certainly, we don’t need supports or accommodations to move through these moments, right?

That might not be true. Your joy and happiness, and that of your gifted or 2e child, might need a little extra support as well.

Intensities and overexcitabilities don’t only happen with things we don’t like. Research shows us that gifted and 2e brains “seem to process all information through an emotional filter.”

This emotional filter is not specific to information the gifted or 2e brain doesn’t like. The gifted and 2e brain processing information through an emotional filter impacts the ways in which gifted and 2e individuals experience the world. Not only is it likely that hard feelings are more intense, positive emotions are likely more intense as well.

So, your gifted or 2e student (or yourself) may experience the joy of the holidays more intensely than others. The high of opening presents or going to parties or seeing loved ones may be higher highs, and when the festivities are done, that post-holiday low may be lower for gifted and 2e individuals.

While many of us are well-equipped to support and accommodate intense emotional lows, it can also be helpful to think of ways to support the intense emotional highs.

The good news is you can probably use many of the same strategies and tools already in your advocacy toolbox.

What do joy’s supports look like?

As with any accommodation, what works for one person will not work for everyone. It is important to consider what makes your student (or yourself) feel grounded and secure.

If you know that too much caffeine or too much sugar results in feeling anxious or dysregulated, maybe you make a note to snack a little bit on veggie trays, as well as cookies, at holiday festivities, or make sure you have a protein-filled snack before your outing.

If socializing is draining, maybe plan for some cozy, restful recharge time after (and maybe even before) your celebrations.

Are you or your child sensitive to environmental factors, such as temperature and noise?

Can you bring noise reducing or canceling headphones with you? Can you dress in layers? Can you ditch the itchy wool sweater for something you’ll feel more comfortable in?

Even if your favorite relative made that sweater for you, it’s probably more important that you’re comfortable and able to enjoy visiting and celebrating with your loved ones than it is that you wear a sweater that makes you feel uncomfortable and overstimulated.

Over the next few weeks, your “normal” routine will probably experience a number of deviations. Think about what parts of your routine you need to feel like your best self and see where you can fit those into your holiday plans.

As calendars start to fill up, it is easy to assume we need to drop “unimportant things” to make room for other obligations. All too often those “unimportant things” look like your sleep, nutrition, and hobbies. While there are certainly excellent reasons to change your routine on special occasions, just make sure you’re taking care of yourself as well:

• Take the nap you’ve been daydreaming about.

• Steal a quiet-ish 15-30 minutes to read a chapter of your book or watch your comfort show.

• Have a glass of water in between servings of rich, delicious foods and drinks.

• When you go sneak a few more cookies, maybe snag a baby carrot (or three) out the fridge.

• If you can’t fit in your regular workout, take a walk or have a dance party with loved ones. Moving your body can look many different ways!

There are lots of small—but impactful—ways that you can accommodate yourself and your gifted and 2e learners so that your holiday joy is an even more joyful experience. Being mindful of the little things that help you and your student feel better on a day-to-day basis will help you enjoy your holidays all the more.

Conclusion

We see how hard you’re working, and it’s an honor to be in community with you as we all work to support the gifted and 2e learners in our lives. Remember, through the ups and downs of your advocacy work, you’re never alone. The Guiding Gifted and Davidson community are here to support you.

We hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful holiday season full of asynchronous joy!

Testing Opportunities

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, throughout the year, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online.

There are no additional 2024 test dates available. CLICK HERE to join the 2025 testing waitlist. By joining the waitlist, you’ll be notified when 2025 testing dates open.

More Ways to Connect with Davidson...

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute, click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here.

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, join the waitlist to be notified when the application opens in early 2025!

If you haven’t already, please share what your experience supporting gifted learners has been like by filling out our Gifted in My Area Survey.

Your thoughts here will help us to better support you and the families in our programs through resources and programming that actually meets your needs.

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!

We’re so glad you’re here! 

How are you doing?  

We know it can be a busy and emotional time of year for many families. As we talked about last month, there are often different types of gatherings or celebrations this time of year. While this can be something to look forward to and can provide a a warm and fuzzy sense of togetherness and joy, we also know that’s not the case for everyone. 

