Sunshine, Sprinklers, and Support Strategies
Let's talk about how to use support strategies you're already familiar with to help you and your learner enjoy summer even more!
Hello 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 7th 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!
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We’ll see you next month. Stay well, Gifted Guides!