ANNUAL
HOLLINGWORTH CONFERENCE
The Many Faces of
Highly Gifted Children:
Celebrating
Their Diversity &
Creating
Successful Strategies
PROGRAM
May 5 - 7, 2000
Newton, Massachusetts
Sponsored by
The Hollingworth Center for
Highly Gifted Children
Welcome to our thirteenth annual Hollingworth Conference. Our goal is to provide an environment where parents and their highly gifted children, educators and mental health professionals can come together to: 1) foster an understanding of the special needs of highly gifted people within the educational community and within society-at-large; 2) facilitate communication between the families of highly gifted children; 3) support highly gifted children and their families by linking them with appropriate services and resources; and 4) offer adult programming, which addresses exemplary practices and strategies for educating, counseling, and parenting highly gifted children
We have
developed a full schedule of workshops and activities from which you may
choose. Each session has been carefully
planned, but if you select one that is not what you anticipated, it is
acceptable to quietly get up and leave.
We don’t mind at all. This
conference has been designed to meet your needs, and you are the best judge of
determining that.
Children’s
workshops begin 5 minutes earlier and end 5 minutes later than the adult
sessions, so parents have time to escort their children to the correct rooms
and pick them up afterward. Children
need to be picked up in a timely manner.
The hotel is a busy place, so please make certain that you know where
your children are at all times.
Children’s Sessions are discovery based learning workshops for children
age six (6) and older. Parents are
welcome to sign their children into the game room during a session and will
need to pick them up from the game room at the end of each session. Parents must remain on the premises during
children’s participation in this program.
Children’s sessions begin five minutes earlier and end 5 minutes after
adult sessions to allow parents to assist their children in getting from one
place to another.
YOUNG ADULT WORKSHOPS
Young Adult Workshops are intended for those people 13ish to
30ish, who wish to address issues of their own giftedness. Young Adult Workshops are interactive
dialogue sessions with presenters on age-relevant topics. Participants are welcome regardless of
documentation/knowledge of which category of giftedness you would fall into, or
how much you liked or disliked your childhood social and academic
experiences. Specific age is not
terribly relevant; we will limit discussions to management of ones own giftedness
and not that of any third party you might be responsible for. We do ask that anyone above the upper end of
the age range consider their effect on the participation of the younger
participants and restrict themselves accordingly.
Please stop by the Silent Auction area during the conference
and check out these wonderful items! To
make a bid, you write your name and the dollar amount on the bid sheet attached
to the item you want. Bidding closes at
noon Sunday, May 7; you stop by the Silent Auction area to claim, pay for, and
collect any items for which you are the high bidder.
The Hollingworth Center
gratefully acknowledges donations to the Silent Auction made by the following
businesses and professionals:
ITEM |
DONOR |
Fermat=s Last Theorem teeshirts |
PROMYS, Boston University |
10 copies Educational
Opportunities 2000 |
Duke University TIP (Joy
Baldwin) |
2 Kite Mosaiks, 1 Rombix Jr.,1
Mini‑Iamond Ring, felt pad for puzzles |
Kadon Enterprises |
1 book Calculus
by and for young people 1 book Calculus
by and for young people - worksheets 1 CD Rom "Calculus by and for young
people"worksheets 1 Video "Infinite Series by & for young people
ages 6&up 1 Video "Iteration to Infinite sequences with 6 ‑
11y.o.s" 1 poster, "A Map to calculus" 1 book Changing Shapes with
Matrices |
Don the Mathman (Don Cohen) |
2 Rogers' Connection
(1 Glow‑in‑the‑Dark) 2 Tesengritoys (1 all put together for display) |
Design Science Toys |
Once upon a mind: the
stories and scholars of gifted child education |
Jim DeLisle |
Gifted children at Home: A Practical guide for
homeschooling families Experiences in chemistry (Chemistry 1, CHP
Secondary Science Series) Aviation (one week off unit studies) Space Exploration (one
week off unit studies) |
Kathleen Julicher |
Guiding the Gifted Child Smart Girls: a New Psychology of Girls, Women, and
Giftedness Understanding those who create Gifted Children and the Law: Mediation, due process, and court cases Gifted children and legal issues: parents' stories of hope Gifted children and legal
issues: an update |
Gifted Psychology Press (Jim Webb) |
How Rude Bullies are a pain in the brain The gifted child's survival guide from ages 10 & under Challenging projects for
creative minds, grades 1‑5 |
Free Spirit Press (Judy Galbraith) |
Smithsonian Crystal Radio Kit |
The Learning Shop, Madison, WI |
Scientific Explorer Electronic
Room Alarm Kit |
Mindsparks, Madison, WI |
2 dozen pairs of actually
comfortable socks! |
Lynn Grunenwald Corporate Giving, Lands' End,
Inc. |
6 SET games and 6 Quiddler games 3 purple adult medium teeshirts,
with SET Logo |
The SET Game Company http://www.setgame.com/ |
Mathy Teeshirts ("Da proof
is in da pi") |
Mathias Mathy http://www.connecticutsbest.com/mathiasmathy/product.htm |
Individual members and friends have been very
generous;
here is a selection of items donated to the Silent
Auction:
ITEM |
ITEM |
Cheetah silk scarf |
Bracelet with cheetahs |
Cheetah design blank journal |
Bracelet with an ARK motif |
7 AFar Side@ mugs |
Encyclopedia of Astronomy |
Woe is I &
other assorted books |
picture book Fly, Eagle, Fly |
Chemistry & other textbooks |
autographed Brian Jacque's The
Legend of Luke |
Leta Hollingworth=s Psychology
of Adolescence |
Doonesbury Screen Saver |
Leta Hollingworth's Children
Above180 IQ |
Calculus cards |
Leta Hollingworth Rare First Edition! Gifted Children: Their
Nature and Nurture |
One hour a week of MathGuy=s
time (email contact) from May to mid-August, 2000. Resume available! |
Five sweatshirts, ARK design in women's sizes S/M/L: blue/green, gold, purple, ivory,
brick red-- |
Raising Your Spirited
Child, Raising Your
Spirited Child Workbook, [Mary S Kurcinka] |
Cheetah print |
The Homeschooling Book of
Answers [Julicher] |
Cheetah car mats |
Cheetah jigsaws |
Some of the individual
donors include: Laura Dunbar, Mike
Robinson, Kathi Kearney, Brenda Lessor, Josh Shaine, Hilary Cohen, Jill Howard,
Laura Andersen, & Sherry Pence.
There are other
Generous people who are
donating items, but we didn’t have all the names at press time.
Thank you all!
EXHIBITORS - SALON
D
Be sure to
visit the Exhibitors in Salon D throughout the conference.
Stephanie
Tolan has generously offered to do a book signing for us. We will have the following books have been
made available from her publisher, Harper Collins: Face in the Mirror, Good Courage, Ordinary Miracles, Plague
Years, Who’s There; Welcome to the Ark
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO:
Tonya Andersen for coordinating the Children’s
Program and
Anna Herbert for coordinating the Young Adult
Sessions
THE HOLLINGWORTH CENTER FOR HIGHLY GIFTED
CHILDREN
Sunday, May 7, 2000,
4:00 P.M. - 5:15 p.m.
We invite you to join us at the annual meeting of the Hollingworth
Center on Sunday, May 7, at 4:00 – 5:15 p.m. in Salon E. The meeting will include an update on
Hollingworth Center activities, finances, a discussion regarding future
directions, and an election of board members.
FRIDAY
SESSIONS
REGISTRATION 8:00 a.m. –
8:30 a.m.
8:30 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Wake Up America! Your Highly Gifted Students are Fleeing Public Schools
Christine Neville, Ed.D.
Who is
fleeing? Why are they jumping
ship? To what alternatives are they
going? Can and should anything be done
about it?
9:30 a.m.
- 11:45 a.m.
James
Davis, M.A.
Highly and
profoundly gifted children are greatly underserved in America’s schools. Evidence of this is the rising number of
these students whose parents are choosing to home school them to better meet
their exceptional and individual needs.
Highly and profoundly gifted students need a different approach to
education. Schools need to move away
from a one-size-fits-all approach to one that is more specifically tailored to
the specific intellectual, social and emotional needs of this group of young
people. The Optimal Match is based on
the principle that individuals differ from one another and that these
differences should be recognized and respected. The Optimal Match philosophy provides a theoretical framework
around which we can build model instructional programs for the highly and
profoundly gifted.
James Davis,
M.A. serves as Director of External Relations, Institute for Educational
Advancement, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting our nation’s
most talented young people to identify and develop their fullest
potential. Mr. Davis has 28 years
experience as an educator and most recently as Superintendent of the La Canada
Unified School District, Southern California.
College Integrated Science for Highly Gifted High School Students
and Teach Mathematics NOT Arithmetic
Douglas G. Frank, Ph.D.
Biology, Physics
and Chemistry are taught in an integrated manner, each year building on the
previous. Current research, weekly
labs, and literature by eminent thinkers are all employed in a fast paced,
exciting immersion in science.
The unfortunate
teaching of arithmetic to highly and profoundly gifted children can repress or
extinguish natural mathematical ability.
