SENG & GDC Professional Development Course: What is Giftedness?

Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG) and Gifted Development Center (GDC) Present:

A series of professional development courses for psychologists, school counselors, administrators, and examiners of gifted and twice exceptional children. The series will generate APA Continuing Education Units (CEUs). Others may take the courses without earning APA CEUs. The courses will be offered in a live webinar format with additional reading material. The lectures will be recorded and available to registrants for a 3-month viewing.

The first course is “What is Giftedness?”

What is Giftedness?

Presenter: Linda Silverman, Ph.D.

In this session, we will discuss giftedness as a psychological reality, rather than as the potential for success. When giftedness is equated with the potential for noteworthy achievement in adult life, it is biased against individuals of color, those who are economically disadvantaged, many neurodiverse groups, and females. Giftedness is color-blind, is found in equal proportions in males and females, in the twice-exceptional, and is distributed across all socio-economic levels. 

Giftedness:

• involves developmental differences in abstract reasoning, emotional sensitivity and intensity

• is the experience of being an outsider 

• can be observed in very young children

• can be documented on measures of general intelligence

• is lifelong

• creates qualitatively different life experiences

• leads to a set of issues unique to this group, making them vulnerable

• indicates significantly different needs from the norm

• requires early identification, intervention, and accommodations to assure healthy development.

Readings:

For APA CEUs: Silverman, L. K. (2013). Giftedness 101. New York: Springer. Silverman, L. K. (2020). Why do we need gifted education? (article) For all participants: Silverman, L. K. (2023). What is giftedness? McKernon Extensions Program, Edmonton, AB, Canada, September 30, 2014. Silverman, L. K. (1993/2023). What is giftedness? A developmental view. Originally published in The Boulder Parent, July, 1003, pp. 1, 13-14. Revised April 2023.

Presenter Bio: Linda Kreger Silverman, Ph.D., licensed psychologist, is the founder and director of Gifted Development Center/ISAD (GDC). Since 1979, GDC has assessed more than 6,500 children, most of whom are twice exceptional. After receiving her Ph.D. from USC in Educational Psychology/Special Education, she served on the faculty of the University of Denver in counseling psychology and gifted education. Linda has been studying the assessment, psychology and education of the gifted and twice exceptional since 1961. She has over 300 contributions, including Counseling the Gifted & Talented, Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner, Advanced Development: A Collection of Works on Gifted Adults, and Giftedness 101.  (Available for purchase in from the SENG Store.)  She founded Advanced Development, the only juried psychological journal on adult giftedness.

Date: Thursday, April 27th, 2023, 3:00 – 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

Format: There will be a one-hour live presentation, followed by one hour of Questions and Answers. The presentation will be recorded.

Cost: $200 for professionals taking the course for APA Continuing Education Units. Readings and a quiz are required to obtain 6 CEUs. The quiz must be completed and turned in for grading and certification within 60 days of course. 

$100 for individuals taking the course without APA CEUs.

SENG Members receive a 25% discount if registering for the course with the APA CEUs or a 20% discount if registering for the course without the APA CEUs. Email Trent.Cash@Sengifted.org to receive your discount code.

All participants will receive the readings and the recording.

Registration: Participants must register by 4/26/2023 in order to receive the webinar link.