My stepdad’s father passed away a few years ago. He had suffered with Alzheimer’s, and seeing him go through it all spurred me on to do all I can to help find a cure. I like to joke that people like me are human lab rats, although we’re human lab rats who are very well cared for and loved. Our Personal Skills section contains a diverse range of topics to help you live a healthier, happier life in both mind and body. Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis go even further than this. They suggest that you should focus on your super-strengths, the things that you are really great at. These are why you were hired, and how you generate value for your organisation. Knowing your super-strengths will help you to identify opportunities where you can add most value, and will therefore be most appreciated. Being able to use your super-strengths is also what makes you happy to do your job—and in a world where we are likely to be working for 50 years or more, that really matters. Identifying Super-Strengths As a teenager I’d often get frustrated and angry, and furniture would fly. But Adam helped me channel all those emotions through music and we would improvise together for hours. Today, playing the piano isn’t just my vocation, it continues to be the key to my emotional wellbeing as well. Nobody is quite sure how my brain can actually hold all this information. It’s why medical researchers from Queensland to California are so keen to poke around up there. They’re attempting to discover which part of the brain is responsible for long-term memory, in the hope of finding ways to help those who are affected by Alzheimer’s, brain damage or strokes. I spend a lot of time having my brain scanned. In the initial tests I was asked to work out which day of the week random dates had been throughout my life. I’d be asked random questions and then to recall my answers five months later.

Social and emotional skill development lays an essential foundation for substance use prevention in children and youth. The present study examined the real-world effectiveness of a transdiagnostic prevention program, Super Skills for Life (SSL), among children with emotional problems in regular school settings. SSL is based on the principles of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), behavioral activation, and social skills training. Super skills are defined by one expert as “the ‘components’ that make up the unique ‘operating system’ of a person.” Things like critical thinking, creativity, coachability, leadership, and problem-solving qualify as super skills. Knowing your value and trusting your own self-worth and ability to contribute are also vital to your potential for success at your job, in business generally, and in your life overall. Your own confidence tells others to be confident in you as well. Even when you are learning at a new job or taking on a new career path, it’s helpful to be confident that with time, patience, hard work, and the right resources and support that you succeed. Essentially, a strong belief in yourself and in your ability to succeed is key to your future success. BraveryParticipants were 205 children, aged 8-12 years, who were referred by their teachers as having significant emotional problems. All the children completed measures of emotional and behavioral problems and self-esteem, both before and after participating in SSL, and at six months after the intervention. The children's parents and class teachers also completed a questionnaire that measures children's general difficulties and positive attributes. Children also gave a 2-minute speech task in front of the video in sessions 1 and 8. National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) is providing this Super Skills online training course in partnership with EQUIP on early years development training. Practitioners will gain a greater understanding and enhance their knowledge in key areas of child development, enabling them to improve the development potential of all children within their setting. Through activities and resources you will develop your knowledge and skills to help support the work you do in practice.

Being blind, I’d never even seen anyone play the piano, but I could copy tunes note for note’: Derek Paravicini. Photograph: Marios K Forsos Visibility: Your super-strengths should be visible to others, as well as you. If you asked your colleagues, would they agree that this was a super-strength?Soon I want to put my life down on paper, the moments – big or small – that hold significance. I hope to look at how each affected my life and my future in a way few people can. And I’m starting a business, a support group for other people with autism to overcome obstacles and find their passion.