When children reach middle and high school grades after a steady diet of
arithmetic, there is a huge amount of unlearning and relearning to be
accomplished. Brilliant math students
sometimes even believe that they cannot do math because they have never
experienced it.
Dr. Douglas G. Frank teaches science and mathematics
at The Schilling School for Gifted Children in Cincinnati, Ohio and President
of ADAM Instrument Company.
The Critical Peer Group: Critical Needs for Depth in Literature and Writing
Christine
Neville, Ed.D. and Stephanie Tolan, Author
Is the
intellectual peer group as important as, or even more important than, the
academic challenge? This session
presents the absolute need for highly gifted children to feel normal in their
own skin, and to understand who they are while in the presence of other
intellectual peers who have similar interests and abilities. These students need their social/emotional
needs met as they are immersed in learning that is specifically designed to
meet their intellectual needs.
Attention must be given to both head and heart in order for them to
develop their incredible strengths!
Dr. Christine
Neville is Head of School, Schilling School for Gifted Children,
Cincinnati, Ohio, and a Board Member of The Hollingworth Center for Highly
Gifted Children, and founder of the Program for the Exceptionally Gifted at
Mary Baldwin College. She continues to
be an advocate for the highly gifted.
Stephanie Tolan
is an award-winning author of novels and plays for children and young
adults. She also writes and speaks
about the needs of the gifted.
Co-author of Guiding the Gifted Child, a contributing editor of Roeper
Review, past columnist for Understanding Our Gifted, and a
consultant to parents of highly gifted children.
Beverly Quilty-Dunn, M.A.
This workshop covers current best practices for helping gifted students
maximize individual potential. Current
research will be presented. including a wide variety of strategies and
techniques to help teachers better understand and meet the needs of these
asynchronous learners. Participants
will have an opportunity to learn about methods, materials, and techniques
successfully used in grades K-8 classrooms.
Independent study techniques will be shared, as well as re-assessment
techniques, curriculum compacting, and differentiation of instruction and
curriculum. We’ll look at instructional
strategies that invite teachers to create classrooms responsive to learner
need. How to handle related classroom
and student management issues will also be discussed, as well as developing
differentiated curriculum via a tiered approach.
Beverly
Quilty-Dunn, M.A., is current Department Head for the Plymouth, MA,
public schools Gifted and Talented Program.
She is also current Chairperson of G & T Advisory Council for the MA
Dept. of Education, current Vice President of Directors of the MA Association
for the Advancement of Individual Potential (MA/AIP), and an educational
consultant for numerous Massachusetts towns.
LUNCH 11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. – CHARLES RIVER EAST ROOM
AFTERNOON 1:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
TWO
SESSIONS: 1ST: Open Doors to Education
Elizabeth and Justin Chapman
Find out how all students can gain access to an appropriate
education. The answer is simple -
eliminate age discrimination. With schools
forced to look at a student’s abilities, rather than their birth dates, schools
will start to see students as unique individuals whose gifts are to be
cherished. Testing would have to be
done early, to determine proper placement.
Classrooms would have wide ranges of ages leading to a more complete
social development. Standards would
increase with higher expectations. The
benefits would be tremendous and at a decreased cost. Find out more in this action packed lecture.
2ND: Educational Needs of the Profoundly Gifted Child; Practical Ways the School Can Help
Jill
Howard, J.D. and Michael
Typically, the
profoundly gifted child is misunderstood through the early school years. He may be a behavior problem, or he may be
quiet and withdrawn. He may not earn
good grades. He may be disorganized and
absent-minded to the point of driving his teachers and his parents to
distraction. Whatever the exterior
facade, he is likely extremely sensitive, self-critical, bored, and depressed. If a teacher or a school can be brought to
recognize the child’s unusual abilities and intensities, the response may be
frustrated by a perceived lack of finances or other resources. The good news is that there are fairly
simple ways by which any school system can accommodate the needs of a
profoundly gifted child without draining finite resources. This session will discuss the special needs
of the profoundly gifted child and how the educational system can meet those
needs.
Jill Howard, J.D. and Michael are
mother and son. Jill graduated from
Vanderbilt University School of Law and is presently a child advocate attorney
and legal case management consultant for Chesapeake Interlink, Owings Mill, MD.
Highly Gifted: Multiple Insights From Multiple Perspectives
Ellen D.
Fiedler, Ph.D. and Bethany Bell, M.A.
Highly gifted youngsters continue to create dilemmas for educators with even the best intentions of providing programs for gifted students. Meanwhile, parents continue to be baffled by questions of how appropriate educational opportunities might be provided for their children who know so much so soon. This session will describe an ongoing effort to capture and synthesize insights gained by those who have focused their life work on behalf of the highly gifted. Current thoughts from selected national leaders who have grappled extensively with these concerns will be shared, as captured in a series of recent videotapes, revealing a wide range of ideas about key issues and what might be done about them.
Dr. Ellen D. Fiedler is Professor, Master of Arts Program in Gifted Education, Department of Special Education, Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, Illinois.
Bethany Bell, M.A. holds her Master of Arts in Gifted Education and is a gifted education teacher at the primary level in Northbrook, Illinois.
P. Susan Jackson, M.A., R,C.C.
"And then the
black comes rolling in again. . .the thoughts of death. . .and I alone in it. .
." The results of an extensive
research study on the nature, extent and meaning of depressive states for the
highly gifted adolescent will be presented. The study revealed a complex set of
variables that underpin the development of depressive states differing in type
and severity. Counselors, teachers and
parents will be provided with perspectives on appropriate counseling and
developmental scaffolding as well as strategies to support highly gifted young
people.
P. Susan
Jackson, M.A., R.C.C. is a poet, mother of two exceptional children, a
counseling psychologist, teacher, consultant, administrator, and researcher
specializing in the developmental, educational and therapeutic needs of gifted
persons. Her particular interest and
expertise is the highly gifted population in which she has been immersed in
study and practice for ten years.
Twice Special: Gifted Children with Special Needs
Panel: Benjamin Cyr, Kiesa Kay, Annette Revel Sheely, M.A., and Meredith Warshaw
Creative, brilliant
thinkers sometimes flounder in traditional school settings. Many highly gifted children have other
special needs: learning disabilities, ADHD, Asperger’s syndrome, or other
neurological problems. These children’s
abilities to compensate often mean they don’t receive supports that would
enable them to flourish in school and realize their dreams. Linda Kreger Silverman, director of the
Gifted Development Center, has estimated that thirty percent of gifted children
have some form of special need. A
highly gifted child with age-level skills in one area is not likely to be
identified as having special needs, leading to frustration and distress. Understanding these learners can challenge
even the experienced individual. This
panel discussion will address the important issues of identification,
modifications, and support for twice exceptional learners. This panel includes a twice-special student,
mothers, and professionals with experience in a variety of settings. With support, twice-special students can
keep their self-esteem and flourish.
Benjamin Cyr
is a gifted/special needs high school student.
Kiesa Kay
is the mother of two gifted/special needs children and editor of the book Uniquely
Gifted.
Annette Revel
Sheely, M.A. does assessments and counseling at the Gifted Development
Center in Denver, Colorado, and has a counseling practice in Boulder.
Meredith
Warshaw is the mother of a gifted/special needs child and
co-founder/co-listowner of the GT-Special email list for families with
gifted/special needs children.
SATURDAY SESSIONS
REGISTRATION 8:30 a.m. –
9:00 a.m.
9:00
a.m. - 10:15 a.m.
Meeting
The Needs Of Exceptionally Gifted Students In And Out Of The Classroom
Carol C.
Blackburn, Ph.D.
Extremely gifted students differ greatly from same-age peers in
cognitive abilities and educational needs.
Even special schools and programs for gifted students are rarely
targeted to students achieving several years above grade level. Extremely gifted students need
individualized programs where the level and pace of instruction are appropriate
for their specific aptitudes and achievement.
They also need supplemental educational opportunities outside of
school. This presentation will discuss
options for meeting the needs of extremely gifted students. Case studies of highly gifted individuals
who have utilized selected options will be presented.
Dr. Carol C. Blackburn is Senior Research
Associate/Counselor with the Center for Talented Youth, John Hopkins
University, career counseling specialist for CTY’S Diagnostic and Counseling
Center, and author and editor of career and science related articles for Imagine. She is also editor of Imagine’s
college review series.
Living
With Dual Identities: A Model For
Connected Systems And Supports Needed
By Accelerated
Highly And Profoundly Gifted Students
Taking
Classes At A Second School Site
Sandra
Carlton, M.S. and David Currie, M.S.
Attending two schools at the same time, balancing separate workloads,
and dealing with two systems of rules can be overwhelming for highly gifted
young students, particularly if the two systems are not philosophically,
programmatically, and organizationally connected. Educators at both sites need to connect and streamline operations
and data flows, address philosophical differences, and jointly solve logistical
problems. Working together, both
schools need to mesh resources and schedules, appropriately place students, and
support their unique needs at both sites.
Students need to be involved in decisions and prepared for the
experience. Teachers need information
and supports. The presenters will
discuss a year-old project for accelerated learners at Highland Park Junior and
Senior Highs, Public School District 625, St. Paul, Minnesota, from parent and
educator perspectives.
