The adolescent brain and the gifted brain are both hungry for experience.
Keep the Mind
InSight
AAGC Conference OCTober 2021
Sherri Spears
Shelby County Schools
Having a scientific perspective
on the biological challenges of
adolescence and the
structural differences of a
gifted brain will help you
interact more objectively with
your students, maintain your
cool, anticipate behaviors,
provide appropriate supports,
and leverage their strengths.
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1.
Some things we know
about the gifted brain...
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Increased Brain
Volume
4
connectivity
5
Efficiency
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Greater sensory
sensitivity
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Oversized Emotions
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The truly creative mind in any field is no
more than this: A human creature born
abnormally, inhumanely sensitive. To
them … a touch is a blow, a sound is a
noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is
an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is
a god, and failure is death.
~Pearl S. Buck
Let’s Ponder on PADLET
1.
2.
Click on the Padlet link in the Chat.
Respond to Question 1 only.
https://padlet.com/sspears4/jkubxv3
tbxs5y8h4
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“
Scientist have shown that the
best way to remember what
you’ve learned is to return to the
place where you learned it.
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Remember when you were an
adolescent?
Your level of self-esteem...
Your peer pressures...
Your parents’ expectations...
Your own concerns and expectations...
Societal issues and pressures…
Take the POLL
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How do those
memories...
➔ Influence how you perceive
adolescent issues?
➔ Impact your interactions
with adolescents?
➔ Impact the perceptions of
others and their memories?
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We can’t
look at
adolescence
as
something
to
SURVIVE!
...we began to think about adolescents
not just according to their weaknesses,
but according to their strengths?
...instead of seeing teenagers’ lives as
“problems to be solved” we began to
see them as “resources to be
developed”?
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Adolescents have hidden strengths that will never be
seen again in their adult lives.
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2
Now let’s look into the adolescent brain
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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The Great Shift
Clutter and Cleaning
Opposite Reactions
Laws of Negativity
The Pesky Paradox
Overgrowth Obstacle
Hungry Hungry Hippocampus “p.44-
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The Great SHIFT (PFC to Limbic System)
=
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An exercise in empathy...
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Let’s connect to something we know…
Gray Matter Overgrowth
Trimming & Shaping
Clean & Clear
Neurogenesis
Synaptic Pruning
Myelination
Let’s connect to something we know...
Grey Matter Overgrowth
Pruning Process
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Myelination Magic
“
It’s not so much about what IS
happening inside the head of an
adolescent as what is NOT.
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1
Let’s Look at the NOTs
Adolescents are NOT
getting enough sleep.
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✘
Teens require 9 hours and
15 minutes of sleep (avg.
teen gets 6 hours and 30
minutes of sleep).
✘
Melatonin is released later
and stays in the system
longer.
What are
the issues
with a lack
of sleep?
1. Physiological issues:
➔ skin,
➔ diet,
➔ + injury,
➔ + blood
pressure,
➔ + illnesses
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3. Cognitive Issues:
➔ Impaired learning
ability
➔ Inhibition of creativity
➔ Slowing of
problem-solving skills
➔ Increasing
forgetfulness
2. Emotional issues:
➔ Aggressive,
➔ impatient,
➔ Impulsive,
➔ inappropriate,
➔ +mood swings,
➔ lowered self-esteem
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“Teens can learn things harder,
stronger, faster, and they can get
addicted harder, stronger, faster.”
A 2016 study reported that the
risk of addiction to opioids
increased nearly 40% among
young people ages 18 to 25
from 2002 to 2014.
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2
Adolescents are NOT processing information in
the prefrontal cortex.
“The brain is experimenting,
turning the volume of various
regions up and down, till it
finds its optimal performance
range,”
27
Why are
adolescents not
processing
information in the
prefrontal cortex?
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What are the issues that arise when the prefrontal
cortex is not in charge of processing information?
➔ Increased risk taking
➔ Thrill seeking
➔ Decreased impulse
control
➔ Decreased emotional
regulation
➔ No Cost-benefit analysis
➔ Misread or misinterpret
social cues and emotions
➔ Act on impulse
➔ Pause and change
behaviors
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REMEMBER THAT THE ADOLESCENT BRAIN
IS IN A CONSTANT TUG-OF-WAR...
Unfortunately, the
reward system often
outmuscles the master
planner!
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"Teenage brains are simply wired to
seek reward."
“If we were to find ways to
engage teens in more positive
risk-taking, would this lead to a
decline in negative
risk-taking?”
31
3
Neurotransmitter systems in adolescent brains
are NOT stabilized.
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“Nothing will ever feel as good to you
for the rest of your life as it did when
you were a teenager.”
"Adolescents need higher doses
of risk to feel the same amount
of rush adults do,"
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4
Adolescent brains are NOT responding to stress
as an adult brain would.
What magical chemical
soothes electrical activity in
children and adults?
ALLOPREGNANOLONE (THP)
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"The risk of death for teenagers
driving alone increased by 44 percent
per mile when traveling with one peer,
and quadrupled with three peers in
the car.."
Traveling companions are actually a
“protective factor” for adults over 26, “who
are less likely to crash if they have a
passenger than if they’re alone.”
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5
Adolescent brains do not value long-term,
non-social goals.
Piques
curiosity
Novel
freedom/
independence
Approval
Challenging
Exciting
Sensation/Pleasure
Seeking
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Social
Connection
Peer
Affirmation
Immediate
"Social isolation activates the pain
centers in the brain as physical pain."