Sometimes, when everyone else is celebrating, the challenges you and your family are experiencing can seem magnified. This can be frustrating and overwhelming. However, it’s not uncommon, and you’re not alone. 

The struggles and stresses of gifted or twice-exceptional (2e) advocacy won’t disappear because the calendar says it’s a holiday. In fact, this can be an especially difficult time of year for advocacy efforts, simply because schedules are often altered, and meeting times are less available in many cases. 

Maybe you feel like you’re just white-knuckling it to the next school break, where you won’t be dreading an “end of day report” or worrying about whether or not accommodations were implemented appropriately. 

But when you get to the next school break, maybe you’re juggling childcare and your work schedule and screentime and sibling arguments.  

All of these factors—and so many more that are individual to each Gifted Guide—can make being “excited” for the holidays a challenge. It can be hard to feel thankful or joyful when each activity or celebration is starting to feel like just one more obligation you need to navigate. Supporting your learner through these moments can also be difficult—especially if you’re around family or friends who might not fully understand or appreciate your learner’s profiles and needs.  

Last month, we talked about how to adjust your celebrations and traditions to fit the needs of you and your learner. This month, we’ll be talking about how to build gratitude—even when things seem overwhelming, frustrating, isolating, and not always so gratitude-worthy. 

Look at the calendar. Look in the mirror. 

One of the hardest things about being a Gifted Guide is that gifted and 2e advocacy is often slow work. Sometimes, there are quick resolutions to advocacy efforts, but as many of you know all too well, that’s not usually the case. 

Because this work is slow, it’s often hard to measure or even recognize the progress you and your learner have been making. 

So, in our efforts to build gratitude this month, instead of asking you to count your blessings or to think of those less fortunate, let’s look at the calendar.  

Where were you in January? Where was your learner in January? How have things changed for both of you since then? 

Maybe some moments of growth and progress have easily jumped out to you. Wonderful! 

Maybe you’re thinking back to January and thinking that everything is the same, or maybe even worse than it was then. That’s a fair response too. Maybe that’s exactly the case.  

Let’s keep digging. 

Look in the mirror. (Or just think about looking in the mirror—we won’t know!) What have you gotten through this year?  

Even if your overall situation seems the same or more challenging than it was at the start of the year, you are not the same person you were on January 1.  

You are a person who has learned and grown and experienced almost an entire calendar year. You have changed—even if it is incrementally. Don’t believe us? 

Think about that TikTok you saw that changed the way you approached cleaning or that gave you that yummy recipe that’s been on regular meal rotation ever since. Think about that book you read that made you smile...or cry. Or maybe this was the year that you finally decided it was ok to stop reading a book (DNF – did not finish) if you’re not enjoying it. (It IS ok to stop reading if you don’t like the book. That’s true.) 

Think about that special moment you had with your learner. Maybe it was a quiet snuggle after a long day or a big fight. Maybe it was jumping up and down in celebration when they finally understood a new concept, did better than expected on a test, or finally remembered to actually turn in their homework on time. 

Think about when you got your student’s test scores or assessment results back. Even if they weren’t what you were hoping for or expecting, think about the moment of relief when you realized you had more concrete information to help with your advocacy. 

Think about when you first subscribed to this newsletter. No, we’re not trying to be self-congratulatory! We’re pointing out that even something as simple as hitting “subscribe” on a new resource can be a win and forward motion on your advocacy goals. It might be a small act, but it is an act of investment in both you and your learner. It is an act of being in community with others, making your advocacy journey a little less isolating. 

Two things can be true at once. 

Hopefully, through some of the reflection in the first half of this issue you’ve been able to identify some points of growth and gratitude from this year. Hopefully, you can see the progress you and your learner have made this past year and are feeling good about that. 

But feeling good about one thing does not mean you’re still not dealing with other emotions. You may still be frustrated, overwhelmed, discouraged, disappointed, depressed, or any other number of emotions.  

Feeling positive in some areas and challenged in others does not negate any of your feelings. A lot of times, around the holidays, the focus is on joy and celebration almost exclusively. However, as humans, we contain multitudes. We can be proud of our accomplishments and feel discouraged. If you’re feeling a mix of emotions, that’s ok. It really is. 

The point of this issue is not to get you to forget the difficult things you’re navigating. It is to help you reflect on how far you’ve come and to take a moment to celebrate, or at the very least appreciate that.  

