TPP 284: Maria Kennedy on What's Needed & What's Next in the Movement to Support 2e Students

Supporting 2e students continues to be one of the biggest challenges for those of us raising twice-exceptional children, and today we’re going to do a deep dive into how to do this. My guest is Maria Kennedy, director of the Bridges Educational Group at Bridges Academy, and host of Crucial Conversations on Cognitive Diversity, produced by the Bridges 2e Center for Research and Professional Development. Maria is also a speaker, author and advocate and has been featured on “Bright and Quirky” and has received several awards for her teaching and leadership. Maria is passionate about supporting 2e students and training teachers how to tap into the strengths of their gifted and challenged learners.

During this conversation, we’ll talk about how the definition of giftedness in some countries keeps gifted students from getting into gifted programs, the importance of appreciating every child’s unique strengths and value, and ways parents can advocate for their children’s unique learning profile, even within their existing school systems that may not be designed to support or understand neurodivergent learners.

Things you’ll learn from this episode

• How the definition of giftedness in some countries prevents gifted students from getting into gifted programs
• Why we should lean into widening the scope of what giftedness means so we can properly identify everyone’s gifts
• What appreciating everyone’s unique value can bring to a child’s education and development
• What the roadblocks are for our educational system to be more open to embracing the changes needed
• How parents who are navigating a traditional educational system can advocate for their 2e children

Resources mentioned for supporting 2e students

• Bridges Academy
• Scott Barry Kaufman
• Ungifted: Intelligence Redefinedby Scott Barry Kaufman
• Bridges Symposium
• Dr. Susan Baum
• Stanford Neurodiversity Conference
• 2e News
• Variations Magazine

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