Sandra Carlton, M.S. is with the State of
Minnesota, Department of Human Services, Health Care Administration
Organization, and is their work force management planner.
David Currie, M.S. is a French teacher with Highland
Park Junior High and their gifted and talented specialist.
Curriculum
Development For The Exceptionally And Profoundly Gifted
Carole
Ruth Harris, Ed.D.
The exceptionally and profoundly gifted are as different from other
gifted children as the gifted are from the average child in the classroom. The exceptionally and profoundly gifted
child who is expected to adjust to a program designed for the mildly to highly
gifted experiences severe problems, including frustration, increased stress,
low self-esteem, an active attempt to mask abilities, and behavioral and
psychological problems. The
presentation details curricular intervention for this population, as derived
from broad spectrum profiling, design of individualized curriculum, and school
liaison techniques. Case studies
provide examples of outcomes. Dialogue
following the presentation will be directed toward applications to similar
cases and their implications for profoundly gifted children.
Dr. Carole Ruth Harris is Adjunct Professor of Education at Northeastern
University, Boston, Massachusetts, and Director of G.A.T.E.S. Research &
Evaluation, an independent consulting firm specializing in evaluation,
educational counseling, and individualized curriculum design for gifted and
talented children.
Understanding
Highly And Profoundly Gifted Children:
A Primer For
First-Time Conference Participants
Kathi
Kearney
Highly gifted and
profoundly gifted children include those with extremely high IQs, child
prodigies, and children who are very advanced in one particular domain. It is often difficult for these children to
find a good academic fit in contemporary schools, and their families face
significant challenges in the home environment. This introductory session for first-time conference attendees
will provide important background information about highly and profoundly
gifted children, the major issues surrounding their development, and an
introduction to typical educational and family concerns. Participants will also become familiar with
the terminology unique to the study of this population. An overview of conference sessions will be
provided, enabling participants to select the conference sessions most likely
to meet their individual needs.
Kathi Kearney is
Founder of the Hollingworth Center for Highly Gifted Children, a volunteer
based national resource and support network for extremely gifted children and
their families, schools, and communities.
She is an independent educational consultant in gifted education and
works with homeschooling families in many capacities. She is completing her doctorate in Education of the Gifted at
Teachers College, Columbia University.
Many Internet
Resources For Highly Gifted Children
Carolyn J.
Kottmeyer
Highly gifted children are just like any other children – some are writers, others readers, some excel in creative pursuits including art or music, others in math or science, or any other area you can name. Highly gifted children are hardly “all alike.” But the big difference between highly gifted children and any other children is that highly gifted children are more: more intense, more inquisitive, more interested in the depth and breadth of a subject, going beyond the everyday and ordinary. Most importantly highly gifted children learn more quickly, and more deeply than other children. And this presents more challenge for their parents and educators.
Find out how the Internet can help you deal with these unique and wonderful children. Through the ever-growing resources of Hoagies’ Gifted Education Page, discover new and exciting information on the intricate life of the highly gifted child.
Carolyn J. Kottmeyer, B.S. is webmistress for The Hollingworth Center for Highly Gifted Children. A.k.a. Mrs. Hoagie (wife of Hoagie). She has been a Mainframe programmer for 14 years. She and her husband are parents of two profoundly gifted children. She is the Founder and webmistress of Hoagies’ Gifted Education Page www.hoagiesgifted.org and its spin-off, Hoagies’ Kids and Teens Page www.hoagieskids.org
Leila J. Levi, M.F.A. and Wenda Sheard, Doctoral Student
Leila Levi and
Wenda Sheard have been working together structuring a casual but consolidated
national effort to bring change within the legal, advocacy, and grass roots
movements for highly gifted students. They will walk you through the contact
process and writing processes to file a class action suit with the United
States Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, as your first
step. An explanation will be provided
about how to contact your legislatures to write a bill to overturn age
discrimination language within your State Department of Education. Many states have specific language in their
education codes that denies access to higher level of curriculum based on
age. This is a practical seminar for
those thinking about working with others to bring about state and national
change for the most gifted students.
Leila J. Levi,
M.F.A. is the mother of the profoundly gifted child who catapulted
her into action with our court systems because of his gifts. This has provided them with a crash course
in real-life age discrimination, civil rights actions, media relations, and
legal procedure in order for him to get an appropriate education. Her son says “she’s always reminded me of
Rosa Parks.” She wrote California’s AB
2206 and AB 2207 and has filed the LMC and Similarly Situated Children age
discrimination suit on behalf of gifted children. She worked on the final draft of HR 637.
Wenda Sheard is a
mother of three gifted children, an Ohio-licensed attorney (inactive), and a
doctoral student at the University of North Texas.
Beyond
The Label
Elizabeth
Lovance, B. A.
As extremely gifted children, being labeled (or unlabelled) as some
“flavor” of gifted often becomes the focus around which we view ourselves and
our relationships with others. This is
understandable because our primary task as children and adolescents is to
learn, the activity that is most associated with the gifted label. What happens when this is no longer seen to
be our primary task, when we “grow up,” and many expect other identities (work,
family, etc.), to become primary? How can we find balance between all these
identities and draw strength from our experience of growing up gifted to deal
with other situations? What are the
differences between being an extremely gifted adult and being an extremely
gifted child? How can that transition
be made smoothly? This session will
focus heavily on discussion. Young adults
and adults are equally encouraged to attend.
Elizabeth Lovance, B. A. is a database consultant, computer teacher, and the
co-founder and moderator of TAGTEENS listserve for gifted youth.
Multi-Age,
Multi-Level Magnet Programming
For Extremely
Highly Gifted Elementary/Middle School Students
Linda S.
Rivers, Ph.D.
The seeds for this program were planted seven years ago by the Lincoln Public Schools psychologist for the gifted program and a group of parents of IQ 150+ students who were not flourishing in their elementary schools. The one-half day magnet program has been funded by the school system since the original state lottery grant expired. Now in its fifth year, the program has served twenty different students, some for as long as four years. The presentation outlines program development and changes over the five years; presents data on social-emotional growth; provides case study material on individual students; and suggests a theoretical framework for understanding the social-emotional development of these extremely highly gifted students.
Dr. Linda S. Rivers is a psychologist working full time in the
gifted program of the Lincoln Public Schools, Lincoln, Nebraska. She conducts a long term group with
adolescent gifted females and a coed group for highly gifted tenth graders.
KEYNOTE
10:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.
From ‘The Saddest Sound’ To The D Major Chord:
How Radical Acceleration Can Liberate Highly Gifted Students
Miraca U. M.
Gross, Ph.D.
Although the
academic acceleration of gifted and talented students is probably the most
comprehensively studied and evaluated of all educational interventions, many
teachers are reluctant to accelerate gifted students for fear they will suffer
socially or emotionally. Radical
acceleration, which can take several forms and be of enormous benefit to
exceptionally and profoundly gifted students, is significantly
under-utilized. Yet research suggests
that “the bird that’s tethered to the ground” may be at greater risk of social
isolation and emotional maladjustment through inappropriate grade placement
with age-peers.
Highly,
exceptionally, and profoundly gifted students differ from their moderately
gifted age peers in many aspects of their social and emotional
development. This session explains how
well planned programs of acceleration can enhance these students’ self-esteem,
love of learning, self-acceptance, and capacity to form warm and supportive
friendships. For many highly gifted
students, acceleration replaces discord with harmony.
The “music”
metaphor of the title is from Simon and Garfunkel’s El Condor Pasa; “the
bird that’s tethered to the ground – it gives the world its saddest
sound.” The “D Major chord” part comes
from a girl who is one of the subjects in my 15-year longitudinal study of
children of IQ 160+. Tessa was
desperately lonely and unhappy through her first few years of school until she
was allowed to accelerate into a class where there were (not coincidentally)
two other highly gifted girls with whom she has formed a deep and lasting
friendship. One day she said to me,
eagerly: “You know, Jacquie and Clare
and me - well, it’s like music! Each of us is a different note - we’ve each
got our own voice and our own qualities - but put us together and it’s like a D
major chord! Something beautiful and
better happens.”
D Major is
recognized as the key in which many “joyous” works are written. Handel wrote many of his great “praising
God” oratorio choruses in D Major and while Beethoven wrote his great 9th
Symphony in D Minor, for the choral movement, the “song of joy”, he modulated
to the tonic major - D Major. Tessa’s
metaphor of her friendship as a chord of music has great power and beauty.
Dr. Miraca
U. M. Gross has won over five international awards for her research in
gifted education. She has over 20 years
experience as a classroom teacher and school administrator in State education
systems in Scotland and Australia. For
12 years she was a specialist teacher of gifted and talented children in
several different classroom settings.
LUNCH 11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. For those who pre-registered:
Pick up lunches in registration area.
SATURDAY 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
Open Doors to Education
Elizabeth and Justin Chapman
Find out how all
students can gain access to an appropriate education. The answer is simple - eliminate age discrimination. With schools forced to look at a student’s
abilities, rather than their birth dates schools will start to see students as
unique individuals whose gifts are to be cherished.
Testing would have to be done early, to determine proper
placement. Classrooms would have wide
ranges of ages leading to a more complete social development. Standards would increase with higher
expectations. The benefits would be
tremendous and at a decreased cost.