Sometimes, we feel like we can’t focus on the good things because something bad will happen. But, in some ways, that’s how life works. Bad things happen, good things happen, and then, they both happen some more, and some more, and some more. 

It will not hurt or take away from your advocacy efforts if you recognize and even celebrate how far you and your learner have progressed in the last year—even if that progress is just maintaining the status quo, even if that progress is just surviving another year more or less intact. 

Being a Gifted Guide is not glamorous work, but it is important work. It is good work. It is slow, careful, and thoughtful work. That work deserves to be acknowledged—even if that acknowledgement is just a deep sign of recognition as you read this.  

(We also suggest getting yourself a treat that will make you smile, but you do whatever works for you. As always, take what you need and leave the rest!) 

Conclusion 

We see how hard you’re working, and it’s an honor to be in community with you as we all work to support the gifted and 2e learners in our lives. Remember, through the ups and downs of your advocacy work, you’re never alone. The Guiding Gifted and Davidson community are here to support you. 

We'll wrap up our discussion of dysregulation season next month, by exploring what asynchronous joy can look like for your family. 

Fall Testing Opportunities! 

Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.  

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online. 

• Grades 3-5: The December 8 test date is still OPEN to registration. CLICK HERE to learn more and register. 

• Grades 6-10: All 2024 test sessions are full and closed to registration. CLICK HERE to join the 2025 testing waitlist. By joining the waitlist, you’ll be notified when 2025 testing dates open. 

More Ways to Connect with Davidson... 

If you’ll be at the NAGC Annual Convention next week, stop by Booth 208, and say hi to our Director of Outreach, Megan Cannella! 

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute,  click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here. 

If you’re interested in joining the Young Scholars program, join the waitlist to be notified when the application opens in early 2025! 

If you haven’t already, please share what your experience supporting gifted learners has been like by filling out our Gifted in My Area Survey.  

Your thoughts here will help us to better support you and the families in our programs through resources and programming that actually meets your needs. 

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides! 

We’re so glad you’re here! 

How are you doing?  

If you’re in the United States, you may be acutely aware that “spooky season” is upon us—and not just because of Halloween decorations and candy sales. 

October is the start of what we affectionately (and sometimes not so affectionately) refer to as “dysregulation season.” 

October, in the United States, is often the unofficial start of the holiday season. Pumpkin spice lattes are on menus again. Stores are adorned with seasonal decorations. Your neighbors might have more lawn decorations or colorful light decorations. And your child’s school calendar might start to have more special events--dress up days, class parties, half days, etc. 

All of this celebration and special occasion inevitably results in changes in routines and rhythms, which can spark dysregulation in your gifted or twice-exceptional (2e) learners. Add to that the fact that many of these celebrations or special occasions include eating different types of food, wearing different clothes, hearing louder noises, and/or being in more crowded rooms, and these special moments can quickly become overwhelming or overstimulating. 

So, with all of this in mind, let’s dive in and start talking about how to make costumes, school events, candy for days, and holiday traditions in general less spooky this October. 

New schedule. Who’s this? 

Taking a look at your calendar between now and the end of the year, you can probably spot a few places where your “normal routine” will be disrupted. You can also probably anticipate a few more disruptions that you don’t have full details for and haven’t put on your calendar.  

Now, perhaps it seems unfair to use the word “disruption” to describe what are probably events and celebrations you’re looking forward to, with people you care about and want to see.  

We do not mean “disruption” as a negative. However, we do feel the need to name it—in the spirit of “naming it to tame it.”  

If you head into a week of school where there is a different schedule for your family, but act as if it’s a typical week with a typical schedule, you’ll likely run into some big feelings and some emotional difficulties. 

Many gifted and 2e learners benefit from routines (even if they fight against the transitions), because there is a predictability and certainty that comes with routine. If suddenly this week, school isn’t going to work like it normally does, it’s important to preview that and talk about what to expect. 

Because gifted and 2e students tend to process more information through the emotional center of their brain, you might observe them having more intense reactions to what may seem to you to be minor changes to the schedule. 

For example, say that after school, there is Halloween party at the school. Students can show off their costumes, collect candy, go through a “haunted house” that’s been set up in the gym or drama room, and there’s even a place where they can put their hands in covered bowls to feel “brains” (aka cold spaghetti).  

