Supporting professional development for educators during the pandemic: Lessons from an international blended learning diploma program.

This article discusses issues that emerged from conducting professional development activities for educators during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, as post-academic educational trainers, the authors worked closely with more than 200 professional educators who participated in an international diploma program to develop their professional skills and gain positive and insightful experience. Here, they share three lessons they learned while working with professional educators: (a) teachers face new challenges in the use of educational technology, (b) teachers wonder how to motivate learners with diverse abilities in a virtual setting, and (c) building a supportive community is essential. Suggestions and recommendations are also provided.

Design an international blended professional development model for gifted education: An evaluation study.

The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate an international professional development program with a blended learning design in gifted education (i.e., The RITHA program), which is applied globally. By using Design-Based Research, the prototype of this program was examined before it was launched. That process is reported in this study. The main research focus of this study is the blended learning design. Based on the evaluation surveys of training participants, the results showed that participants were highly satisfied with their overall learning in the blended learning model. What was appreciated most was a well-designed course with an instructor to provide good instruction, positive interaction, and quality feedback. The findings show that online courses participants expect synchronous and asynchronous online activities and feedback. The two most mentioned benefits of blended learning seem to be flexibility and the use of asynchronous discussion boards. Implications were also reported.

Cognitive correlates of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents with high intellectual ability.

BACKGROUND: There is an ongoing debate as to whether attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in highly intelligent individuals has a similar presentation as in average intelligent individuals. The aim of this study was to examine the cognitive correlates of ADHD in highly intelligent children and adolescents with ADHD. METHOD: Two independent samples (N = 204 and N = 84) of (1) high intelligence quotient (IQ) (IQ ≥ 120) children and adolescents with ADHD were used, carefully matched on age, gender, ADHD severity, and IQ with (2) control participants with high intelligence, (3) participants with ADHD with an average intelligence (IQ 90-110), and (4) control participants with an average intelligence. These samples were selected from the Dutch node of the International Multicenter ADHD Genetics (NeuroIMAGE) and Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS) cohorts, respectively, in which a large battery of cognitive tasks was administered. Linear mixed models were used to examine the main effects of ADHD and IQ and their interaction on cognitive performance. RESULTS: ADHD-control group differences were not moderated by IQ; mostly equally large ADHD-control differences in cognitive performance were found for high versus average intelligent groups. The small moderating effects found mostly indicated somewhat milder cognitive problems in highly intelligent individuals with ADHD. Overall, highly intelligent children and adolescents with ADHD performed at the level of the average intelligent control children. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate the cognitive profile of ADHD is similar in highly versus average intelligent individuals with ADHD, although ADHD-related cognitive deficits may be easily overlooked in the high intelligence population when compared to the typical (i.e., average intelligent) control group.

High intelligence and the risk of ADHD and other psychopathology.

BackgroundHigh intelligence may be associated with positive (adaptive, desired) outcomes, but may also come with disadvantages.AimsTo contribute empirically to the debate concerning whether a trade-off in IQ scores exists in relation to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related problems, suggesting that high intelligence - like low intelligence - increases the risk of ADHD.MethodCurves of the relation between IQ score and ADHD problems were fitted to questionnaire data (parent, teacher, self-report} in a population-based study of 2221 children and adolescents aged 10-12 years. Externalising and internalising problems were included for comparison purposes.ResultsHigher IQ score was most strongly related to fewer attention problems, with more rater discrepancy in the high v. average IQ range. Attention problems - but only minimally hyperactivity/impulsivity problems - predicted functional impairment at school, also in the higher IQ range.ConclusionsAttention problems in highly intelligent children are exceptional and affect school performance; they are therefore a reason for clinical concern.

An evidenced-based perspective on the validity of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the context of high intelligence.

The validity of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in individuals with high intelligence is disputed, since high intelligence may 'mimic' the symptoms of ADHD in the absence of the specific pathophysiological pathways for ADHD. Conversely, increased risk of a missed ADHD diagnosis may occur due to compensatory strategies in the highly intelligent individual. A systematic literature review was performed including cognitive and behavioral studies, addressing a specific set of criteria for validating ADHD in the context of high intelligence. Albeit limited in number, available results suggest that ADHD is a valid construct in the context of high intelligence, showing characteristic clinical features (except possibly for hyperactivity being a less specific pathology marker), course and outcome and a characteristic response to treatment. Importantly, ADHD and IQ are negatively correlated on nearly all phenotypic and cognitive constructs, underlining the need for taking IQ into account as potential moderator in ADHD studies and more systematically studying ADHD in the high intelligent population.

Social-emotional characteristics of gifted accelerated and non-accelerated students in the Netherlands.

BACKGROUND: In the studies of acceleration conducted so far a multidimensional perspective has largely been neglected. No attempt has been made to relate social-emotional characteristics of accelerated versus non-accelerated students in perspective of environmental factors. AIMS: In this study, social-emotional characteristics of accelerated gifted students in the Netherlands were examined in relation to personal and environmental factors. SAMPLES: Self-concept and social contacts of accelerated (n = 148) and non-accelerated (n = 55) gifted students, aged 4 to 27 (M = 11.22, SD = 4.27) were measured. METHOD: Self-concept and social contacts of accelerated and non-accelerated gifted students were measured using a questionnaire and a diary, and parents of these students evaluated their behavioural characteristics. Gender and birth order were studied as personal factors and grade, classroom, teachers' gender, teaching experience, and the quality of parent-school contact as environmental factors. RESULTS: The results showed minimal differences in the social-emotional characteristics of accelerated and non-accelerated gifted students. The few differences we found favoured the accelerated students. We also found that multiple grade skipping does not have negative effects on social-emotional characteristics, and that long-term effects of acceleration tend to be positive. As regards the possible modulation of personal and environmental factors, we merely found an impact of such factors in the non-accelerated group. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study strongly suggest that social-emotional characteristics of accelerated gifted students and non-accelerated gifted students are largely similar. These results thus do not support worries expressed by teachers about the acceleration of gifted students. Our findings parallel the outcomes of earlier studies in the United States and Germany in that we observed that acceleration does not harm gifted students, not even in the case of multiple grade skipping. On the contrary, there is a suggestion in the data that accelerated students are more socially competent than non-accelerated students. The findings in this study can reassure those parents and teachers who worry about the social-emotional consequences of acceleration in school: If a student is gifted, acceleration seems to be a sound and, in many cases, appropriate measure in gifted education.