Happy Sunday everyone!
This week was a very productive week in terms of resources gained and LOTS of emailing in preparation for my next steps :).
I am beyond excited (and nervous) for the next few weeks, as I have an interview this coming week with Ms. Hill-Chandler, the Assistant Head of School and Counselor at Hill Learning Center in Durham, N.C., and I am in the middle of setting up another interview with someone from the Autism Support and Advocacy Center, and potentially two more with other experts in the field! One thing I am looking forward to during this phase of my project is being able to hear from various diverse perspectives within the autism field and to be able to ask questions so that I can create a more encompassing faculty presentation in May and effectively support neurodiverse and specifically autistic students on DA’s campus, as well as later in my life.
I also had a wonderful conversation with Ms. Rogers this week, and she was able to give me a ton of incredible resources to look into further as I start adapting information I have learned over the course of this study
NEW VOCAB TERM Twice-Exceptional - intellectually gifted people who have some other diagnosable condition (such as autism) - estimated rates of intellectual giftedness in autistic children are 0.7–2%, compared to up to 1% in the general public.[1] - a greater prevalence of people with IQs over 140 (gifted/genius level) has been found among autistic people [2] - a link has been found between autism, high intelligence,[2] and giftedness [4] EMBRACE AUTISM Further Reading: Autistic and Gifted: How to Support a Twice-Exceptional Child, Seeing the Whole Gifted Child, The Co-Occurrence of Intellectual Giftedness and Autism Spectrum Disorders
In terms of extending this study long-term, I am looking into summer opportunities to further explore applications of this field (and maybe begin to participate in it), as well as extending this study into the fall of my senior year so I can follow up on May’s programming and ensure long-term change can really take effect at DA.
That is all for this week! See you all next weekend and have a wonderful start to your April 🙂