Find out more in this action packed lecture.
College Level Integrated Science For Highly Gifted High School
Students
Douglas G.
Frank, Ph.D.
Biology, Physics and Chemistry are taught in an integrated manner, each year
building on the previous. Current
research, weekly labs, and literature by eminent thinkers are all employed in a
fast paced, exciting immersion in science.
Dr. Douglas G. Frank is the Science and Mathematics
Teacher at The Schilling School for Gifted Children in Cincinnati, Ohio and
President of ADAM Instrument Company.
Educational Needs of the Profoundly Gifted Child; Practical Ways the School Can Help
Jill
Howard, J.D. and Michael
Typically, the
profoundly gifted child is misunderstood through the early school years. He may be a behavior problem, or he may be
quiet and withdrawn. He may not earn
good grades. He may be disorganized and
absent-minded to the point of driving his teachers and his parents to
distraction. Whatever the exterior
facade, he is likely extremely sensitive, self-critical, bored, and
depressed. If a teacher or a school
can be brought to recognize the child’s unusual abilities and intensities, the
response may be frustrated by a perceived lack of finances or other
resources. The good news is that there
are fairly simple ways by which any school system can accommodate the needs of
a profoundly gifted child without draining finite resources. This session will discuss the special needs
of the profoundly gifted child and how the educational system can meet those
needs.
Jill Howard, J.D. and Michael are
mother and son. Jill graduated from
Vanderbilt University School of Law and is presently a child advocate attorney
and legal case management consultant for Chesapeake Interlink, Owings Mill, MD.
The "Tech Kids": Who Are They and How Do We Educate Them?
Kathleen
Julicher
There are children
who very early and very systematically begin to take things apart. They may do it with permission or without,
but the appliances still wind up in pieces on the kitchen table. Eventually, they begin to put the parts back
together. Using the results of a recent
survey of tech kids of all ages, the presenter will review some of the most
common characteristics of a very uncommon population. How will you educate your future engineers and inventors? What comes next after Legos and Robotics
kits? We will explore ideas for
planning an appropriate education for exceptionally gifted tech kids
Kathleen
Julicher, and her husband are the founders of Castle Heights Press,
publishers of science manuals for home and small school use. She is also the principal of Westbridge
Academy, the only satellite school for gifted homeschoolers.
Highly Gifted Children With AD/HD
Deirdre V.
Lovecky, Ph.D.
Highly gifted
children with AD/HD have a dual exceptionality. Both their AD/HD and their
giftedness produce qualitative differences from both the average child and from
other gifted children in cognitive, emotional, and social areas. These differences
can be seen in the degree of asynchrony shown within areas of development
(greater maturity one minute, immaturity the next). Quantitative differences
can also be seen, for example, on WISC-III subtest scores. These quantitative
and qualitative differences require a different approach in education and
treatment. This presentation will provide a framework for understanding the
particular strengths and weaknesses of highly gifted children with AD/HD that
present a unique challenge in their care and treatment, and will provide some
suggestions for enabling them to better make use of their gifts.
Dr. Deirdre
Lovecky has written the article “Gifted Children with AD/HD” which can be
accessed through the ERIC Clearing House at http://ericec.org/fact/lovecky.hmt. She is a clinical child psychologist who
specializes in the assessment and treatment of gifted children. She is especially interested in the needs of
exceptionally and profoundly gifted children, those with dual exceptionalities
such as AD/HD or Asperger’s Syndrome, and in learning differences. She has a private practice in Providence,
RI. Her website is www.grcne.com
Betty Meckstroth, M. Ed.
Betty Meckstroth,
M. Ed. has worked with families of gifted children and focused on
their social and emotional needs since 1979.
She coordinated development of the Supporting Emotional Needs of Gifted
Children and Adults program (SENG). She
is a co-author of Teaching Young Gifted Children in the Regular Classroom
and Guiding the Gifted Child: A Practical
Source for Parents and Teachers, awarded “Best Book” by the American
Psychological Association and published in four languages.
The Critical Peer Group
Christine
Neville, Ed.D.
Is the
intellectual peer group as important as, or even more important than, the
academic challenge? This session
presents the absolute need for highly gifted children to feel normal in their
own skin, and to understand who they are while in the presence of other
intellectual peers who have similar interests and abilities. These students need their social/emotional
needs met as they are immersed in learning that is specifically designed to
meet their intellectual needs.
Attention must be given to both head and heart in order for them to
develop their incredible strengths!
Dr. Christine
Neville is Head of School, Schilling School for Gifted Children,
Cincinnati, Ohio, and a Board Member of The Hollingworth Center for Highly
Gifted Children, and founder of the Program for the Exceptionally Gifted at
Mary Baldwin College. She continues to
be an advocate for the highly gifted.
The
Interaction Of Giftedness & Learning Disorders:
A
Discussion Of Self-Concept & Learning Style
Catya Von Károlyi, Ph.D. candidate
Points of intersection between giftedness and learning disorders are
considered with emphases on dyslexia and highly gifted children. A sense of being different from others
distinguishes self-concept, both in the highly gifted child and in the child
with learning disorders. The
self-concept of the highly gifted child with learning disorders is influenced
by the interaction of these exceptionalities. Success is the foundation of
self-esteem. The influence on success
of learning style - specifically, holistic versus detail-oriented cognitive
style - is discussed, using an example provided by original research on
visual-spacial abilities and dyslexia.
Characteristics of successful dyslexics and the facilitory and
inhibitory cognitive characteristics of highly gifted children are
reviewed. In the interest of promoting
success, and thereby enhancing self-concept, it is recommended that highly
gifted children with learning disorders be helped to develop flexible,
adaptive, and idiosyncratic cognitive approaches to the various challenges that
they face.
Catya Von Károlyi,
Ph.D. candidate is the parent of a profoundly
gifted teenager. She past
vice-president, and past member of the Board of Directors for the Hollingworth
Center for Highly Gifted Children, as well as the former associate editor of
the publication, Highly Gifted Children. Catya researches cognitive, social, and emotional aspects of
giftedness, parenting highly gifted children, and visual-spatial abilities in
dyslexia.
SATURDAY
2:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Activating Ability Grouping: Batteries Not Included
Carole
Ruth Harris, Ed.D.
There is a vast confusion between “tracking” and “ability grouping” in
the public mind, and this often works against efforts to build viable programs
for the gifted. Although other types of
exceptional children frequently benefit from mainstreaming, the slower learning
pace in the average classroom frequently becomes an ordeal for the gifted
child. This presentation outlines
research findings and practical applications, along with commonly cited
educational concerns. Discussion and
audience participation in the light of reported findings follow the
establishment of AAA energizing guidelines:
Activism, Advocacy, Alternatives.
Batteries not included.
Dr. Carole Ruth Harris is Adjunct Professor of Education at Northeastern
University, Boston, Massachusetts, and Director of G.A.T.E.S. Research &
Evaluation, an independent consulting firm specializing in evaluation,
educational counseling, and individualized curriculum design for gifted and
talented children.
The Great
Juggling Act:
Creating
the "Perfect" School for the Highly and Profoundly Gifted Student
Barbara
Mitchell Hutton, MBA
Keeping
asynchrony, spiritual giftedness, learning styles, continuous learning, the
Columbus Group definition of giftedness, personality types, parent needs,
financial pressure and the clogged toilet from crashing to the ground. Is it
possible for a school to meet the expectations of parents, students, teachers,
administrators, and governing boards? What are some of the tradeoffs? How close can a school really come to being
"perfect" for highly and profoundly gifted children? Achieving balance for all constituents is an
ongoing challenge. Realizing the school's own limitations is an important part
of the process. Since 1990, Rocky Mountain School for the Gifted and Creative
in Boulder, Colorado has evolved in its understanding of gifted children, their
inner lives, and the hopes and fears of parents. Join the Director as we try to
build a “model” school in this interactive session for parents, administrators,
teachers and counselors.
Barbara Mitchell
Hutton, MBA is Director and co-founder of Rocky Mountain School for the
Gifted and Creative in Boulder, Colorado.
She also serves as President of the Board of Directors. In 1990, motivated by the needs of a two
year old highly gifted daughter, Barbara began the process of finding a school
that would meet her needs. When it
became clear that existing public and private schools were not prepared to
provide a supportive environment for a young gifted girl she laid the
groundwork for establishing Rocky Mountain School.
Parent Support Group
Nancy
Minkoff, M.S. and Shirley Rand
Nancy Minkoff and
Shirley Rand will be facilitating parent support group discussions. Both Nancy and Shirley are parents of
profoundly gifted individuals who are now adults, and thus have been through
many of the trials involved in the challenge of parenting these children. Shirley’s son is twice exceptional, providing
her with additional expertise and insights.
Parents may come and discuss their own situations in a safe,
non-confrontational, understanding environment, and can gain not only from the
expertise of Nancy and Shirley, but also from their discussions with each
other. These two parents conducted
support groups at last year’s conference and felt a number of parents
benefited.
Nancy Minkoff,
M.S. holds degrees in Psychology and Exceptionality. She is the mother of two adult
profoundly gifted children and is a founding member of The Hollingworth Center
for Highly Gifted Children.
