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Goal: To provide academic and positive behavior supports for gifted or high functioning students.

"Discovering Pathways to Unique Strengths



Teacher Qualifications

Our teachers are certified with FLDOE.

Administrator/Program Director: Janis Modeste, Ed.D, M.Ed.

Certification: ESE k-12, Ed Leadership

Dr. Modeste is a Behavior Interventionist and Social-Emotional Wellness Expert with over 25 years of experience in the field. A former District Behavior Specialist, she has a proven track record of creating impactful, county-wide behavioral systems. At VIBES Learning Academy, she leads our behavior coaching and tutoring programs, specifically designed for the gifted and neurodivergent. 

Dr. Modeste is also a dedicated IEP/504 advocate and a trainer for teachers and parents, specializing in support strategies that span from preschool through post-secondary life.

Curriculum and Academic Director:Sharon Rodgers, M.Ed.

Experience matters, and Mrs. Rodgers brings nearly half a century of insight to our team. Throughout her 45-year career in special education, she has remained a fierce advocate for students who think differently. After years of designing district-wide gifted programs, Mrs. Rodgers now brings her high-level expertise directly to our academy’s gifted and neurodivergent community.

Mrs. Rodgers is more than a Reading Specialist; she is an expert at uncovering a student's hidden strengths. By identifying dyslexia and other literacy hurdles early, she empowers students to bridge the gap between their struggles and their innate brilliance.

Whether she is shaping our academy’s curriculum or working within our tutoring program, her mission remains the same:

ensuring every neurodivergent learner is seen, understood, and challenged.

Gifted Education Strategies

Differentiated Curriculum—The general curriculum includes the knowledge and skills that most students are taught and expected to learn. Teachers modify the curriculum to match the abilities and interests of gifted and/or neurodivergent students to allow them to progress. This is known as providing a differentiated curriculum.

The two most common strategies used to differentiate the curriculum for gifted students are acceleration and enrichment. Acceleration   refers to speeding up the pace of instruction to match the child's ability. For example, fourth-grade gifted students may be taught fifth-grade mathematics skills/content.

Enrichment refers to introducing new or more complex ideas or activities. For example, gifted students studying science concepts may work on developing their own inventions. 

Giftedness, often viewed as a form of neurodiversity, involves unique brain structures and functions that lead to cognitive, sensory, and emotional differences, requiring tailored learning approaches.

Here's a more detailed explanation:

Neurodiversity and Giftedness:

Neurodiversity refers to the natural variation in human brains, leading to differences in cognitive, sensory, and emotional processing. Giftedness, with its heightened abilities and unique learning styles, is considered a form of neurodiversity, and the pathways leading to it are enormously variable. 

Intensity and Overexcitability:

A key characteristic of neurodiversity is intensity, and giftedness can be understood as a particular type of intensity. Polish psychiatrist Kazimierz Dabrowski referred to giftedness as overexcitability, identifying five areas of overexcitability: intellectual, emotional, sensual (sensorial), psychomotor, and imaginational. 

Learning Needs:

The pathways leading to giftedness are diverse, and so are the resulting learning needs of children. Gifted children may display neurodivergent traits without being neurodivergent, but parents and educators should be willing to assess gifted children for potential neurodivergence. 

Twice-Exceptional:

Some individuals are "twice-exceptional," meaning they are both gifted and have a learning disability or neurodevelopmental difference, such as autism or ADHD. 

Unique Learning Styles:

Gifted individuals often have unique learning styles, and it's important to recognize and cater to these differences in education. 

Importance of Inclusive Education:

An inclusive approach to education that affirms individual differences and focuses on matching a child's environment and education to their emotional and learning needs is crucial.

Social-Emotional Differences:

Giftedness is also associated with social-emotional differences, and it's important to understand and support these challenges. 

Burnout and Support:

Masking neurodivergent traits can lead to burnout, so it's important to provide proper support and understanding for gifted neurodivergent children. 

Strengths-Based Approach:

Focusing on strengths and helping individuals align with their strengths can lead to greater success and well-being.

Behavior Coaching Infused