Social and Emotional Support for Gifted Learners during Covid-19

Our thanks to Wendy Behrens for sending this information to us. Wendy is the Gifted and Talented Education Specialist, Minnesota Department of Education

Throughout the world, people are experiencing anxiety about the Covid-19 outbreak. Children are not immune to worry and many young students are concerned about missing school and friends and confused by changing schedules and responsibilities. Older students may also be concerned about testing, college applications, completion of courses, credits, missing final school events and more.

Image by ambroo from Pixabay

The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) reminds us that during these uncertain times, children look to adults for guidance on how to react. As our anxiety rises, so does the anxiety of our children. NASP recommends, “Parents reassure children that health and school officials are working hard to ensure that people throughout the country stay healthy. However, children also need factual, age appropriate information about the potential seriousness of disease risk and concrete instruction about how to avoid infections and spread of disease. Teaching children positive preventive measures, talking with them about their fears, and giving them a sense of some control over their risk of infection can help reduce anxiety.”

Resources for Consideration  

Cultivating Calm Amidst a Storm. Blog from Nicole A. Tetreault, Ph.D., on how to calm our mind, body, and nervous system in the presence of a global health crisis. (March 18, 2020)

Helping Your Child Manage Stress Through Mindfulness by Michele Kane, Ed.D. Parenting for High Potential, Dec 2017. This article, written directly to teens and tweens, helps gifted adolescents understand mindfulness and the formal/informal pathways to mindfulness. Includes apps, books, and online resources for kids.

Just for Kids: A Comic Exploring The New Coronavirus 
A resource for children about coronavirus, what it is and how to protect oneself.

Management of Anxiety Begins at Home by Sal Mendaglio, Ph.D., Parenting for High Potential, Summer 2016. General article that focuses on the sources of anxiety in gifted children and what parents can do to help reduce anxiety at home.

Parent/Caregiver Guide to Helping Families Cope With the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (PDF, 144KB) 
This resource provides information for parents and caregivers about outbreaks, how they can prepare to reduce stress and anxiety, how it may affect your family both physically and emotionally and ways to cope.

Resources for Supporting Children’s Emotional Well-being During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Guidance, recommendations, and resources provided by child trauma experts at Child Trends and the Child Trauma Training Center at the University of Massachusetts.

Talking to Children About COVID-19 (Coronavirus): A Parent Resource 
A resource for parents on how best to talk to children about the coronavirus.

Talking to Teens and Tweens About Coronavirus 
This article details advice from experts on how parents can help teens be prepared and have the right information about the coronavirus.

Teacher, Interrupted: Leaning into Social-Emotional Learning Amid the COVID-19 Crisis by Christina Cipriano and Marc Brackett, Ed Surge. Psychologists from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence offer social and emotional learning (SEL) evidence-based practices to help educators, parents, and students get through these difficult times. (March 18, 2020)

Image by Wokandapix from Pixabay

Suddenly Homeschooling: Resources for Parents of Gifted Children

Suddenly, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents are navigating new territory–teaching their children at home while also trying to work from home and maintain some semblance of normal family life. Here are a few resources that might be helpful to your and your gifted child during this time.

Image by khamkhor from Pixabay

The National Association for Gifted Children has published a list of resources tailored to gifted students and their families. We picked out a few to highlight:

Gifted Pathways provides a blog with simple activities you can do with your kids today.

Distance Learning Resources from the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian provides access to millions of digital resources from across the Smithsonian’s museums, research centers, libraries, archives, and more. See especially the sections on Resources for Caregivers and Resources for Tweens and Teens. Also note that there are scheduled live chats with experts.

The list of Amazing Educational Resources is, well, amazing! It provides a list of education companies offering free subscriptions due to school closings and is updated often.

Leave Your Sleep for Education. Free online curriculum platform that offers literature, theater, music and dance, art, history, and science applications using poetry and music to engage students. This is an excellent resource for April’s National Poetry Month. Recommended by our friends at the Gifted Support Center in San Mateo, CA.

Sage Publishing is providing free access to Coronavirus research. These might be especially appropriate for high school students as well as some middle schoolers.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

The National Association of School Psychologists provides a list of health crisis resources for various audiences (including parents) who are now navigating the COVID-19 virus.

Finally, Lisa Van Gemert (some of you know her as the Gifted Guru) is in the midst of a truly amazing experience as the country’s English teacher. We will simply end this little article with her words: “When faced with difficult times, focusing on what we can give, rather than worrying about what might be taken away, is food for the soul. You’ve got something worth sharing. Share it.”

COVID-19 Update

In response to COVID-19, we are following the University of Iowa’s guidance and the CDC’s recommendations, and will continue to do so as the situation changes. We are committed to maintaining the safety and well-being of all our visitors.

Currently, all Belin-Blank Center events are scheduled to proceed as planned. As the days and weeks go on, please monitor our Emergency Alerts page often for updates about whether a specific Belin-Blank Center event or program has been canceled, rescheduled, or moved online.

If the University of Iowa requires that we cancel an event or program due to reasons related to COVID-19, all registered participants will receive a full refund of any paid fees associated with that event or program. They will also receive an email.

Upcoming Event or Program	Date Scheduled	Status (Current March 12, 2020)
AP Teacher Training Institute	June 29 – July 2	Proceeding as Planned
Belin-Blank Fellowship Program	June 21 – 26	Proceeding as Planned
Blank Summer Institute	June 22 – 26	Proceeding as Planned
Bucksbaum Academy Information Day	March 24	Proceeding as Planned
Bucksbaum Academy Information Day	April 28	Proceeding as Planned
Chautauqua I	July 5 – July 11	Proceeding as Planned
Chautauqua II	July 12 – July 18	Proceeding as Planned
I-Excel test date at Belin-Blank Center	June 11	Proceeding as Planned
Invent Iowa State Invention Competition	April 20	Proceeding as Planned
Javits-TICE Professional Development	June 15 – 16	Proceeding as Planned
Junior Scholars Academy – Session 1	June 15 – 19	Proceeding as Planned
Junior Scholars Academy – Session 2	June 22 – 26	Proceeding as Planned
Junior Scholars Academy – Session 3	July 6 – 10	Proceeding as Planned
Junior Scholars Academy – Session 4	July 13 – 17	Proceeding as Planned
National Invention Convention	June 3 – 5	Proceeding as Planned
National JSHS	April 15 – 19	Under Review
Perry Research Scholars Institute	July 6 – 17	Proceeding as Planned
Secondary Student Training Program	June 17 – July 24	Proceeding as Planned
STEM Excellence Professional Development	June 9 – 10	Proceeding as Planned
Summer Art Residency	July 6 – 24	Proceeding as Planned
Summer Writing Residency	July 6 – 24	Proceeding as Planned
Summit on the Neuroscience of Twice Exceptionality	July 20 – 21	Proceeding as Planned

Current as of March 12, 2020, 2:15pm CDT.

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Assessment & Counseling Clinic

In order to maintain the health and safety of our staff and clients, please contact us to reschedule if you or your child are ill, if you have known exposure to COVID-19, or if you have recently traveled to a location with a high rate of COVID-19 (as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). We will work with you to ensure your rescheduled appointment occurs as soon as possible. If you are planning to travel by airplane for the evaluation, you may also consider rescheduling your child’s appointment to reduce risk of exposure.