90 % of American parents
report using harsh verbal
discipline and lengthy
restrictions.
--2013 Society for Research in Child Development
“Longitudinal Links Between Fathers’ and Mothers’ Harsh Verbal Discipline and
Adolescents’ Conduct Problems and Depressive Symptoms”
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6
Adolescent brains do not Organize and
understand information in the same way as
adults.
--Deborah Yurgalen-Todd Social Psychologist
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Adult vs. Adolescent Brain Response Pattern
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"Adolescents are still in a
developmental period that will affect
the rest of their life."
The chief predictor of
adolescent behavior is not the
perception of risk, but the
anticipation of the reward
despite the risk.
--Frances E. Jensen
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Practice
vs.
Game
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"Adolescence is (physically) the healthiest period of the
lifespan: prior to adult declines; beyond the frailties of
infancy and childhood: Improvements in strength, speed,
reaction time, reasoning abilities, immune function …
Increased resistance to cold, heat, hunger, dehydration, and
most types of injury …"
The overall morbidity and mortality
rates increase 200% from childhood
to late adolescence.
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“
“They’re testing their limits, they’re doing things
for the first time. … That’s hard work, and they
need a safe space to try out risks...“We need
adolescents to hang out in this sensitive period
and all that allows to develop … versus rushing
them through it.”
--Sarah Enos Watamura
associate professor at the University of Denver
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1.
These brain
differences do NOT
mean that gifted
adolescents cannot
make good decisions
or tell the difference
between right and
wrong!
2.
It does NOT mean
they shouldn’t be
held responsible for
their actions.
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3.
The awareness of the
differences can help
parents and teachers
understand, anticipate,
and support gifted
adolescents.
Beneath every
behavior there is a
FEELING.
Beneath each
feeling is a NEED.
And when we
meet that NEED
rather than focus
on the behavior,
we begin to deal
with the CAUSE
not the symptom.
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The Cycle of Unmet Need
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In a culture in which measuring the measurable is seen
by some as the be-all and end-all of education, think
about the ways our current perspectives and practices
may be limiting adolescents?
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Addressing the NEEDS of Gifted Adolescents
★
★
★
★
★
Keep your composure!
Explain their brain and the
changes that are occurring
EXPLICITLY Teach and practice
academic skills
Set limits and provide options
Use class discussions to PAUSE
and walk through possible
consequences/responses
★ Leverage positive peer pressure
★ Provide social interaction and
purposeful work
★ Use music and movement to
increase learning and calm or
excite emotions
★ Use stories to teach and connect to
emotions
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Addressing the NEEDS of Gifted Adolescents
★ Help students find social benefits from positive risks (leading class
discussions or tackling challenging projects.)
★ Active learning, such as team projects, can provide students with
positive ways for classmates to challenge each other
★ Strengthen the PFC and satisfy a gifted student’s thirst for
knowledge by incorporating challenge and novelty
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References
Armstrong, Thomas. The Power of the Adolescent Brain: Strategies for Teaching Middle and High School Students. ASCD, 2016.
Griffin, Brad. The Surprising Strength of the Teenage Brain. Fuller Youth Institute. 31 October 2012.
Jensen, Frances E., MD. The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults. HarperCollins Publishers, 2015
Kenichi Oishi, MD, PhD, Andreia Faria, MD, John Hsu, BA, Donna Tippett, MPH, MA, CCC-SLP, Susumu Mori, PhD, and Argye E. Hillis, MD, MA, “The Critical Role of the
Right Uncinate Fasciculus in Emotional Empathy,” Annals of Neurology, 77(1), 68–74 (2015), accessed September 10, 2018
Society for Research in Child Development, 2013.
“Longitudinal Links Between Fathers’ and Mothers’ Harsh Verbal Discipline and Adolescents’ Conduct Problems and Depressive Symptoms”
Sousa, David A. How the Brain Learns.
Sukel, Kayt. “When the Myth is the Message: Neuromyths and Education.” The DANA Foundation. 12 May, 2021.
https://dana.org/article/when-the-myth-is-the-message-neuromyths-and-education/.
Tetreault, Nicole A., Ph. D. Insight into a Bright Mind. Gifted Unlimited, LLC, 2021.
Walsh, David. “Why Do They Act That Way: A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen” (p.12).
Voit, Danielle. Are Gifted Minds Wired Differently? Accessed 31/08/2021. 2017.
https://time.com/4929170/inside-teen-teenage-brain/
https://brainconnection.brainhq.com/2020/08/01/the-pleasure-principle-connections-between-reward-and-learning/
https://www.unicef.org/media/57336/file
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https://www.verywellmind.com/the-anatomy-of-the-brain-2794895
https://centerforadolescentstudies.com/trauma-and-brain/
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thanks!
Any questions?
You can contact me @
sspears@shelbyed.org
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Gifted minds may be more inclined towards emotionally affected
decisions, rooted in bilateral use of the prefrontal cortex. Does this,
perhaps, come off as certain mental health abnormalities? That,
perhaps, the best prescription for these minds is not to sedate or
suppress, but rather to unleash the potential — to nurture their
creativity — to provide our gifted children with an outlet to exercise
their minds, to reach their full potential — so that they may feel less
trapped in their own minds? That the best ‘medication’ for such
minds is not a psycho-stimulant or suppressant, but rather an
appropriate academic environment? That these drugs may be
worsening the problem, as we do not know how such medications
affect a brain that is wired in a non-standard way?
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