Fostering an authentic growth mindset starts with giving children a rational reason to believe that things can improve
Research shows that simply believing that you can improve at a given task improves performance and helps to make that goal a reality. And yet, for twice exceptional kids who’ve struggled for years with unidentified learning disabilities or other academic struggles, it takes a lot more than platitudes to convince them that things will get better if they just “keep trying.” These are, after all, extremely bright kids who are looking back at what may be years of “data points” in which they tried their best and yet things did not improve.
Our social-emotional programming leverages our cohort’s high analytical skills to fuel an authentic growth mindset, by teaching them the science behind their challenges (be they learning, social-emotional or neurophysiological) so they have the information they need to understand logically how a given intervention works—thus making it rational to believe that growth is possible. Here’s how this process works:
We make a “full court press” to empower growth
Developing a growth mindset is a critical component of our holistic approach to identifying and addressing the challenges holding a child back. It is not enough that we build up their neurological capacity to perform low-lying skills; we must also break down psychological barriers and storylines that only stand in the way of progress, like “I’m bad,” “I’m stupid,” or “I don’t fit.” These negative self-beliefs, if not addressed, can themselves act as a learning disability by denying a child the sense of safety that’s required for learning to begin.
We create customized programs tackling both sides of this equation, by building up the capacity to perform low-lying skills while addressing the negative self-beliefs that interfere with doing so.
We give kids a rational reason to believe that growth is possible, by sharing with them the science behind it all
We share the neuroscience, neurophysiology and biology required to understand both the child’s challenges and the neuroscience behind our interventions—starting with the principle of neuroplasticity. This gives students the content they need to understand their own needs and strategies just as they would any other academic curriculum.
Very bright kids like the ones in our cohort, is that very often children have come to these negative self-views through a rational process, based on repeated experiences of attempting a learning task only to run headlong into one of the their hidden challenges, without a lens they could use to predict and prepare themselves for that to happen. Sharing the science behind it all gives them a rational basis to believe that things can improve.
We break down abstract goals into concrete steps
Abstract concepts like “growth mindset” are broken down into very granular, scaffolded skills, like “try something even though you think it will be hard.”
These smaller goals are reinforced throughout the day through self-assessments, along with the granular, scaffolded skills required for their individualized self-regulation strategies.
We empower kids to overcome task avoidance and even school refusal by helping them find the courage to try hard things
We reject the notion that bright, gifted and ‘twice exceptional’ kids can only be educated through their own interests—because our work proves otherwise. When the bright kids we serve refuse a task, we understand that through the trauma lens of protecting oneself from what you expect may be failure. We tackle this head on through coaching and instruction to understand their own profiles.
We harness the power of the community to create positive new identities
At the same time that we are helping children to appreciate and internalize their own particularized goals, we are also harnessing the healing power of a safe and supportive peer group. Students celebrate each others’ progress towards what may be very different goals, and are rewarded for cheering on a peer’s accomplishments in areas that already come easily to that child. This provides what will for many kids be a first experience of being able to safely acknowledge and receive support for their struggles within a peer community, fostering life-long skills in seeking and accepting support for our challenges.