If school is dismissed at 3pm, maybe this party runs from dismissal until 4:30 pm or 5 pm. Maybe you have a 30-minute drive home. You’re still home before 6 pm. This isn’t entirely unusual for your family, because your kids often have after-school activities. So, it is not uncommon for your family to be settling into a dinner routine around 6:30 pm, or even 7 pm on some nights. Your kids are used to this, so they should be able to slip into the “regular” after-school activities routine. Right? 

Maybe you’re already shaking your head, knowing that your child’s mood and emotional regulation after a party and after an extracurricular are probably two different things. 

Why is that?  

If the actual timing of your schedule is roughly the same, why are the emotional reactions and regulatory needs so different? 

It’s the same reason why meeting your colleagues for a planned, monthly happy hour is different than going out for a friend’s birthday party.  

One is a planned, known event, which occurs regularly. It is built into the routine. It doesn’t necessarily have a bunch of novelty or uncertainty around it. However, a special event or party is, generally speaking, a fun and novel treat.  

People are maybe putting more effort into their dress, the food is probably a little more festive, and there is a sense of celebration that just isn’t typical of a general day-to-day routine. That's what makes the celebration special in the first place. It is time away from your regular routine to acknowledge important occasions and/or people. 

So, as you look forward to any celebrations or special traditions your family has over the next two months or so, it might be useful to talk as a family about what to expect and how you all can take care of yourselves while also celebrating.  

For example, if you know you’ll be getting home later than usual and doing your dinner and bedtime routines later than normal, maybe you try to have the next morning be as simple as possible. And maybe that means school outfits are laid out and lunches are packed the night before. 

If you know you and your kids will be enjoying a lot of sweet treats, maybe you have a more basic dinner to balance things out a bit. If you know your kids will be wired when they get home, maybe, after dinner, you have some screenless time as a family, to help everyone mellow out a bit before bed. 

It’s important to preview these adjustments and schedule changes ahead of time, so everyone can be on the same page. This won’t eliminate all arguments or frustrations, but it will give everyone a point of reference as to why these changes are happening and why normal after-dinner screentime might not be an option on a particular night, for example.  

By previewing and planning ahead as a family, you can help to reduce emotionally charged exchanges when your child is too emotionally dysregulated to see the logic or purpose of your decisions. Talking things out ahead of time, when everyone is regulated and not swept up in the fun of celebration, can help to manage overtired and overstimulated reactions later. 

I thought this would be fun, and it very much is not. What now? 

Another challenge that Gifted Guides often face is finding out that the traditions and activities they think are fun and special are not fun and special to their learner. What do you do when a tradition or activity is important to you but triggers or dysregulates your learner?  

This can be a hard experience for Gifted Guides to navigate. You want to share these special memories with this child who is important to you, but the activity is too dysregulating for them.  

In moments like this, you can take a few different routes. Depending on your learner, this might be something you can discuss together and come up with a plan for how to modify the experience. This way you can share the memories you love, and your learner has the accommodations they need. 

If accommodations aren’t going to work in the situation, you might also think about how you can enjoy the tradition on your own and create new traditions with your learner.  

Maybe you loved trick-or-treating growing up and were looking forward to dressing up with your child, but they hate the idea of wearing a costume. In that case, maybe they can help you pick out the candy you hand out to your neighbors, or maybe they can even help hand out candy with you. It may not be the exact trick-or-treating memory you were planning to create, but it is still fun family time and will create a lovely memory. 

Maybe you love baking holiday treats, and your learner simply has no interest in this. There is no budging. Their lack of interest doesn’t need to stop your tradition.  

Make the treats on your own. Blast your favorite baking music, or put on a favorite holiday movie, and enjoy your tradition and celebration. Your learner will see this and will see that you’re honoring what’s important to you. While you might not have a baking memory together, they will remember you taking time and care to do something that you enjoy and that is important to you. That’s a wonderful holiday lesson to model for your learner. 

Traditions are about time spent and company enjoyed. Don’t be afraid to tweak your plans this holiday season. Making memories together that fit your family’s needs and rhythms is going to be more meaningful and memorable than being unhappy as you try to do things the way you’ve always done them or think others expect you to do them. 

