Sally M. Reis, Ph.D., Letitia Neag Morgan Chair, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor, and Teaching Fellow at the University of Connecticut gave a keynote webinar as part of the Alan Hu Foundation Mental Health Lecture Series. Her talk, “Using Strength-Based Pedagogy to Engage All Students” was funded by a generous grant from Three Valleys Community Foundation.
3:27 Overview of the presentation
4:45 Personal narrative
11:07 Overview of previous 2E research
14:39 Current 2E research https://giftedasd.project.uconn.edu
22:04 Successful 2e/ASD college students interviews findings
27:00 Enrichment pedagogy
38:53 Advice for teachers
40:11 Advice for elementary/middle school years
40:31 Advice for high school
40:47 Advice for college
41:08 How do we develop generous and good talents?
42:46 Q&A
“Join us for the opportunity to learn about cutting edge new research to address the academic, social, and emotional needs of neurodivergent, and twice-exceptional learners (high ability students with learning challenges) by focusing on their strengths and interests. For the last five years, a team of researchers has been studying the ways in which we can educate and support neurodivergent, twice-exceptional students with autism who have succeeded academically and are attending highly competitive universities to pursue their dreams. Learn about which strength-based strategies worked best and how these were implemented at school and at home in this uplifting and positive keynote,” said Dr. Reis.
Sally M. Reis, Ph.D. was a classroom teacher and administrator in public education before beginning her work at the University of Connecticut over three decades ago, where she served as an Endowed Professor, as well as the Vice Provost of Academic Affairs. She was Principal Investigator of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. Her research interests are related to talent development in all children, as well as special populations including talented students with disabilities, talented girls and women, and diverse groups of talented students who are often underserved. She has authored or co-authored numerous books, including The Schoolwide Enrichment Model, with Dr. Joseph Renzulli, and many book chapters, monographs, and technical reports.
The free webinar was held on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, from 5:00 – 6:00 pm PT via Zoom. It included 20 minutes for questions and answers following Dr. Reis’s presentation. Mental Health Association for Chinese Communities (MHACC) https://www.mhacc-usa.org collaborated with Alan Hu Foundation to provide instant Chinese interpretation.
We were honored and privileged that Dr. Reis shared her latest research results of strength-based pedagogy. We were grateful to our audience for tuning in across United States as well as from Canada, and China. Thank you, MHACC Founder and President Elaine Peng. Thank you, Ida Shaw, for simultaneous Chinese Interpretation.