Web sites and expression tools
In 2002, my then 10 year old son, was working on report on the State of
Idaho for school. He enjoyed learning about the state but when it came time to write the report, he was struggling. Each attempt at creating the paper was frustrating and the end result did not represent what he knew about Idaho. Matthew had enjoyed computers immensely and had been teaching himself various programming tools. I suggested to him that perhaps he try designing a web site for his state and hand it in along with his paper. He was immediately excited and spent every free minute of the next week working on his site. It was amazing. The site was well written, easy to navigate, and filled with pictures, links to other sites on Idaho and very fun to use. Matthew’s 5th grade teacher was amazed. Up until this point Matthew had been a great math and science student, but a struggling reader and writer. His project demonstrated his abilities in ways that a paper never could. He was no longer the average student, but seen for his gifts and talents. We later had Matthew evaluated by the Gifted
Development Center and learned that Matthew was both high gifted and suffered from a vision processing disorder that could be easily addressed using vision therapy. Matthew’s early experiences with technology allowed him to demonstrate his giftedness in ways that were just not showing up using more traditional products.