Conclusion 

Whatever your fall and holiday plans are, remember to do what works best for you and your family. Everyone’s needs are different, so like so much else we discuss here at Guiding Gifted, your celebrations and traditions will not be one-size-fits- all.  

If you have an asynchronous learner, who you’re asynchronously supporting, it is likely that your celebrations and traditions may need to be asynchronous as well. That’s ok. It’s better to have festivities that look a little different but can be enjoyed by you and your learner, than to stick to someone else’s script and end up frustrated and cranky. 

We will talk more about dysregulation season next month, but in the meantime, we hope you have a season that is only as spooky as you’d like it to be! 

Fall Testing Opportunities are OPEN! 

Fall 2024 Eligibility Assessment test dates are OPEN! Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.  

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online. 

If you’re interested,  CLICK HERE to learn more and register! Space is limited and will fill up quickly! 

More Ways to Connect with Davidson... 

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute,  click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here. 

If you’re interested in your learner joining us for the Davidson Institute’s 2025 summer programing, be sure to get your Young Scholar application in by November 1, 2024! 

If you haven’t already, please share what your experience supporting gifted learners has been like by filling out our Gifted in My Area Survey.  

Your thoughts here will help us to better support you and the families in our programs through resources and programming that actually meets your needs. 

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides! 

We’re so glad you’re here! 

How are you doing?  

For many of the Guides reading this, school is in full swing—so much so that the novelty of the new school year may be starting to rub off, and you may find yourself needing to advocate for some changes. 

The start of the school year can be a hectic time, with lots of new things—classes, teachers, peers, meetings, clubs, etc.—and each of these new elements has a degree of novelty to it that can help to distract from pieces that may not be working as well as you’d like. However, once the dust of “back-to-school" starts to settle, and the new routine and expectations are clear, it may be easier to notice what’s not working. 

Once you notice things aren’t working as you’d like them to, your next concern is probably what to do about it. Who do you talk to? When do you talk to them? What do you say?  

There are a lot of moving pieces to supporting a gifted or twice-exceptional (2e) learner. And once you start thinking about all those different pieces and their impacts, it’s easy to start feeling overwhelmed. 

Let’s break this down and take each of those questions in turn. 

Who do you talk to?  

The specifics of who you should talk to in an advocacy situation will vary on the specifics of your situation—your advocacy style, your learner’s needs, the structure and flexibility of the educational environment, etc. 

So, while we cannot tell you exactly what to do in your situation, we can offer a helpful checklist for who to talk to about your advocacy goals and concerns.

Yourself

Before you start talking to others, it is usually helpful to check-in with yourself. How are you feeling about this situation? What is your goal for this situation? What are you stressed about? What do you need help or support with?  

Advocating for a learner can be stressful, and it can bring up a lot of big emotions. You’re working hard to make sure that your learner is supported and has what they need. You are also, perhaps, the only one in the conversation who is dedicated only to supporting your student. That can make the stakes feel even higher.  

For these reasons, it can be helpful to check-in with yourself before you start firing off emails or diving down research rabbit holes. Checking in to make sure you’re regulated and clear on your advocacy goals or concerns will help to make you a stronger and more effective advocate. 

Your Learner

Gifted Guides are often responsible for making decisions for and taking action on behalf of learners. This does not mean that your gifted or 2e learner doesn’t have their own thoughts and opinions. If you find yourself thinking it is time to advocate for your learner, it is likely helpful to ask them what they are thinking and feeling about the situation. 

Students may not be able to tell you the exact acceleration strategy or accommodation they need, but they can probably tell you what they like or dislike about a situation.  

Remember, broad questions like, “How is school going?” may be overwhelming for gifted and 2e learners. Asking what their favorite (or least favorite) thing about a specific class or teacher can be more effective. A more specific question can help focus your learner and provide you with more information. 

Pro tip: If your learner’s favorite response to questions is “I don’t know,” you might try responding with “If you did know, what do you think the answer would be?” People often respond, “I don’t know,” even if they do know, because they need more time to process and formulate an answer. Reframing the question as a curious exploration, with no right or wrong answer, can take some of the pressure off answering. 

