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.

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.

Cost: $200 

When you register for this course, you will receive a link to a Google Drive folder containing all necessary materials. In order to receive your APA CE credits, you must watch the course recording and read all mandatory readings. Once you have done so, you must then complete the Course Quiz (passing with a grade of 80% or better) then complete the Course Evaluation. Once you have completed both the Quiz and the Evaluation, you will receive a certificate of completion from the SENG staff within 5-7 business days. If you have any questions, please contact trent.cash@sengifted.org.