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Did you know that stress shuts off learning? Suki Wessling, an author on parenting, gifted children, health and homeschooling, explores this concept and gives some parent tips in the SENG article �Stress, Learning and the Gifted Child� http://www.sengifted.org/archives/articles/stress-learning-and-the-gifted-child.

Thanks!

Good article. My college-professor sister-in-law should read this. Her kids are just plain gifted, not twice-exceptional, and while they might have the high IQ in common, there are differences in how her children learn best and how my child learns best. Big differences. It is one of the reasons we were told to homeschool by a public school teacher with gifted kids of her own.

I know from personal experience how difficult it is to learn when you are under stress. Since we were told that my son needed scoliosis surgery and doctors told us all the risks which include a slight risk of death or paralysis, I have not been able to focus on learning anything. I only kind of half hear things. My mind refuses to focus even though we have been waiting since November to get cleared for the surgery, which is scheduled for next month. The pre-op appointment was yesterday. They made sure that my son understood that the recovery would be painful and they can't take away all the pain, but they would do their best. They said anesthesia awareness is very rare. They said all those risks would be similar to the risk of having a bad car accident on the way home.

Luckily, my son told the last woman that he had heard enough and that he just wanted to leave, so we left. If we had stayed and asked questions we might not have gotten home safely. We did not listen to the weather on the radio even though we knew there was a risk for storms that afternoon. My son wanted to stop for lunch at a restaurant so we did. We wanted to do anything we could to make him feel better.

By the time we left the restaurant, the sky was dark and we knew we needed to get home. We saw a woman walking a child home from school and it wasn't quite time for school to be out but I didn't really think anything of it. Lucky child. We needed to get milk on the way home so my husband stopped at a Walmart and ran in. A minute later my daughter called and said she heard that a tornado was headed our way from a friend on facebook. My son called his dad and told him to hurry. On the way home we saw the scariest, most awful wall cloud and there was a huge area that was lowering and the tornado sirens were going off and this absolutely causes a lot of stress whether you are overexcitable or not. We are okay, but people we know were not so lucky. The area where we had lunch was wiped out. The old bridge we drove past on the way home was destroyed. The area behind the Walmart where we stopped was destroyed. My daughter's friend's child is missing. Pets missing. Horses injured or dead. Every time I look at facebook or listen to the news there are more horror stories.

If we had taken just a few minutes longer at the hospital or at the restaurant things might be different for us. My son said he was happy even after all the bad surgery news. Happy to be alive.

We are supposed to go to a piano lesson in a few hours and it is starting to storm again. He did not practice at all--again. Awful, stressful things keep happening regularly to us or people we care about and we are having a little trouble learning right now.

By the way, I remember one of the things I stressed about when I was a child was the tornados. I remember the tornado drills. They had us line up against the interior walls and cover our heads. I thought at the time, what good does that do? My children wondered the same thing. There were children at an elementary school who will never have the opportunity to wonder about that ever again.

This statement is so broad that I think it is incorrect. One reason for formal education -- schools and colleges -- is to impose a curriculum and schedule, grade and rank students, and thus impose a little stress. If my children never have any stress in school and especially college and are getting A's with little effort, they should be taking tougher classes.

Too much stress can impede learning. It would be a bad idea, for example, to tell a college student that she must get straight A's or lose financial support.

I agree, Bostonian.

I think that people are inherently wired for different ideal stress levels-- and not all TYPES of stress are the same, either.

Most people, yes, perform and learn most effectively with minimal stress.

SOME people, however, actually have a 'sweet spot' where fairly high levels of stress fuel learning and higher achievement-- without real ill effects. I know this because I'm one of those people. I am a procrastinator for this exact reason. I really can get more done and do it better when I'm under pressure.

My DH is not like that.

To be fair, he tolerates some kinds of stress better than I do, and vice versa.


LoriH, I have been peeking here this morning and hoping that you would post to say that you and your family were safe.

I realized yesterday that my son is able to learn and perform even with stress. Even with all the stress from the close call with the tornado the day before and learning how much pain he would be in after he has surgery he seemed more calm and focused than usual and played through his 9 pages of sheet music without a problem.

I was surprised that he could do so well because he hasn't practiced piano for months. The only practice he has been getting is the actual lesson and we had to cut the lesson down to about 20 minutes because of his back pain. He also missed lessons because of the pain. He still made progress. He was able to retain what he learned in prior lessons even when he had to miss lessons and it would sometimes be weeks before he would play the piano again.

It seems like his biggest problem is working around the pain. It is the stress from being in pain that distracts him and keeps him from learning as much as he could. If he can manage to get enough sleep (difficult with his back issues) and we let him stop when he needs to, he does not have a problem learning.

I agree with the article and will read the book. We noticed a dramatic change in our DDs stress level after changing her learning environment from school to home. She was becoming very stressed about math. After bringing her home and approaching it in a less stressful way she has completely changed her attitude about math and is really speeding through stuff. I think stress can play a major role in learning. Some stress is beneficial if it is productive.

When the stress is breaking down confidence then it is time to step in. With our DD the change has been huge she is approaching much harder material and embracing it. I think the adults facilitating the learning play a big part in setting the tone for a child. If a child feels supported they will be able to and want to take on more and will not feel as much stress. If a child is not feeling secure or feels pressured even easy things can seem hard. This can be frustrating when a child seems to be underperforming but if it is stress related it is always better to work with the child and let them know they are supported. Every child will eventually need reassurance and when they get it they will always perform better.

Adults also perform better and choose to take on more when they feel like they are doing a good job! Sometimes it seems like so much is expected from these highly gifted children it is hard to remember that although they are very smart and may be doing amazing things it is important to respect the fact that they are children that need the same love and support as a typically developing child, sometimes more as they can be so very sensitive.

Great teachers can pick up on subtle changes in emotion and attitude and adjust these things right away without having to formally address it. This is a skill that I am not sure can be taught although a good understanding of neurology would be helpful. A teacher who has this ability is very valuable and can figure out the rest. Children who experience this kind of environment will develop a resilience that stays with them once they are past a certain age. For very young gifted children this is critical. Unfortunately there is not much available in schools for young gifted children.

Most have a very hostile experience in early elementary for a variety of reasons and then are sent the message that their worth is based on performance. This is why some children seem to lose their enthusiasm and become stressed. A stressed child is in danger of losing their intrinsic motivation to learn and this can be a hard thing to get back. I wish there were more programs for young gifted children that understood and respected their age and also challenged them in a way that did not cause stress.
Basic child development practices can be used and adapted to meet the needs of HG and PG children, but teaching them in a group may require ear plugs for everyone. Just kidding, I meant lots of flexibility. The examples in the article of swing math were a good example of this. I would be interested to know if anyone has tried this, teaching a group of young, pg/hg kids and how that worked out. Great article on stress!