Shirley Rand is the
Mother of five twice-exceptional children and has developed many skills
necessary in dealing with schools, highly gifted children with special needs,
and the legislature. She is a founding
member of The Hollingworth Center for Highly Gifted Children.
Karen
Morse, M.A.
Parents of gifted
children are astute identifiers of giftedness in their children. Highly gifted
children face unique challenges requiring specific collaborative efforts of
adults. These children often express
insatiable need for precision, creating simplicity from complexity, and
complicating simple things. Their eminence permeates everything they do,
affecting everyone around them This session provides an awareness of the
characteristics of highly gifted children, instructional strategies, and
parenting approaches which are critical to strengthening the capacity and
contentment of highly gifted children.
Karen Morse, M.A. is a gifted resource teacher; national, state, and
local speaker, and a consultant. She
provides inservice for parents, teachers and administrators on topics of
concern in gifted education; includes gifted girls, at-risk and underachieving
gifted, gifted preschoolers, enrichment and differentiation, teaching in the
gifted and regular classroom, and highly and profoundly gifted.
Underachievement Among the Highly Gifted
Josh
Shaine
“Why won’t you do
your homework?!” “But it’s so easy, if
you would just try!” “You used to love
school. What happened?” Underachieving children are among the most
frustrating problems a parent or teacher can have. It gets worse when you know that the child is full of untapped
potential or that the child formerly did well, but now does not. In this session, we will explore some of the
causes, some potential remedies, and some pro-active strategies for possibly
avoiding these issues altogether.
Josh Shaine has been
working with gifted and talented children for more than twenty years. During that time he has served as Director
of MIT’s High School Studies program; Headmaster of Massachusetts Academy, a
private school for gifted 7th-12th grade students; and is
a teacher/tutor for a variety of families, private schools, and public school
systems. He also serves on the board of
the Massachusetts Association for Advancement of Individual Potential and Kids’
College.
Socialization
In Highly Gifted Children:
Strive To
Be “All Around” Or “Keep To Your Own Kind:”
Are These
Seemingly Opposite Social Values Necessarily Incompatible?
In 1942, Leta Hollingworth claimed that one goal of gifted individuals
should be to learn how to “suffer fools gladly.” She was alluding to the difficulty highly gifted children have in
establishing satisfactory play and other social relationships with
chronological peers. By examining the
social, emotional, and cognitive development of all children, concepts of friendship,
and social intelligence, we can better understand the differentiated social
needs of highly gifted children, and perhaps, make educated decisions in
providing for these needs.
The
Many Faces of the Highly Gifted And Individual Differences
Individual differences express the complexity of the profoundly gifted,
yet we are shifting from human complexity to curriculum complexity as the basis
for their education. This session will
be a discussion of individual differences and complexity of the profoundly
gifted. The session will involve
lecture/discussion and audience participation.
We don't like
pain. We do almost anything to avoid
it. But one of the fundamental truths
of life in a highly to profoundly gifted family is that pain comes with the
territory. It is painful for children to feel isolated, painful to have their
intense needs ignored or dismissed. It
is painful for us as parents to watch our children in pain, especially pain
that cannot be readily alleviated. And
it is painful to relive the pain of our own childhoods. This session will deal with coming to terms
with pain and discovering ways to help our children and ourselves move through
it and out the other side, gaining strength and important strategies for living
in the process.
Stephanie Tolan is an
award-winning author of novels and plays for children and young adults. She also writes and speaks about the needs
of the gifted. Co-author of Guiding
the Gifted Child, a contributing editor of Roeper Review, past
columnist for Understanding Our Gifted, and a consultant to parents of
highly gifted children.
Showing Our Stuff
Hilary Cohen and Natalie Cohen and Friends
Your highly gifted children may demonstrate extreme sensitivity – so
does Lorelei. Her delicacy prevents her
from doing simple chores: washing
dishes gives her a rash, and spinning chaps her hands. But she is so sensitive she can detect a
sprig of parsley hidden in a floral bouquet, and a missing thread in a massive
tapestry. Alternately coddled and despised
by those around her, Lorelei must learn to develop and apply her talents to
become a happy, contributing member of her community. See our children perform a one-act version of “The Princess
Test,” Gail Carson Levine’s re-telling of the classic story of the princess and
the pea, written by eleven-year-old Natalie Cohen, and staged by our kids.
Hilary Cohen is
an experienced healthcare lawyer with over 20 years experience serving
physicians and other healthcare providers throughout the country from her
office in Los Angeles County. As the
mother of Natalie, a profoundly gifted young woman, by necessity she has had to
become an expert on the highly gifted.
Natalie Cohen,
a Davidson Young Scholar will be eleven just before the Hollingworth
Conference. She left school at age nine
after having been invited to skip fifth grade and attend a local preparatory
school. She is homeschooled and
considers herself “mostly” a seventh grader.
She is an experienced stage actress and singer.
Twice Special: Gifted Children with Special Needs
Panel: Benjamin Cyr, Jill Harper Greeley, Kiesa Kay,
Annette Revel Sheely, M.A., and Meredith Warshaw
Creative,
brilliant thinkers sometimes flounder in traditional school settings. Many highly gifted children have other
special needs: learning disabilities, ADHD, Asperger’s syndrome, or other
neurological problems. These children’s
abilities to compensate often mean they don’t receive supports that would
enable them to flourish in school and realize their dreams. Linda Kreger Silverman, director of the
Gifted Development Center, has estimated that thirty percent of gifted children
have some form of special need. A
highly gifted child with age-level skills in one area is not likely to be
identified as having special needs, leading to frustration and distress. Understanding these learners can challenge
even the experienced individual. This
panel discussion will address the important issues of identification,
modifications, and support for twice exceptional learners. This panel includes a twice-special student,
mothers, and professionals with experience in a variety of setting. With support, twice-special students can
keep their self-esteem and flourish.
Benjamin Cyr
is a gifted/special needs high school student.
Jill Harper
Greeley is an elementary school teacher providing gifted and enrichment
services in New Hampshire and is pursuing a masters degree in school
administration. She is the mother of
three gifted/special needs children.
Kiesa Kay
is the mother of two gifted/special needs children and editor of the book Uniquely
Gifted.
Annette Revel
Sheely, M.A. does assessments and counseling at the Gifted and Development
Center in Denver, Colorado and has a counseling practice in Boulder.
Meredith
Warshaw is the mother of a gifted/special needs child and co-founder/co-listowner
of the GT-Special email list for families with gifted/special needs
children.
"Integrating the Mind, Body, Spirit, Heart and Social
Self of the Profoundly Gifted Child"
James
Davis, M.A., Elizabeth Stork, M.A., Michael Piechowski, Ph.D.,
Patricia
Gatto-Walden, Ph.D.
This panel will discuss the importance of understanding profoundly
gifted youth more holistically - in
ways that go beyond their advanced mental capacities. The integration of all aspects of the “self” can lead to greater
fulfillment in their adult lives. The
discussion will focus on ways in which individuals can recognize, accept,
listen, respect, and honor their special gifts. The panel will conclude with a discussion of a proposed program
to assist parents in developing the skills necessary to meet the unique
challenges of raising a profoundly gifted child, as well as the provision of
individual assistance for children to learn strategies and skills for coping
with and expressing their unique gifts.
James Davis, M.A. Director of external relations,
chief financial officer and secretary of the Institute for Educational
Advancement, and has nearly 30 years of experience in education. He is also Founder and President of The
Davis Group Ltd., an international educational consulting firm.
Elizabeth Stork,
M.A. is President of the Institute for Educational Advancement, a
non-profit organization dedicated to serving the needs of highly gifted
youth. For over 19 years she has been
an educator, researcher and administrator of educational programs.
Dr. Michael
Piechowski has written extensively on the developmental potential of
the gifted and on advanced development.
His major focus at present is spiritual giftedness, which grew from his
study of emotional giftedness, in particular that of resilient survivors of
abuse.
Dr. Patricia
Gatto-Walden is a clinical psychologist specializing in work with gifted
individuals of all ages. The essence of
her work is to help others learn ways to listen, respect, and honor their
deepest wisdom.
Homeschooling Highly and Profoundly Gifted Children
Kathleen
Julicher, Moderator
This dialogue session features several families homeschooling highly
gifted and profoundly gifted children in various ways, for widely varying
reasons. These families will briefly share their experiences and expertise,
followed by an opportunity for audience questions, participation, and
discussion!
Parenting Highly & Profoundly Gifted Children
Parenting extremely gifted children has its own set of challenges, frustrations, and joys. Join a panel of parents of
extremely gifted children from all over the country to explore some of the
unique parenting issues you face as the parent of a highly, exceptionally, or
profoundly gifted child. Come prepared
to share your own questions, concerns, and experiences.
Public and Private School Programs For the Highly Gifted
Christine
Neville, Ed.D. Moderator
This session
features a panel of public and private school teachers, coordinators, and
administrators of many kinds of programs for highly gifted children from all
over the country. Panelists will
discuss the development of many different kinds of conventional schooling
options for highly and profoundly gifted students. Regular classroom approaches, self-contained gifted classes,
magnet schools, pullout classes, and other alternatives for highly gifted
students in both public and private schools will be featured. Panel members will share program and
educational approaches that work for this population in today's schools.
