Helping exceptional individuals reach their goals
Welcome to Bright Insight Support Network!
We take a whole-person approach to giftedness, twice-exceptionality and community-building as we educate about, advocate for, and support neurodivergent individuals.
As a grassroots organization, Bright Insight Support Network nurtures a network of individuals, communities, and resources to collectively support exceptional individuals in all environments.
Bright Insight Support Network’s mission is to educate, advocate for, and encourage gifted, twice-exceptional, and neurodivergent persons while creating a network of support through which the needs of this unique population can be identified and met.
Bright Insight Support Network’s vision is that through insight, empowerment, and information integrity, exceptional individuals and underserved populations will receive the support necessary to thrive.
Bright Insight Support Network is a neurodiversity-affirming organization that values Compassion, Congruence, and Creativity along with Unconditional Positive Regard for all people from all cultures and walks of life. We also highly value and promote safety and information integrity. Bright Insight Support Network takes a whole-person approach to meeting needs while focusing on individual and community strengths.
Our Mission
Our Vision
Our Values
What Are Bright Insight Table Talks?
Bright Insight Table Talks, or BITTs, are monthly virtual meetings where we explore topics that impact gifted, neurodivergent, and twice-exceptional persons, such as identity development, mental health, and relationships. They usually occur the first Saturday of the month.
BITTs are ALWAYS free and open to all!
Check for the next one on the Events page and on Facebook.
The Insight Spotlight Video Podcast
COMING SOON! Bright Insight’s original YouTube channel will provide a platform for meaningful conversations, practical resources, and community connections for those passionate about giftedness, neurodivergence, twice-exceptionality, intensity, positive disintegration, identity development, and mental health. Join us as we explore ideas that spotlight insight and transformation!
What is Giftedness?
Though gifted and giftedness are commonly used terms in education, how it's defined and the characteristics of giftedness can vary depending on the setting. The Columbus Group (1991) definition is a standard most educators and mental health professionals use to describe giftedness is: "asynchronous development in which advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity combine to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm. This asynchrony increases with higher intellectual capacity. The uniqueness of the gifted renders them particularly vulnerable and requires modifications in parenting, teaching, and counseling in order for them to develop optimally." Dr. Patty currently defines gifted persons as complex, neurodivergent beings with a distinctly above-average ability and compulsion to develop new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. Expeditious learning can be attributed to a tendency toward processes of rapid pattern-finding and meaning-making where new (and interesting to them) material is retained after one to two repetitions of exposure. This pattern-finding and meaning-making also lends to the depth and complexity noticed in gifted persons. Along with a rapid ability and drive to learn, and in relation to depth and complexity, it is also noted that gifted persons can experience the world with great intensity or the blunting of intensity in sensual, psychomotor, imaginational, intellectual, and/or emotional domains, and develop in a way that seems initially asynchronous. To be considered gifted, individuals are often identified as gifted in grade school, by a psychologist, and/or by a gifted peer group. They could also have an IQ over 130 (this number varies depending on IQ test and measures) or be members of groups for gifted individuals such as Mensa, InterGifted, The Puttyverse, or otherwise. Many adults do not identify their own giftedness until they have gifted children of their own or gifted peers in adulthood (Kuipers, 2007; Milic & Simeunovic, 2020). Seeing themselves through their later identified children or peers is common and considered reliable in relation to earlier identification efforts (Kuipers, 2007; Milic & Simeunovic, 2020). Self-identification is also considered appropriate when evidenced in some appropriate or anecdotal manner.
What Is a Learning Difference, Learning Disability or a Second Exceptionality?
The National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (n.d.) specifically states that “Learning disabilities are disorders that affect the ability to understand or use spoken or written language, do mathematical calculations, coordinate movements, or direct attention,” (Definition, para.2). Examples of a learning disability may include dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, apraxia of speech, central auditory processing disorder, nonverbal learning disorders, and more (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2018). Due to the nature of the construct and issues with under-identification, a person can self-identify as having a learning disorder if they believe or have been known to have a learning disability or impairment. This definition is consistent with Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 1630.2, item g (29 C.F.R. § 1630.2[g]), where it is recognized that a person is identified as having a disability if they present with, is regarded as, or has a record of physical or mental impairment seen as substantially limiting a single or multiple major life activities (National Archives, 2011). Second exceptionalities though can relate to other differences depending on others' lived experiences (more about this under twice-exceptional).
What Does 2e Mean, and What Is Twice-Exceptionality?
Linda Silverman (2009), a long-time contributor to the field of gifted education, therapy, and twice-exceptionality, reported in her hallmark article about gifted compensation that the identification of twice-exceptionality distinguishes those who have both accelerated ability and learning struggles. Reis et al. (2014) rather considered a more operational outlining of this term, using the Joint Commission on Twice Exceptionality’s definition that identified 2e persons as those who display high-potential and exceptional talent, along with social, attention, and learning adversities, placing them at an identified risk of social-emotional difficulties and underachievement without early, professional intervention. Reis et al. further suggested that this risk to 2e persons can be mitigated by important leaders and professionals who remain consistently aware of and responsive to needs related to twice-exceptionality. There is no clinical definition for twice-exceptionality in the DSM-V or other diagnostic manuals.
What Is Personality Development related to Positive Disintegration and How Is It Helpful for Gifted Kids and Adults?
