SENG Mini Conference: Bellevue, Washington

Join SENG at Open Window School in Bellevue, Washington on October 8th, 2022 for a mini conference with experts in the gifted, talented, and twice-exceptional field!

Non-member Ticket: $119

Member Ticket: $95

Program Schedule

(Subject to change)

8:00AM

Doors Open

8:30-9:00 AM

Introductions: SENG and Open Window School

9:00-10:15AM

Introductory Session

P. Susan Jackson - Aligning with the Profound Learning Code of Each (matchless) Gifted Child: a Reimagination of Purpose

We know that the highest level of human capacity — phenomenal human potential — cannot be neatly classified into sound bites and uncomplicated pieces. There is no such thing as a "typical gifted child." Instead, gifted children come in all stripes and grow and develop in variant ways. Some gifted children combine many mental styles and interests; others adhere to one distinctive way of thinking and expressing themselves. Some are drawn to (and show interest in) particular subjects and areas of study early in life – think the child who builds, another who demonstrates a remarkable facility with numbers or words, the quiet thinker who asks why, the budding entrepreneur. Other brilliant children are slow to display their particular talents and deepest interests.

In this presentation, we delve deeply into the nature of several Gifted learner archetypes, such as the Engineer, the Poet, the Mathematician, the Visual Artist, the Scientist, the Humanitarian, the Musician, the Entrepreneur and more. These archetypes provide us with particularized insights into how some groups of gifted children and adults typically perceive, think, conceptualize, create, and are motivated. Next, we will explore subtypes within these broad archetypes to further nuance our understanding of each gifted child. Finally, we will finish this exploration with an introduction to the Daimon archetype that explains the unrepeatable learning "code" present in each gifted child, linking their interests, unique motivational patterns and gifts.

A veteran psychologist and parent delivers insights into the deep psychology of the gifted child. Think through so-called perfectionism, friendships and the lonely road, profound intellectual and creative drives, sensitivities, communication preferences, and the "beautiful will" to tailor your interactions and thinking to best support each (matchless) gifted child.  Our children's capacity to be switched-on, flourishing, creative and connected is within reach, especially when we understand their most profound code.

 75,000 hours of field experience as a psychotherapist for gifted children and their families combined with an extensive conceptual understanding of giftedness, parenting, and developmental and clinical psychology to shape this practical and insight-filled presentation. 

10:15-10:30AM

Break

10:30-11:30AM

Session One

Attendees can choose from among the following sessions:

A. Esther Magnotti: Social Emotional Learning Integration with Gifted Learners (K-3)

In this session, I will share social emotional learning strategies that work for young, gifted students. These techniques and tips come from working in a Kindergarten classroom of gifted learners. This session will emphasize the importance of professional and personal social emotional growth, ideas for working with student feelings, and suggestions for routine mindfulness. I will share stories, practices, and ideas that can easily be used tomorrow.

B. Sylvia Bagley: What About Me? Gifted Parents Parenting Gifted Kids

Parenting gifted kids has been explored from numerous perspectives (Webb & Gore, 2007), but rarely from the stance of parents acknowledging their own giftedness, both past and current. In this presentation, I share key take-aways on gifted adults (Corten, 2021; Fiedler, 2015; Prober, 2016; Prober, 2019; Streznewski, 1999; Wapnick, 2017) and offer a set of guiding questions and considerations for gifted parents supporting their gifted kids. Through interactive discussion, we will explore how we can manage our own “complexity, intensity, and drive” as gifted adults (Jacobsen, 1999) while meeting the needs of our diversely gifted kids.

C. Austina DeBonte: I Think This Student is 2e, But Now What? Getting to the Root Causes of Twice Exceptionality

Do you suspect that a student is Twice Exceptional (2e), but aren't sure what the disability is, or what to do about it? Do you have a diagnosis, but it doesn’t “feel right?” Or do you wonder about the lookalikes of ADHD? Learn about commonly overlooked disabilities in gifted kids, what clues you might notice, and how best to support the needs of these students.

11:45AM-12:45PM             

Session Two

 

A. Michael Shaughnessy: Executive Functioning and the Gifted Student

Executive functioning is a term used to describe a variety of skills and abilities that gifted seem to have in abundance, and yet some seem lacking. This presentation will first of all describe executive functioning, it's relationship to brain based learning and how to enhance it in the home and in the classroom. Handouts will be available.

B. Anne Van Roden & Gloria Sanford: Putting Together the Puzzle of the Gifted Family     

Description: Looking at the gifted family as a whole, we explore the challenges and joys of being "gifted together." Using a case study, we will 1) identify both complementary and oppositional gifted traits in family members, 2) examine common patterns which cause ongoing conflicts in gifted families and 3) identify strategies to address those challenges and help the gifted family to thrive.

C. Debbie Steinberg Kuntz: How to Help Gifted Kids with Emotional Dysregulation and Challenging Behaviors

What does neuroscience say is the best way to help gifted kids with big emotions and big behaviors? Licensed marriage and family therapist Debbie Steinberg Kuntz, founder of Bright & Quirky, unpacks the tools and strategies she's learned from interviewing the top experts in emotional regulation such as Stuart Shanker, Mona Delahooke, Stephen Porges and Ross Greene. You'll learn actionable tips you can use right away to help your gifted child get back to calm, whether at home or at school, and whether they also have extra uniqueness like ADHD, autism, anxiety or learning differences. 

