This post is sort of like a guest post, but not quite. The brilliant Dr. Briscoe-Smith and I met in Oakland when she gave a presentation on implicit bias and how to talk about racism with kids. Her talk was so powerful that I knew I had to get her thoughts and strategies to you as soon as possible. This blog post is our brainchild. She wrote the first draft, and I integrated my understanding about the intersection of neurodiversity and implicit bias. Enjoy!
As many of you know, it is already a challenge to properly identify neurodivergent and differently-abled children as gifted. What may be surprising to some is that there is another layer to this challenge, persistent undervaluing of black and brown children that makes it even harder to see them as gifted; this layer is racism. While there is still unacceptable amounts of explicit racism operating to keep black and brown children out of the educational system, implicit racial bias is also operating, despite our best intentions.
There is plenty of evidence, both empirical and through our lived experiences, that proves how children of color don’t fare well in the educational system. For example, black boys are three times more likely to be kicked out of preschool, while black girls are six times more likely to be disciplined throughout their educational history. This is due, in part, to implicit racial bias. Our implicit biases are our unconscious, automatic, and stereotypical thoughts about other people. They happen outside our awareness, and are often antithetical to how we’d like to see others.
African American and Latino children are consistently overly disciplined, sent out of class, and rated as more problematic by their teachers. This happens even when black and white children’s behavior is the same. For example, when child behavior is controlled in empirical studies, black and brown children are disciplined more harshly, and rated as behaviorally challenging. Implicit bias has been directly implicated in all of these instances.
And just like there is a spectrum of skin colors, there is a spectrum of brain design. Children with both a skin color and a brain design in the minority are made to pay doubly for our implicit bias. Add this to the fact that gifted and twice-exceptional children are known to be intense, creative, and justice-minded, and you’ve got a recipe for misdiagnosis and misunderstandings. Our current education structure is failing a disturbingly large cross-section of students. Neurodiversity, racial, gender, and economic inequality are intersecting every day in classrooms all over the country.
Implicit bias has recently been implicated in the disproportionately low numbers of black and brown kids identified as gifted or twice-exceptional. In fact, these children are more likely to be identified as having learning deficits and behavior problems. The stereotype perpetuated by bias is that black and brown kids can’t be gifted, and that they are more of a problem in classrooms.
There are many well-intentioned educators who make biased decisions about black and brown children’s potential and behavior. These decisions add up to systematically keep these kids out of opportunities to advance, excel, and be seen as gifted or exceptional. This is often despite these educators explicit wishes to operate in more equitable ways.
We are all more likely to operate based off of our implicit biases when we are stressed or under time pressure. As educators, we are in situations like that multiple times a day; we are often in situations where we are making snap judgments about others, outside our awareness, and aligned with stereotypes.
So what to do about this? First, educators, parents, and other professionals that work with children must become aware of their implicit biases. There are great resources out there. You should start with the Kirwan Institute’s papers on education and implicit bias. You can actually assess your own biases through the Implicit Association Test. You could also take this information to the administration at your child’s school and ask them if the educators have had training in implicit bias.
But awareness is not enough; it takes practice and a commitment to change. The research out there is new on what it takes to change these biases. But one thing comes up as a potential means of reducing our negative biases — working on positive, genuine relationships with our children. Ask them questions like, “How did you come up with that idea?” and “What would you like to learn about?” Approach students with curiosity and open mind, then listen well. You’ll be amazed at what you learn.
Implicit bias operates as a smog to alter the way we see children. It obscures their true abilities and gifts with stereotypes and lowered expectations. Step closer to children of color, slow down to really see them. Then question whether or not your perceptions have been altered by the smog.
You have the ability to see children truly and to advocate for them wholly.
Dr. Briscoe-Smith earned her undergraduate degree from Harvard University. She then received her clinical psychology Ph.D. from University of California Berkeley. She then went on to continue her specialization in trauma and ethnic minority mental health through internship and postdoctoral work at University of California San Francisco/San Francisco General Hospital. She has combined her love of teaching and advocacy by serving as a professor and by directing mental health programs for children experiencing trauma, homelessness or foster care. Much of her work has been with schools, as a clinician, consultant and trainer. Currently she is a full time professor at the Wright Institute and she provides consultation and training to bay area nonprofits and schools on how to support trauma informed practices and cultural accountability. You can learn more about her work at http://www.drbriscoesmith.com.
This is a great article. It needs to be shared widely. Thank you for the information and resources.
Thanks Paula!
Thank you so much for confirming what I suspected that my son and I have been going through since kindergarten. He’s now in 7th grade but every year, we feel like we’re climbing a huge mountain from the back with blindfold on.
My son, a young Davidson Scholar, was first denied entrance in the gifted program. Although his scores were always high, his teachers never seem to notice how advanced he is. They placed him in watered down classes in spite of his intellectual capacity. I had to relocate so he could be at least placed in gifted.
Now, in 7th grade , the administration finally decided to place him in advanced classes. However, all his teachers seem to think that he’s not ready for advanced work, have told me in so many ways that he’s not ready.
My son tells me although they never said it to him, their looks tell it all. He’s having such a hard time to the point I requested an SST.
My son struggles with writing, handwritten works are hard for him, because he wasn’t “failing ” before this year, there wasn’t “a need ” for accommodations. It’s very frustrating to see your son underperform because of those thinking he couldn’t and never encouraged him to reach his potential.
I also think that being from the Caribbean and divorced doesn’t help our case either.
I too, have a 2 e son and have fought for accomodations. We homeschool now because it was like fighting a brick wall.
I wanted to share with the US Department of Educations née rules as to providing accomodations. It doesn’t matter if they get good grades or not. The Office of Civil Rights should also be able to help if there is biased.
http://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/dyslexia-and-accommodations-new-ada-guidelines-2016-for-school-and-work/
Keep up the fight! We know our kids better than anyone!
Erlange,
It’s heartbreaking to hear your son is caught in the crosshairs of being gifted, black and 2E. He must be an extraordinary young man, as Davidson is even harder for 2E kids to get into. I’m glad you are in his corner and understand what he is going through.
Jade,
This is a great post, would love to see you expand on the paragraph about gifted sensitivities and how those overlap with the effects of racism. That is plenty of with white gifted/2E kids have seen them misjudged/misdiagnosed and in conflict with their teachers and peers. What’s happening to kids who are more likely to have all of those problems because of their race, and then have to deal with the challenges of being gifted on top of that.
Erlange, It’s infuriating to know that your child isn’t receiving the services he deserves. Please let me know if you’d like me to forward this article to the administration of your school. They clearly need an education themselves.
KK, more and more those kids and their families are choosing to homeschool. You can read about the rise in homeschooling among black families here:http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/02/the-rise-of-homeschooling-among-black-families/385543/
Thank you both so much for your comments.
Thank you for writing on this important subject! You might also like Steele and Aronson’s work on stereotype threat. The research is robust. In fact it is one of the most studied topics in social psychology now.
http://reducingstereotypethreat.org/definition.html
Thank you! I like that resource you linked to quite a bit, it’s dense with information but also straightforward. I first read about stereotype in the book Ungifted. The concept blew my mind and gave me new insight as to why I performed so poorly on math tests.