Testing and Assessment
A panel of
distinguished psychologists and psychological examiners will be featured,
representing the leading centers across the country which specialize in the
assessment of extreme giftedness. This dialogue session will address current
issues in assessment of highly and profoundly gifted children and adolescents.
6:00 p.m.
- 9:00 p.m.
SUNDAY SESSIONS
8:00 a.m.
- 9:15 a.m.
Afterwards,
You're a Genius: On Being Too Far Out –
Stephanie Tolan
The highly and
profoundly gifted can take humanity to new realms, providing new ideas,
inventions, and insights. But original
thinking comes with a price. Before the
new has been proven, the innovator is likely to be considered crazy, deluded,
"too far out." Only
"afterwards," sometimes posthumously, does the innovator become a
"genius" in the eyes of the world.
Enormous courage is needed to follow one's mind over the edge of the
known -- it is a critical task for parents to help their children develop that
courage.
Stephanie Tolan is an award-winning author of novels and plays for children and young adults. She also writes and speaks about the needs of the gifted. Co-author of Guiding the Gifted Child, a contributing editor of Roeper Review, past columnist for Understanding Our Gifted, and a consultant to parents of highly gifted children.
FOUNDER'S
ADDRESS - 9:30 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.
Looking
Forward, Looking Back: A Tale of Two
Centuries
Kathi Kearney
Using photographs and other archival materials, Kathi will introduce the major events and people that have advanced our knowledge and support of extreme giftedness in the 20th century, then project the advances – and the steps backward -- we may see in the 21st century. The audience will assist during an interactive conclusion to the session.
Kathi Kearney is Founder
of the Hollingworth Center for Highly Gifted Children, a Maine-based national
resource and support network for highly gifted children and their families,
schools and communities. She is an
independent educational consultant in gifted education and works with
homeschooling families in many capacities.
She is completing her doctorate in Education of the Gifted at Teachers
College, Columbia University.
10:30 a.m. -
11:45 a.m.
Homeschooling
Teens: Putting Your Child In Charge Of
His Education
Teens are wonderful people, and they want so much to be adults. They still need the Garden of
Childhood. They also need to be
welcomed into the Wide World. Homeschooling changes in the teen years. It is no longer enough to provide a safe
space and feed them fundamentals.
Especially for the gifted child, the fundamentals are owned. The teen needs to envision himself as a full
member of the world community. In order
to do so, they must discover their area of passion and find standing in that
community. We need to find adult members
of that community who will welcome the young person in. Some teens know exactly where they are
going. Others are pulled in different
directions. And some few still have no
clue. The Garden of Childhood must have
a swinging gate, allowing safe retreat to be combined with exploration of the
wide world at the choice of the child. This session suggests strategies for putting a swinging gate on
the Garden will be explored.
Kathryn M. Finn, B.A., the mother of five children, has been accepted as a Masters candidate in
gifted education at the College of William and Mary. She is Director for Creative Education Programs for Families of
the Talented and Gifted, a large internet-based support and information network
for families with gifted children and others interested in their welfare.
Facing Reality - The Hope, Promise, Frustration, and
Joy
of Serving Highly and Profoundly Gifted Students in a
Gifted School
Barbara Mitchell Hutton, M.B.A. and Nicci Clark, M.S.
Translate asynchronous development, spiritual
giftedness, learning style, introversion/ extroversion, parent needs, student
interest, differentiated curriculum, the Columbus Group definition of
giftedness, "overexcitabilities", twice exceptional/LD, funding
constraints and jammed copy machines into reality for students. Is it possible
for teachers to meet the sometimes conflicting expectations of parents,
students, administrators, and governing boards? Achieving balance for all
constituents is an ongoing challenge. Since 1990, Rocky Mountain School for the
Gifted and Creative in Boulder, Colorado has evolved in its understanding of
gifted children, their inner lives, and the hopes and fears of parents. Our
unique Curriculum: Challenge!, individual learning plans, student
grouping, and classroom structure are designed to support the RMS mission to
"challenge, support, and inspire gifted individuals!" In this
interactive workshop we will share our philosophy, curriculum, and the
classroom tools that have contributed to RMS becoming a magnet for highly and
profoundly gifted students and their families.
Barbara Mitchell-Hutton,
M.B.A. is Director and co-founder of Rocky Mountain School for the
Gifted and Creative in Boulder, Colorado.
She also serves as President of the Board of Directors. In 1990, motivated by the needs of a two
year old highly gifted daughter, Barbara began the process of finding a school
that would meet her needs. When it
became clear that existing public and private schools were not prepared to
provide a supportive environment for a young gifted girl, she laid the
groundwork for establishing Rocky Mountain School.
Nicci Clark, M.S. is Master Teacher and Curriculum Coordinator of Rocky
Mountain School for the Gifted and Creative in Boulder, Colorado. As the first teacher at RMS she guided the
development of curriculum and provided leadership for the faculty as the school
evolved since 1991.
P. Susan Jackson, M.A., R.C.C.
"And then the
black comes rolling in again...the thoughts of death. . .and I alone in it. .
." The results of an extensive
research study on the nature, extent and meaning of depressive states for the
highly gifted adolescent will be presented. The study revealed a complex set of
variables that underpin the development of depressive states differing in type
and severity. Counselors, teachers and
parents will be provided with perspectives on appropriate counseling and
developmental scaffolding as well as strategies to support highly gifted young
people
P. Susan
Jackson, M.A., R.C.C. is a poet, mother of two exceptional children, a
counseling psychologist, teacher, consultant, administrator, and researcher
specializing in the developmental, educational and therapeutic needs of gifted
persons. Her particular interest and
expertise is the highly gifted population in which she has been immersed in
study and practice for ten years.
“Etiquette
And Ethics,” Research, & Extreme Giftedness:
Kathi Kearney and Stephanie Tolan
Seventy years ago, Hollingworth struggled with the question of research
“etiquette and ethics” in the study of profoundly gifted children. These children were easily recognized, and
their extreme developmental asynchrony raised unique research issues, vulnerabilities,
and questions unknown in other areas of psychology. Hollingworth developed
rudimentary principles and rationales for the ethical choices regarding her
research. Today, her principles remain valid, but the challenges of the
Information Age and the advent of the Internet raise unprecedented concerns for
the profoundly gifted. This presentation will re-examine the conceptual
foundations of Hollingworth’s research ethics from perspectives she never could
have foreseen 70 years ago -- the instantaneous global transfer of information,
the ubiquitous presence of the media in American life, the end of privacy, and
issues of intellectual property.
Kathi Kearney is Founder
of the Hollingworth Center for Highly Gifted Children, a volunteer national resource and support network for
highly gifted children and their families, schools and communities. She is an independent educational consultant
in gifted education and works with homeschooling families in many
capacities. She is completing her
doctorate in Education of the Gifted at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Stephanie Tolan is an
award-winning author of novels and plays for children and young adults. She also writes and speaks about the needs
of the gifted and co-author of Guiding the Gifted Child, a contributing
editor of Roeper Review, past columnist for Understanding Our Gifted,
and a consultant to parents of highly gifted children.
Joyce Laine, B.A. and Becky Valdez, B.A.
This will be an interactive session providing practical ideas for
organizing assignments and materials.
Examples for viewing and explanations on how to utilize them; along with
suggestions for making your own materials at home will be discussed. Participants will be encouraged to
contribute some successful strategies that they have implemented. These will be collected and discussed with
the group. A compilation of these ideas
will be sent by e-mail to those in the group that wish to receive them. This presentation provides parents with
practical things that they can do that don't require a lot of money.
Joyce Laine,
B.A. is presently a homeschooling mother of two very special children. Teaching, reading and learning more about
dealing with the different needs of highly and profoundly gifted children has
taken a lot of time during the past five years. Children are really wonderful
teachers, and Joyce has learned a lot from them through the years.
Becky Valdez,
B.A. is homeschool Mom to a 7 year old.
Becky is a designer and decorative painter of children’s furniture –
Rebecca Valdez Designs.
Parent Support Group
Nancy
Minkoff, M.S. and Shirley Rand
Nancy Minkoff and
Shirley Rand will be facilitating parent support group discussions. Both Nancy and Shirley are parents of
profoundly gifted individuals who are now adults, and thus have been through
many of the trials involved in the challenge of parenting these children. Shirley’s son is twice exceptional,
providing her with additional expertise and insights. Parents may come and discuss their own situations in a safe,
non-confrontational, understanding environment, and can gain not only from the
expertise of Nancy and Shirley, but also from their discussions with each
other. These two parents conducted
support groups at last year’s conference and felt a number of parents
benefited.
Nancy Minkoff,
M.S. holds degrees in Psychology and Exceptionality. She is the mother of two adult
profoundly gifted children and is a founding member of The Hollingworth Center
for Highly Gifted Children.
Shirley Rand is the
Mother of five twice-exceptional children and has developed many skills
necessary in dealing with schools, highly gifted children with special needs,
and the legislature. She is also a
founding member of The Hollingworth Center for Highly Gifted Children.