Other Active Participants

Once you’ve checked in with yourself and your learner, you might need to reach out to others. This can be a frustrating, intimidating, or just plain exhausting process. As any Gifted Guide can likely attest, gifted advocacy often has no shortage of hoops to jump through.  

Many Gifted Guides have years of experience advocating and navigating red tape. This type of experience can make it seem like it would be easier to just go to the top with any questions or concerns you have. This is an understandable feeling: Just wanting to take the most direct path to resolution.  

Alas, in education especially, going directly to the top is rarely the most direct path to resolution. If your advocacy is school-focused, it is typically most effective to start your advocacy efforts with the classroom teacher in question. Going directly to a principal or coordinator may not be most effective, as that person will likely need to go back to the classroom teacher in order to discuss the situation, before being able to do anything else. 

Starting with the people most directly related to the situation and then moving on from there is typically the best, most effective starting point.  

Pro tip: When approaching someone about your advocacy goals, you can always include the comment, “If you’re not the right person to chat about this with, please let me know who else I can contact about this.” 

When do you talk to them? 

Once you figure out who to talk to, it can be hard to know when to talk to about your advocacy goals or concerns. One question that can help you gauge when the time is right to talk about your goals is, “Are all parties prepared to have this conversation?” 

For example, when you’re idling in the carpool lane and your learner’s teacher is helping them into the back seat of your car, it is probably not a great time to have a conversation with this teacher about grade acceleration or classroom accommodations.  

Instead, you might consider sending a short email asking the teacher for a time to meet to discuss your learner’s progress this year and how you can support the teacher’s efforts in the classroom.  

From there, you can set up a time where you both can be focused and prepared to meet. This can help you feel more confident in your advocacy, and it can help the person you’re meeting with be in a place where they can better hear, understand, and potentially act on your questions or concerns.  

If you do have a specific situation or concern you want to talk about, a brief email asking to set up a meeting is likely still a good step. You can say something as simple as, “After talking with my learner over the last few weeks, I have some questions (or concerns) about [insert specific situation or topic]. Can we set up a time for us to meet to discuss this further, so I can better understand how I can support my learner?” 

Scheduling a conversation, where all parties can prepare and be on the same page can be a great way to increase the impact and efficacy of those conversations.  

Please note: In this example, we talked about sending emails. The educators, organizers, parents, or other Gifted Guides you’re working to coordinate with may prefer to communicate in a different way. It can be helpful to check with the person you’re looking to connect with and ask their preferred mode of communication. This can help make sure you’re reaching out to them through an avenue they regularly check. Something as simple as, “Oh! I have a few questions I want to chat about with you. Does it work for you if I just email or is there a better way to reach out?” can help clarify communication preferences. 

As with all things advocacy-related, clear expectations can help make things go much smoother. 

Pro-tip: Don’t bottle everything up and wait for parent-teacher conferences or Back-To-School Night to talk. Those are usually events where educators are talking to many parents in rapid succession. It is not always the best time to do intensive advocacy work. If you do want to wait for one of these events, you can use them as an initial starting point and discuss setting up a follow-up meeting/conversation for a later time. 

What do you say? 

Once you find time to talk with related parties, what do you say? What are the magic words to get another parent, a teacher, a tester, a coach, etc. to understand your learner’s needs and your advocacy goals? 

The hard truth is, there are no magic words, and in some situations, the other person may not end up understanding or supporting your goals. While you can’t control how the other person will respond—even when you wish you could—you can control how you share your concerns and goals. 

Two things you want to focus on are: 

• Being specific. 

• Sharing examples. 

Being specific is probably the most important thing you can do as a Gifted Guide advocating for your learner. Being specific does not mean you need to give a detailed summary of your learner’s entire history. That’s often not necessary. However, you do want to be specific about what you’re asking for. 

For example, asking a school for “work that’s on my child’s level” is a broad request that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. If what you really mean is you want your child to do accelerated work in math, you want to focus on that.  

Another example would be asking a school for “accommodations for ADHD.” Many people are diagnosed with ADHD, but the specific presentation of ADHD and the specific supports needed will vary from person to person. So, it would likely be more effective to say something along the lines of, “My child has been diagnosed with ADHD. They tend to have trouble focusing if the room is too quiet (or too loud). Is it possible to put an accommodation in place where they can wear headphones during independent work time?”  