12:45-2:00PM

Lunch (not provided) 

2:00-3:00PM

Session Three

A. Chris Weibe: Program Needs for Cognitively Diverse and Twice-Exceptional Students

The development of a healthy social-emotional ecosystem in an educational setting is of critical importance to child development and the wellbeing of faculty and staff. Research in the field demonstrates the benefits of direct, curriculum-informed instruction to develop social-emotional skills, as well as more dynamic, interactional models that deploy responsive, in-the-moment feedback. Studies also show the importance of embedded approaches that establish and maintain the sort of the values, behaviors, and attitudes desired within the school community. The majority of these studies explore social-emotional learning in neurotypical classrooms and schools, leaving many questions about effective social-emotional development strategies for educational environments designed specifically for twice-exceptional (2e) students. This chapter looks deeply into the model of a school for 2e students to show how a pervasive, embedded approach built upon deliberate and flexible structures, norms, rules, policies, expectations, and communications that engender positive student attitudes and behavior. This model seeks to develop students' integrity as citizens and community members, preparing them for positive and productive interpersonal relationships, as well as career and personal success. This involves improving their flexibility, resilience, and perseverance through the acquisition of understandings and skills related to self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and decision-making. Our analysis of the model-in-practice includes the finding that that 2e students make progress socially when classes are small, instruction is differentiated, and the environment recognizes and respects their asynchronous development, and both their gifts and learning differences. We also find that 2e children often learn social skills and understanding best in an interactive relational mode, rather than an educational mode that relies heavily on direct instruction. 

B. Danielle Voit: Measuring Your Child’s Gifts and Talents

Tests and assessments: Which ones do you need and what can you do with the results? Should you fork out the big bucks for an IQ test? Will insurance cover it? What's the point of all these standardized tests? Why does it seem like every gifted program has different tests and admission criteria? You have a gifted child, so why does it seem like you constantly need to prove your child's giftedness? Join me for a deep dive into testing in gifted education to determine which tests and assessments make sense for your child, where to find testing services, what you can learn from the scores, and how to use those scores to advocate for your child.  

C. Michael Postma: Anxiety and its Impact on G/2e Children, Teens, and Young Adults

Living in an uncertain world, today’s children are more anxious than ever. In fact, 1 of every 5 male high-schoolers struggles with chronic anxiety. Within the Gifted/2e population that number is higher. In this session, Dr. Mike Postma explores how anxiety affects 2E students and what parents and professionals can do to help reduce their worries and nurture growth mindsets. After reviewing the biology, psychology and common sources of anxiety, Dr. Postma will devolve strategies on how to help 2E children and teens change their relationship to worry, realistically evaluate situations, and tolerate unpredictability. You’ll learn practical, useful tools to promote self-soothing and calming down, diminish negative thoughts and inner critics and build lasting strategies for bouncing back and resilience.

D. Paula Prober: Guidance for Gifted Adults--Understanding Your Rainforest Mind

Using examples from her counseling/consulting practice and her books, Paula will detail the complexities of adult giftedness and provide strategies and resources to help these adults understand themselves and their rainforest minds, build healthy relationships, and find self-acceptance and purpose. Issues include: sensitivities, perfectionism, multipotentiality, anxiety, creativity, existential depression, relationships, and parenting.

3:15PM-4:30PM

Session Four

A. Larry Davis: SELFIRST

Many of our children come into this world with an acute level of sensitivity; as a result, their ability to “feel” another’s emotions presents both a gift as well as a challenge for often, most are too immature to define or interpret the emotions of their parents. So they simply “react”. As we engage, if we do so from our own default response pattern, our reactionary self, likely the host of emotions that come with this response, often creates a trigger for our kids and they escalate even more.

This is so common within the context of the SENG community; for the children in this community are often described as “hyper sensitive”. This presentation highlights the shift from the REACTIVE SELF to a RESPONSIVE SELF and our path to do so, develops as we work on the RESILIENT SELF.

So this workshop is called SELFIRST!

B. Sue Jackson: Educating Those Most Rare: Understanding and Responding to the Needs of the Profoundly Gifted

Learners with measured IQ scores greater than 3 SD units above the mean -- the profoundly gifted -- are a statistical rarity in most educational and mental health settings. As a result, most educators and mental health practitioners cannot identify and even minimally address their complex intellectual, social, and emotional needs. There is little focused research and no best practice principles, standards, or norms that address their unique needs (especially ones that address the whole child). No mandated training for pre-service or gifted in-service programs (globally) focuses on the PG. As a result, most PG learners find inadequate educational settings offering a limited broad understanding of their intellectual and talent-based needs and little awareness of their exceptional social and emotional experience (Schultz 2018). Some dedicated programs exist for those who can afford them. However, they are expensive and not easily accessed, contributing to staggering racial and socioeconomic inequities for PG children and families. Overall, PGs find it challenging to develop wholly, with even basic needs for learning and growing met (PS Jackson in Sternberg, 2022). In addition, many PG children suffer from mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression due to gross misunderstanding of their unique needs.

We will discuss the PGs' needs and characteristics, emphasizing the enormous variance within this populace, driving the need for highly nuanced and flexible programming throughout their development. Case studies and targeted research findings anchor this interactive presentation. Specific strategies for addressing their vital social and emotional needs will be provided.

C. Christiana Clark: Understanding Your Child’s Emotions

This lecture will present attendees with an overview of emotional development from early childhood through adolescence, offer guidance on ways to help foster a child's own emotional development, and present techniques to help improve a child's ability to express and manage their own emotions.

D. Matt Fugate: Gifted by Any Other Name: Building Cultural Competence to Serve Diverse Populations

With all of the varying definition of gifted, how can educators know what to look for? The answer may lie with the students we serve in our classrooms – in their stories, strengths, and challenges. Principles of culturally responsive practice serve as a guide as we work to meet the needs of our diverse populations of students, begging the question, could it be that gifted by any other name is still gifted?

4:30PM

Closing Remarks

For more information, email Mike.Postma@sengifted.org