This presentation
and discussion will be an extension of the article “Preparing and Holding an
Effective School Meeting” in the Spring/Summer 1999 issue of Highly Gifted
Children. It is geared to parents
who are trying to create appropriate educational experiences for their children
within a school system. We will talk
about common obstacles and strategies for overcoming them. Ideas are drawn from my personal experience
with our children, and from working with other local parents. Since participants will come from schools
with different cultures and philosophies, I hope that the discussion will help
broaden the arsenal of tools parents can use as they advocate for their own
children.
Cathy Russell has
two highly gifted children. Her family
has gotten a variety of accommodations within the public school, and they have
also homeschooled. She started and
leads a support group for parents of gifted children in her local school
district.
Modes of Non-Linear Thinking
Josh
Shaine
“There are two
kinds of people in the world; Linear and Non-Linear.” Does that description sound familiar to you? That is the view of the world held by mostly
Linear Thinkers. You are one of us or
you are not one of us. Non-linear
thinking is merely a catch-all category for many different approaches to
examination and expression of ideas and concepts. These approaches can have so little in common that to refer to
them with a common descriptor is laughable.
In this presentation, we will explore different sorts of ‘non-linear’
thinking, including Relational, Gestalt, and Physical/Spatial modes. We will compare these with Silverman’s
Visual-Spatial/Auditory-Sequential dichotomy, Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences,
and the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory. We
will also discuss ways to nurture people whose thoughts follow these less
common paths.
Josh Shaine has been working with
gifted and talented children for more than twenty years. During that time he has served as Director
or MIT’s High School Studies program; Headmaster of Massachusetts Academy, a
private school for gifted 7th-12th grade students; and is
currently a teacher/tutor for a variety of families, private schools, and
public school systems. He also serves
on the board of the Massachusetts Association for Advancement of Individual
Potential and Kids’ College.
LUNCH 11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Pre-registered Lunches
Pick up
lunches in registration area.
AFTERNOON 1:00
p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
Teach Mathematics Not Arithmetic! Critical For Highly And Profoundly Gifted Children, K-12
Douglas G. Frank, Ph.D.
The unfortunate teaching of arithmetic to highly and profoundly gifted
children can repress or extinguish natural mathematical ability. When children reach middle and high school
grades after a steady diet of arithmetic, there is a huge amount of unlearning
and relearning to be accomplished.
Brilliant math students could even believe that they cannot do math because
they have never experienced it.
Dr. Douglas G. Frank teaches science and mathematics
at The Schilling School for Gifted Children in Cincinnati, Ohio and President
of ADAM Instrument Company.
Kathleen
Julicher
Many parents of
extremely gifted children choose homeschooling as an option, and the classical
education approach is often selected.
Yet as parents of highly and profoundly gifted children know, these
children do not proceed evenly along on the path to adulthood. Instead, maturing in irregular bursts, they
challenge the pacing of a classical education designed for normal
children. According to classical educators,
a young person proceeds through several stages; three of which are the grammar
stage, the dialectic stage, and the rhetorical stage. A highly gifted child may continue learning data at a high rate
(the grammar stage) while already beginning to challenge that data as he moves
into the dialectic stage. Or, a child
may begin to systematically present his ideas using excellent rhetoric while
still pursuing the argumentative behavior of the dialectic stage. While these asynchronies can be
disconcerting to the home educator of highly and profoundly gifted children,
they do offer some unusual opportunities.
This workshop will explore both the phenomenon of asynchrony in the
context of classical education, and some of the unusual opportunities offered
by the classical approach.
Kathleen
Julicher, and her husband are the founders of Castle Heights Press,
publishers of science manuals for home and small school use. She is also the principal of Westbridge
Academy, the only satellite school for gifted homeschoolers.
Deirdre V.
Lovecky, Ph.D.
Exceptionally
gifted children conceptualize ideas in many different ways. Some see the world in terms of math and
numbers. Some fold things and see the world as a spatial place that can be
manipulated in various dimensions.
Others play with language, malign images for others, using words
precisely, and endeavoring to forge links to other languages. Some use pattern
making to understand the world. Other exceptionally gifted children are
seekers, making empathic links to the transcendent, to their own creative
spirits, to other people. They can be exceptionally compassionate or seekers of
truth. This presentation attempts to delineate what makes the mind unique and
how the world looks to the child in question, that is, what is the defining characteristic
of this kind of mind, how does it generate a world view, and what are its gifts
and limitations. This is a work in progress. Audience discussion of the ideas
presented will be appreciated.
Dr. Deirdre
Lovecky has written the article “Gifted Children with AD/HD” which can be
accessed through the ERIC Clearing House at http://ericec.org/fact/lovecky.hmt. She is a clinical child psychologist who
specializes in the assessment and treatment of gifted children. She is especially interested in the needs of
exceptionally and profoundly gifted children, those with dual exceptionalities
such as AD/HD or Asperger’s Syndrome and in learning differences. She has a private practice in Providence,
RI. Her website is www.grcne.com
Annemarie Roeper, Ed.D. and Betty Meckstroth, Ed.D.
As a person's abilities increase high above the norm, so does their
probability of experiencing dissonance from their society. Our session will
explore how gifted people might limit or annihilate their Selves to accommodate
to their groups, alienate themselves from others, or actualize and integrate
their Selves. Distinguishing differences between accomplishments and personal
identity will be examined. Since gifted
people often find themselves in a limited community of compatible peers, ways
to appreciate and deepen the value of interpersonal relationships will be
explored. We will explore the process of connecting and cooperating and discuss
ways to help us and our children towards successful integration. A goal of this session is to help ourselves
and our children wisely discern who they are and how their Self relates to
their personal realm, including their place in community, society, and their
spiritually. There will be ample
participation by the attendees who will co-create this presentation.
Betty Meckstroth,
M. Ed. has worked with families of gifted children and focused on
their social and emotional needs since 1979.
She coordinated development of Supporting Emotional Needs of Gifted
Children and Adults program (SENG). She
is a co-author of Teaching Young Gifted Children in the Regular Classroom
and Guiding the Gifted Child: A
Practical Source for Parents and Teachers, awarded “Best Book” by the
American Psychological Association and published in four languages.
The
Whys And Wherefores of Starting A School for Gifted Children
These two presenters share the nitty-gritty business details of starting
a special private school for gifted children.
Although differences exist from state to state, the basics of being
incorporated, obtaining tax-exempt status, securing funding, locating a site,
and finding teachers and students will be discussed.
Sandra and Ronald Schilling operate The Schilling School
for Gifted Children in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Perfectionism –
International Case Studies With Highly Gifted Adolescents
Perfectionism is
considered a hallmark characteristic of many highly gifted adolescents. This session will examine the findings of
international case studies of perfectionism in highly gifted adolescents. Their perceptions of their perfectionism,
the influences on and the consequences of their perfectionistic behaviors in
the context of their senior high schools and their cultures, will be presented. Among the countries participating in this
quantitative and qualitative research project are: France, Switzerland, Russia,
Poland, Slovenia, and the United States.
Case Studies Of
Twice Exceptional Students: Stories Of
Successful Strategies
Brooke Walker
Twice-exceptional
students, those students who are both highly gifted and have some sort of
disability, have much to offer themselves and society. Beethoven, Helen Keller, Vincent Van Gogh,
Albert Einstein, and Thomas Edison are all examples of highly gifted
individuals who also had disabilities.
This workshop will provide case studies of highly gifted students who
also have some type of disability.
Successful identification methods and programming strategies will be
explained and discussed.
Dr. Brooke
Walker has experience working with gifted children ages three through
twelve and has been involved in the development of appropriate curriculum and
instructional strategies for these age groups.
Different Minds
P. Susan Jackson, M.A., Maddi Wallach, M.A., R.C.C. and Bailey Whiteside
There are many
highly and profoundly gifted children who can function reasonably well in
traditional school settings, if they are allowed to advance at an accelerated
speed, but for some, this does not help at all. This workshop will explore what motivates and works for children who
are not driven by mastery and/or organization and do not operate in a concrete
sequential manner. We will explore the
motives and methods of children driven by: creativity; ethical imperatives;
invention; connection and/or meaning.
We will explore effective ways to work with these students, who like
Einstein and Picasso had extreme difficulty functioning in school because they
had qualitatively different minds
P. Susan Jackson, M.A., R.C.C. is a poet, mother of two exceptional children, a
counseling psychologist, teacher, consultant, administrator and researcher
specializing in the developmental, educational and therapeutic needs of gifted
persons. Her particular interest and
expertise is the highly gifted population in which she has been immersed in
study and practice for ten years.
Maddi Wallach, M.A. holds her
B.A. in Education and Dance Movement Education with her M.A. in Counseling
Psychology and Expressive Arts Therapies.
She has worked with highly gifted children and adults as an educator and
a therapist, and has two highly gifted children.
Bailey
Whiteside will be attending college next year at age 16, after having
skipped first grade and fifth grade.
She plans to become an actress and is also interested in psychology and
biology.
KEYNOTE
2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
Being and
Becoming:
The
Self-Emergent of the Highly Gifted Person
P. Susan
Jackson, MA, R.C.C.