In this example of asking for ADHD accommodations, the parent was specific about the student’s need, and they provided an example of an accommodation they know to be helpful for this particular student. 

Continuing to think about the ADHD example above, maybe headphones aren’t an option for that classroom, or maybe the accommodation process is more involved than the inquiring parent initially thought. Even if the accommodation can’t be put in place immediately, exactly as initially proposed, our example parent and example teacher are at least on the same page and can now brainstorm together to find a path forward. 

All Gifted Guides are working hard to support their learners. If we can be more specific with each other and share examples of what we’re observing or what has or hasn’t been helpful, we can all be on the same page that much sooner. 

Conclusion 

As you explore gifted advocacy this fall, don’t forget to use the tools already in your Advocacy Toolbox. The Davidson Institute is one of those tools. Check out our free gifted resources guides for new strategies or approaches to try on your advocacy journey. Our Guides to Advocating for Gifted Children at School may be especially helpful. 

Fall Testing Opportunities are OPEN! 

Fall 2024 Eligibility Assessment test dates are OPEN! Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.  

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online. 

If you’re interested,  CLICK HERE to learn more and register! Space is limited and will fill up quickly! 

More Ways to Connect with Davidson... 

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute,  click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here. 

To learn more about our Young Scholars program, consider attending our next virtual Young Scholars Application Q&A on Tuesday, October 1, 2024 at 4:00 PM (Pacific). A recording of the Q&A will be available for one week to all those who register for this event. 

Summer 2025

If you’re interested in your learner joining us for the Davidson Institute’s 2025 summer programing, be sure to get your Young Scholar application in by November 1, 2024! 

We want to hear from you!

If you haven’t already, please share what your experience supporting gifted learners has been like by filling out our Gifted in My Area Survey.  

Your thoughts here will help us to better support you and the families in our programs through resources and programming that actually meets your needs. 

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides! 

We’re so glad you’re here! 

How are you doing?  

We’ve had a lot of new friends start reading this newsletter over the last few months, so if you haven’t already, please share what your experience supporting gifted learners has been like by filling out our Gifted in My Area Survey.  

Your thoughts here will help us to better support you and the families in our programs through resources and programming that actually meets your needs. 

So, has school started for you yet?  

Whether you are a parent or guardian or you’re an educator or another type of professional working with gifted and twice-exceptional (2e) learners, the start of the school year is just as momentous for you as it is for your learner—just in different ways. 

For gifted and 2e learners, school can be a complicated experience. Due to the asynchronous nature of neurodivergent profiles, growth and development—whether intellectual, academic, or social-emotional—likely will not progress along a linear path. This means, no matter how specialized a school or educational program is, there will likely be points where the fit isn’t perfect.  

For gifted guides, school can be a complicated experience because not only are you working hard to support gifted and 2e learners, you’re also navigating myriad interpersonal relationships with others in order to support your learners.  

This means, you’re likely encountering others who have ideas about what it means to support gifted and 2e learners—ideas which may not align with yours. On top of this, you’re managing the other obligations and responsibilities you have to your family and job.  

All this is to say, the start of the school year can be uncertain and stressful for all parties—children, teens, adults; students, parents, educators. So, as you begin to make your back-to-school transition, it can be helpful if you’re practicing being thoughtful and deliberate both in the ways you’re supporting your learner and the ways you’re supporting yourself during this busy time. 

Are you even supporting yourself? 

Don’t worry. We won’t preach the importance of self-care. We won’t try to make you journal or meditate even once during back-to-school season. 

When we talk about supporting yourself, we want you to think of this similarly to how you would support your learner. So often, we talk about how important scaffolding can be to learners, regardless of their learning style and needs. Breaking down tasks into more manageable and engaging pieces is a crucial part of learning and tackling tasks. This is true at any age. 

So, how are you scaffolding back-to-school for yourself?  

In the hustle and bustle of new back-to-school routines, is dinner becoming an especially dreaded task? 

Maybe it is time to break out the crockpot and have some simple to prepare, easy to freeze dinners. This way you are nourished with little output or energy and time investment on your end. 

Is paperwork piling up? Can you set aside 15 minutes at the start of your day, before things get too chaotic, to fire off a few email responses, slowly but surely chipping away at your paperwork mountain? Are you a night owl? Can you find those 15 minutes at night instead? 