Individuals who are sensitive, creative, and sometimes even idealistic may experience a state of inner tension between their current level of development and their potential for growth. Personality development is the process of resolving that tension through action, knowledge and growth. All too often, a neurodivergent individual will find themselves on this path, and one of the best things they can do is understand it. Polish psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski developed the Theory of Positive Disintegration and described many mechanisms of personality development. It proposes that individuals can experience psychological growth and reach higher developmental levels through a process of disintegration and subsequent reintegration. This tension can lead to a process of personal identity disintegration where the individual experiences inner conflict, emotional turmoil, and a sense of existential crisis. If an individual can successfully navigate this process of disintegration, they can emerge at a higher level of psychological functioning, with greater autonomy, empathy, and moral sensitivity. This process is seen as a natural and necessary part of the growth towards personal fulfillment. Overall, his theory emphasizes the importance of embracing one's inner conflict and using it as a catalyst for growth and personal development, rather than suppressing or avoiding it. For more resources about Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration, visit https://www.positivedisintegration.com/ and enjoy the video below from Aurora Remember and Embracing Intensity:
What Are Overexcitabilities?
It's not quite the same thing as enthusiasm. Overexcitabilities refer to five ways in which a person's nervous system may experience heightened or more intense stimulation than the neuromajority: Emotional - Intellectual - Imaginational - Psychomotor - Sensual Kazimierz Dabrowski (1902-1980), the Polish psychologist behind the Theory of Positive Disintegration, identified five innate intensities or overexcitabilities (OEs) that are often displayed by gifted persons. These intensities present in five dimensions of a person's lived experience. While one of these OEs may be dominant, they are often combined to form a perfect picture (or storm) of what makes gifted children so unique. Enjoy this video from Aurora Remember and Embracing Intensity, and check out the Bright Insight Blog for more information about Overexcitability!
What Does Neurodiversity Mean?
Neurodiversity is the natural diversity that exists within the human population in relation to how people function neurologically. According to Judy Singer who was originally credited with developing the term, neurodiversity is a feature of Earth as a whole, that refers to the limitless variability of human cognition and the uniqueness of each human mind. However, it is no longer fully accepted that Judy Singer coined the term neurodiversity. Rather, the term seems to have started several places, one of them being the online autistic-run group ‘InLv’ which Singer was a member of. Made popular through possible appropriation that needs to be acknowledged, the term neurodivergent was later coined, as far as it has been traced, by Kassiane Asasumasu. Neurodiversity can also be identified as a political term used to argue for the importance of including all neurotypes for a thriving human society. Neurodiversity is a very large umbrella related to the neurodiversity movement. Similar to how Dabrowski sought to depathologize mental health and neuroses, so does this movement aim to depathologize any neuro difference.
What Does Neurodivergent Mean?
Neurodivergent is a term for those with a mind and neurology that diverges from what is typical in a way that is innate, acquired, or both. Neurodivergence is a way of existing that is considered different from the norm in relation to learning, processing, feeling, interpreting information, thinking, or behaving because of brain differences that do not align with what is considered neurotypical. Society and practitioners are shifting to no longer treating neurodivergence as an illness but as a different method of learning and processing information such as is seen with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, bipolar, epilepsy, and more.
Is There a Difference Between Neurotypical and Neuromajority?
Neurotypical or syntenic describes individuals with typical neurological development and cognitive functioning. That is, a neurotypical person's brain and cognitive patterns conform to the majority or standard neurocognitive profile in society. The neuromajority is the majority population in relation to neurological functioning or a term used to refer to the majority of people as having a typical neurocognitive profile, though the actual majority is certainly more diverse.
What Does Neuronormative Mean?
The adjective neuronormative describes the societal norms, expectations, and attitudes that favor or are biased toward typical (non-neurodivergent) behavior and processing. Use of this concept suggests that certain neurological traits or cognitive processes are "normal" while other neurodivergent traits are marginalized or stigmatized. In a neuronormative society, neurodivergent individuals may struggle with acceptance, accommodation, and being included.
What Does It Mean to Be Neurodiversity-Affirmative?
Being ND-Affirming is when we work, live, learn, lead, teach, parent, coach, and otherwise think, feel, and behave in a way that affirms the reality of neurodiversity and each individual’s identity as valuable and valid. Neurodiversity affirmative practices generally involve using identity-first language, avoiding ableist activity, decolonizing our language, and being multiculturally competent and effective. This also involves offering unconditional positive regard to people with different neurorealities.
Services
Therapeutic Coaching
One-on-one, relational coaching for twice-exceptional, gifted, and neurodivergent adults, children, and families.
All therapeutic coaching is neurodiversity-affirmative, supportive of marginalized populations, and offered by Bright Insight-vetted coaches and trained psychotherapists.
Virtual Groups
Join a virtual multi-week meetup for exceptional adults. Contact us to join the waiting list for the next groups.
Groups are geared towards psychoeducation, lived experience, mental health, philosophy, dialectic skills training, mindfulness, identity development, an introduction to giftedness, and more!
Bright Insight Table Talks
BITTs are monthly, virtual meetings that explore topics impacting gifted, ND, and 2e persons.
BITT schedules and links are posted on our Events page and on the Bright Insight Support Network Facebook page.