What is it to BE a
Highly Gifted Person: to have extraordinary ability, to have a deep need for
knowledge and a vital capacity for complex experiencing, to know a rich
capacity for awe? What is it to BECOME
as a Highly Gifted person: to be vitally aware, to absorb, to comprehend, to
imagine, to adapt, to grow, to want, to create, to challenge, to transform and
to exist as an extraordinary, enduring, unrepeatable, emergent being? How does this extraordinary human being
emerge? What are the core determinants
of growth and development for our highly gifted children? How can we, as parents and educators, enable
that central ordering principle, the hidden coherence of each being -- the Self
-- to take shape in the world? What is
the role of these manifest gifts in the interplay between the children, their
growth and their place in the human mosaic?
A highly gifted person takes its form in a multiplicity of humanity,
unfolding in a glorious spectrum of gifts, likely immeasurable. This presentation introduces the
mathematical prodigy and chess champion, the violin virtuoso, the financier,
the deep spiritual seeker, the poet. and the profoundly gifted artist. Like still waters, the gifted child runs
deep . . . the closer a gifted child runs to being a genius, the more his
creative capacity acts like a personality far in advance of his years, like a
divine daemon... like a calling to
something greater, something infinite.
Each of our highly gifted children responds to this calling, at some
level, in some way. Each needs the grace of true communion to decipher the
nature of this hidden coherence. Each
has a way to be and a way to
become . . .
Such are
the hours toward which we wend
and toward
such hours wend for years and years;
then suddenly a
listener is found-
and all
words have meaning.
Rilke
P. Susan Jackson, M.A., R.C.C. is a poet, mother of two exceptional children, a
Counseling Psychologist, teacher, consultant, administrator and researcher
specializing in the developmental, educational and therapeutic needs of gifted
persons. Her particular interest and
expertise is the highly gifted population in which she has been immersed in
study and practice for ten years.
ANNUAL
MEETING – 4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
THE
HOLLINGWORTH CENTER FOR HIGHLY GIFTED CHILDREN
CHILDREN
WORKSHOPS – SALONS A, B, C & H
These begin 5 minutes before and end 5 minutes after adult workshops
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YOUNG
ADULTS WORKSHOPS – SUITE 639
ROOM |
PRESENTER |
TITLE OF SESSION |
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FRIDAY SESSIONS: |
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INTRODUCTION - 8:30 - 9:15 a.m. |
Salon
G |
Neville |
Wake
Up America! Your Highly Gifted
Students are Fleeing Public Schools |
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MORNING 9:30 a.m. -
11:45 a.m. |
Salon F |
Davis |
Serving PG
Students in the Schools - The Optimal Match Philosophy in Action |
Minuteman |
Frank |
College
Level Integrated Science for HG High School Students Teach Mathematics NOT
Arithmetic! |
Salon
G |
Neville |
The
Critical Peer Group; Critical Needs for Depth in Literature and Writing |
Salon H |
Quilty-Dunn |
Current
Best Practices in Highly Gifted Pedagogy |
Charles
River East |
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LUNCH 11:45 p.m. - 1:00
p.m |
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AFTERNOON 1:00 - 3:45 p.m. |
Salon G |
Chapman |
Open Doors
to Education- combined with Howard |
Salon G |
Howard
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Educational
Needs for the PG Child; Practical Ways the School Can Help |
Salon F |
Fiedler |
Highly
Gifted: Multiple Insights from
Multiple Perspectives |
Minuteman |
Jackson |
Black Sky
Bright Star - The Highly Gifted and Depression |
Salon H |
Kay
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Twice
Special: Gifted Children with Special Needs |
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SATURDAY SESSIONS: 9:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. |
Lexington |
Blackburn. |
Meeting
the Needs of Exceptionally Gifted Students In and Out of the Classroom |
Old
Meeting House |
Carlton |
Living
With Dual Identities: A Model for
Connected Systems and Supports… |
Salon F |
Harris |
Curriculum
Development for the Exceptionally and Profoundly Gifted |
Salon E |
Kearney |
Understanding
H and P Gifted Children: A Primer for
First-Time Conf. Participants |
Salon G |
Kottmeyer |
Many
Internet Resources for Highly Gifted Children |
Minuteman |
Levi |
How to
bring about state and national change for the most gifted students (Grass
Roots Mothers) |
Charles
River East |
Lovance |
Beyond The
Label |
Charles
River West |
Rivers |
Multi-age,
Multi-level Magnet Programming for Extremely HG Elemen/Middle School Students |
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KEYNOTE 10:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. |
Salon E |
Gross |
From
"The Saddest Sound" to the D Major Chord: How Radical Acceleration
Can Liberate H G Stud. |
Registration
Area |
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LUNCH 11:45 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Registration Area for pre-paid lunches |
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SATURDAY 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. |
Salon E |
Chapman |
Open Doors
to Education |
Salon F |
Frank |
College
Level Integrated Science for Highly Gifted High School Students |
Salon G |
Julicher |
The
"Tech Kids": Who are They and How do We Educate Them |
Old
Meeting House |
Howard |
Educational
Needs for the Profoundly Gifted Child; Practical Ways the School Can Help |
Lexington |
Lovecky |
Highly
Gifted Children with AD/HD |
Charles
River East |
Meckstroth |
INFP Type
Influences on Highly Gifted People |
Charles
River West |
Neville |
The
Critical Peer Group |
Minuteman |
von
Károlyi |
Interaction
of Gifted & Learning Disorders: Discuss. of Self-Concept and Learning
Style |
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SATURDAY 2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. |
Old
Meeting House |
Harris |
Activating
Ability Grouping: Batteries Not
Included |
Charles River
East |
Hutton |
The Great
Juggling Act - Creating the "Perfect" School for the H and P Gifted
Student |
Salon G |
Minkoff
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Parent
Support Group |
Salon F |
Morse |
Exploring
Individual Capacities of Highly Gifted Children |
Charles
River West |
Shictman |
Socialization
in Highly Gifted Children: Strive to
be "All Around" or "Keep to Your Own Kind" |
Minuteman |
Swassing |
The Many
Faces of the Highly Gifted and Individual Differences |
Salon E |
Tolan |
The
Problem of Pain |
Lexington |
Shaine |
Underachievement
among the Highly Gifted |
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PANELS - SATURDAY 4:00 p.m. - 5:15
p.m. |
Salon E |
Cohen |
Showing
Our Stuff |
Salon G |
Davis |
"Integrating
the Mind, Body, Spirit, Heart and Social Self of the Profoundly Gifted
Child" |
Salon F |
Kay |
Twice
Special: Gifted Children with Special
Needs |
Lexington |
Julicher |
Homeschooling
Highly and Profoundly Gifted Children |
Old
Meeting House |
Neville |
Public and
Private School Programs For the Highly Gifted |
Charles
River East |
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Parenting
Dialogue Session |
Charles
River West |
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Testing
and Assessment |
Salon E |
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BANQUET 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. |
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SUNDAY SESSIONS: 8:00a.m. - 9:15 a.m. |
Salon E |
Tolan |
Breakfast
at Stephanie’s - Afterwards,
You're a Genius: On Being Too Far Out |
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FOUNDER'S ADDRESS -
9:30 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. |
Salon E |
Kearney |
Looking Forward, Looking Back: A Tale of Two Centuries |
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SUNDAY 10:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. |
Charles
River West |
Finn |
Homeschooling
Teens: Putting your Child in Charge
of His Education |
Merry Go
Round |
Hutton |
Facing
Reality - The Hope, Promise, Frustration, and Joy of Serving H&P Gifted
Students in a Gifted School |
Salon E |
Jackson |
Black Sky
Bright Star - The Highly Gifted and Depression |
Charles
River East |
Kearney
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"Etiquette
and Ethics," Research, & Extreme Giftedness: Re-Examining
Foundations in Information Age |
Norumbega |
Laine
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Ideas
for Organizing Students' Work |
Minuteman |
Minkoff
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Parent
Support Group |
Salon D |
Shaine |
Modes of
Non-Linear Thinking |
Old
Meeting House |
Russell |
Advocating
for Your Highly Gifted Child - How to work (with?) the system |
Registration
Area |
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LUNCH 11:45 p.m. - 1:00
p.m. Registration Area for pre-paid lunches |
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AFTERNOON 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. |
Charles
River West |
Frank |
Teach
Mathematics NOT Arithmetic! Critical
for H and P Gifted Children, K-12 |
Old
Meeting House |
Julicher |
Asynchrony
and a Classical Education |
Salon E |
Lovecky. |
Through
Their Eyes: The Exceptionally Gifted
Child |
Charles
River East |
Roeper |
Integrating
Self and Society or Living a Stifled Life |
Merry Go
Round |
Schilling |
The Whys
and Wherefores of Starting a School for Gifted Children |
Minuteman |
Schuler |
Perfectionism
- International Case Studies with Highly Gifted Adolescents |
Norumbega |
Walker |
Case
Studies of Twice Exceptional Students: Stories of Successful Strategies |
Salon D |
Wallach |
Different
Minds |
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KEYNOTE 2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. |
Salon E |
Jackson |
Being and
Becoming: The Self-Emergent of the Highly Gifted Person |
Salon E |
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ANNUAL MEETING 4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. |
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