Are you having a hard time keeping track of where you’re going when, as you settle into a new routine? Is it time to set a few extra reminder alarms on your phone or to start color coding your to-do list with Post-It notes?  

Is your list getting too long? Maybe it’s time to scaffold your to-do list. There are many different ways of doing this. One of our favorite strategies is to jot down three MUST DO tasks, three NEED TO DO tasks, and three NICE TO DO tasks. By making a shorter, more prioritized to-do list, it can be easier to approach the list without instant overwhelm or frustration. 

Sometimes, even setting up a shared family calendar can help to scaffold things, as you can outsource the cognitive labor of keeping track of everyone else’s schedule and the reminders that may otherwise fall on you. 

These are just a few examples. These might not fit your organizational style or needs. That’s ok. Find what works for you. 

Thinking through these examples is just a practice to get you thinking about scaffolding opportunities in your own life. As an advocate and gifted guide, you probably spend a lot of time focused on all the ways you can support others. This can leave your own needs piling up, unattended.  

When your needs are left unattended and you’re growing increasingly stressed and dysregulated, it will become harder and harder to show up for your learners. It is hard to help someone else feel grounded, regulated, and supported if you’re a burnt-out ball of stress. 

Supporting your learner—even when you are a burnt-out ball of stress 

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, no matter how much we scaffold or ask for help, you will still find yourself in a place of dysregulation or overwhelm. Unfortunately, the work of a gifted guide cannot always take place when we’re feeling rested, secure, and supported. 

To help you help your learner while you may be feeling the weight and stress of back-to-school, here are some of our go-to back-to-school resources, from the Davidson Institute Resource Library, to help gifted and 2e learners navigate this transition more easily: 

• Gifted Perspectives Series: This is a series of videos on different gifted topics, many of which you are likely to encounter as your learner heads back to school. In particular, “Balancing Enrichment with After School Restraint Collapse” might be helpful if your learner seems especially dysregulated after school. 

• “Meeting Expectations – Your Gifted Child and Yourself” - Many times, frustrations during a transition come from everyone having different expectations—of the situation, of themselves, of others involved. Getting on the same page can be a powerful way to ease the back-to-school transition. 

• “Communication in the Gifted and Twice-Exceptional Family” -Neurodivergent communication may sometimes look different than you’d expect—even if you are neurodivergent yourself. This article shares tips for more effective communication. 

• “Why is My Gifted Child So Angry?” - We often talk about the intensities that can be part of gifted or 2e profiles. This article explores some common causes behind anger that your learner may express. If your learner is having a hard time this school year, this article may provide helpful insights. 

As always, it’s important to point out that even if a resource or strategy is aimed at students or children, you can still use many of those strategies to support yourself during challenging moments. 

Conclusion 

We are wishing you and your gifted learners a wonderful, curious, and fulfilling school year. Remember, the team at the Davidson Institute is always here to support you and your learner as you travel the asynchronous ups and down of gifted education and advocacy. 

When in doubt, if things start to feel hard and overwhelming, remember to slow down and go back to basics. The progress and goals you outlined after the May issue of Guiding Gifted may be useful as you do this. 

Fall Testing Opportunities are OPEN! 

Fall 2024 Eligibility Assessment test dates are OPEN! Through our partnership with Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development, we are able to offer low cost, remote testing for students in grades 3-10.  

This testing can be used to apply to the Davidson Institute’s Young Scholars program, along with the Davidson Academy, Reno and Davidson Academy Online. 

If you’re interested,  CLICK HERE to learn more and register! Space is limited and will fill up quickly! 

More Ways to Connect with Davidson... 

Thanks for reading and subscribing. If you’d like even more curated resources from the Davidson Institute,  click here. You can also sign up for our e-News Update by clicking here. 

To learn more about our Young Scholars program, consider attending our next virtual Young Scholars Application Q&A on Tuesday, October 1, 2024 at 4:00 PM (Pacific). A recording of the Q&A will be available for one week to all those who register for this event. 

If you’re interested in your learner joining us for the Davidson Institute’s 2025 summer programing, be sure to get your Young Scholar application in by November 1, 2024! 

We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!