Bright Not Broken

Praise for Bright Not Broken Bright Not Broken invites us to look beyond the deficit-ridden labels that we give to 2e children and embrace a paradigm that seeks to define these kids in terms of their abilities rather than their disabilities. I believe this book will inspire a new generation of educators and parents to champion the cause of twice-exceptional children and will help to ensure that these children can truly become themselves in all of their wonderful baffling richness. -Thomas Armstrong, PhD, author, Neurodiversity This book is essential for parents and professionals. It is both theoretical and practical, and it creatively updates thinking on autism spectrum disorders. Kennedy and Banks have professional knowledge and are parents; in our experience change in the field will only happen when parents campaign, which these authors are doing with such enthusiasm. -Drs. Lorna Wing and Judith Gould, The National Autistic Society (UK) This timely book is a must-read for parents, educators, mental health workers, and policy makers. It marries vital information from diverse fields, removes stereotypes, and redefines giftedness as asynchronous development and overexcitabilities, rather than the achievement of high grades. Bright Not Broken sheds light on the keys to success for the fast-growing population of twice-exceptional learners: unmask their gifts and cultivate their passions. Bravo! -Linda Kreger Silverman, PhD, director, Gifted Development Center, Denver, Colorado A work of tremendous scholarship and passion that deserves to be a seminal and paradigm-shifting work. It should be read by all parents of gifted children with coexistent disabilities-and the professionals who work with them. -William Sheehan, MD, Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Services, Willmar, Minnesota In this beautifully written and compelling book, Kennedy, Banks, and Grandin argue convincingly that the current psychiatric vocabulary cannot account for the extraordinary range of human intelligence, and that disability labels often tell us less about the so-called disabled and more about society's inability to understand the complex mixture of children's skills and challenges. Their powerful words will resonate with countless parents and teachers. Bright Not Broken offers a new, creative, and positive way of seeing. -Roy Richard Grinker, PhD, professor of anthropology, George Washington University; author, Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism