Beyond Giftedness XXVI Speakers and Topics
Schedule subject to change. Please check back for updated information.
Keynote Speakers:
Dr. Barbara Kerr is renowned for her breadth of work and knowledge on the relationship between gender, minorities, and giftedness. She earned a doctorate degree in counseling psychology in 1978 from the University of Missouri. Since August 2005, she has been the Williamson Family distinguished Professor of Counseling Psychology in the School of Education’s Department of Psychology and Research in Education at the University of Kansas. Previously she has served as professor of psychology in education at Arizona State University, associate director of the Connie Belin National Center for Gifted Education at the University of Iowa,and established a guidance center for gifted youth at the University of Nebraska.
Kerr is the author of four books: A Handbook for Counseling Gifted and Talented; Smart Girls; Smart Boys; and Letters to the Medicine Man: The Shaping of Spiritual Intelligence. She has written more than 100 articles and papers on the topic of nurturing talent. Her research ranges from case studies of inventors, artists, writers and architects to large-scale studies of students who attained the highest scores on the ACT college admissions test. Keynote: Gender and Genius in the 21st Century
Dr. Nicole A. Tetreault is a neuroscientist, researcher, author, meditation teacher and speaker who specializes in neurodevelopment and neurodegenerative disorders. She received her Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in neuroscience. As the founder of Awesome Neuroscience (nicoletetreault.com), she is dedicated to translating the promise of neuroscience and positive psychology for gifted people to live the best quality of life.
Dr. Tetreault has authored many peer-reviewed scientific papers on the topics of gifted experience, inflammation in autism, brain evolution, neuroanatomy, neuroinflammation, brain development, behavior, and cell function. Most recently, she has focused her efforts on studying the gifted experience, which encompasses the brain and body connection, by investigating the latest neuroscience, psychology, and physiology research. Her forthcoming book on the neuroscience of giftedness, gifted experiences, mental health, and healing in gifted, Feeling Color: Insight into a Bright Mind, will be released in 2019. Keynote: Gifted Brain 2.0: Understanding the Latest Neuroscience of Giftedness
Breakout Sessions
Understanding the Role of Privilege and Access to Opportunities for Minority Gifted Students, Dr. Barbara Kerr
Minority gifted students experience unique issues in planning their future. They need help from parents, gifted educators, and counselors in development of dual and intersectional identities; overcoming stigma and stereotyping; and pursuing individual goals while caring for one's community. Dr. Kerr's experiences as a researcher on high achieving minority students and as a practitioner with Native American, Latino, and African American gifted students will be brought to bear on helping these students fulfill their potential.
Unraveling Many Misunderstood Aspects of Giftedness Related to Perfectionism, Procrastination, and Self Esteem, Dr. Nicole Tetreault
Gifted people are often misunderstood and mislabeled as awkward geeks, mad scientists, maladjusted poets, oversensitive artists, hyperactive clowns, or antisocial misfits. Learn how the latest neuroscience, physiology, and psychology research debunks these stereotypes and leads to a fuller understanding of the gifted experience. Gifted individuals are more prone to disabling and destructive elements of anxiety, often expressed as perfectionism, due to expanded emotional brain networks, increased sensory processing and elevated physiological responses to stressors both real and perceived. In particular, the brain circuitry, hormonal stress response, and bodily reactions to stress can become hard-wired and gifted individuals can get stuck in a negative cycle, causing the individual to experience the world “on pins and needles.” This stress experience leads to behaviors of perfectionism, the related experience of procrastination, and can lead to self-esteem challenges. This presentation will provide encouraging strategies to help reduce the adverse affects of the stress response in gifted individuals. Evidence supports cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, exercise, healthy sleep and eating habits to rewire healthy brain circuitry so positive hormones and decision-making can allow gifted individuals to live a full life.
Facilitating GT Parent Book Groups using "Embracing the Whole Gifted Self"
Rupali Hofmann, Marlys Lietz
Join the creators of a four-week parent book study of Dr. Gatto-Walden’s book: Embracing the Whole Gifted Self. Based on years of experience in facilitating parent discussion groups, this session will provide educators with the tools they need to create an inviting and encouraging community for parents, including agendas, activities and handouts. Participants will engage in group activities and discussion prompts around the social and emotional needs of GT students.
A Rising Tide Lifts All Ships: Building Resiliency and Creativity
Jenny Hecht, MSW, LCSW
We are not born with an inherent understanding of how to manage stress. This is something we learn from watching those around us manage their own stress and through this observation, develop our own tendencies. These tendencies are patterned responses to stress and anxiety and are far more changeable than we often realize. Stress management and distress tolerance are challenging for many of us, not just for young people. In this presentation, we will discuss how stress affects our brains and bodies and how to begin speaking more openly about these challenges in a way that will create space for young people to feel safe joining in that conversation. We will also talk about effective strategies to downshift our nervous systems and to manage stress and anxiety through engagement, rather than distraction, as well as the difference between settling down and settling in.
Jenny Hecht of Karuna Healing is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Certified Yoga Teacher with 15 years of experience working with individuals between the ages of 10-adult in a variety of settings. Her practice is grounded in strengthening distress tolerance skills through mindfulness practice and supportive examination of the thought patterns that are limiting each individual’s potential. She has a passion for supporting the specific social-emotional needs of gifted individuals, particularly the existential dilemma so many face beginning at a very young age and works as a consultant and support for educational professionals who work with this population.
Educating and Engaging Your Parent Community
Nancy Lee, Ph.D., Jennifer Rix, MA
Are you searching for ways to educate and engage your parent community? If parent involvement improves student outcomes, how do we empower our parents to succeed? Join us as we present information and research that is designed to increase your efficacy within your professional role. We’ll define parent engagement and give you practical tips and ideas for achievable outcomes. We'll highlight research that validates what we already know: that parents of gifted and twice exceptional children often feel isolated and confused about how to support their children's well being. Together, we can increase our impact as we support the development of gifted and twice exceptional children.
A Panel Discussion on Giftedness & Mental Health*
Is there a connection between giftedness and mental health issues? Are some who are diagnosed with mental health issues actually "just gifted" and does such a distinction matter? Join us for our 4th annual Q & A with panelists Patty Gatto-Walden, Jenny Hecht, Marlo Payne Thurman, and Nicole Tetreault, as we discuss the complex and often painful relationships between giftedness and mental health. With real-world questions and expert answers, this panel will continue the important discussion about the need for increased understanding about mental health in our gifted population.
Patricia Gatto-Walden, PhD, is a nationally recognized psychologist who has worked therapeutically with thousands of gifted, highly and profoundly gifted children, adolescents and adults for over three decades. Her adjunct consulting practice specializes in holistic health and well-being, and educational consulting for parents and teachers. Dr. Gatto-Walden is a featured speaker at international and national conferences and educational workshops. She has served two terms as Chair of the Global Awareness Network for the National Association for the Gifted and was awarded the Annemarie Roeper Award for excellence of service to gifted youth at the 2014 convention. She is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Educational Advancement and co-founded “Yunasa”, a holistic summer camp for highly gifted youth. She has consulting offices in Denver and Boulder, Colorado, and Amelia Island, Florida.
Barbara (Bobbie) Jackson Gilman, M.S. is Associate Director of the Gifted Development Center in Westminster, CO, where she specializes in the assessment of gifted children at all levels of giftedness, with and without disabilities, for educational planning and advocacy. With a background in psychology and child development from Duke and Purdue, Bobbie consults with parents worldwide and participates in research on the gifted and gifted assessment. Bobbie wrote /Academic Advocacy for Gifted Children: A Parent's Complete /Guide and /Challenging Highly Gifted Learners/. She co-chairs, with Dan Peters, the National Association for Gifted Children's assessment special interest group, which has produced two NAGC position statements on use of the WISC-IV and V, and has worked extensively to improve identification of often overlooked 2e children since IDEA 2004. Bobbie is the 2015 recipient of SENG's Healthcare Professional of the Year award.
Seth Perler is an executive function and 2e coach who helps make life easier for students struggling with Executive Function: homework, motivation, underachievement, organization, grades, focus, study skills, time management, emotion, overwhelm & resistance. He helps these complicated, misunderstood, outside-the-box learners turn it around in a baffling system so that they can launch a successful future. His blog, sethperler.com, gives game-changing answers in what sometimes seems like a sea of educational confusion.
Robert W. Seney, Professor Emeritus/Gifted Studies, Mississippi University for Women, has worked in education for over 46 years, 40 of those in gifted education. He was a classroom instructor, district administrator, head of private schools, and university professor. He is most known for his advocacy of using Young Adult Literature with Gifted Readers and his work with gifted readers. At MUW, he directed the graduate programs in Education and was the primary instructor in the Masters of Gifted Studies program. He was also the director of the Mississippi Governor’s School, a three-week summer residential program for gifted high school students. Upon retirement, the Mississippi University Board named him Professor Emeritus for his educational service to the state of Mississippi, the university, and the field of gifted education. He has been active in several state gifted organizations, NAGC, and the World Council for Gifted Children and was the 2005 World Conference Chair in New Orleans.
Conference Host Dennis N. Corash, Ph.D. is the father of three gifted children/twice exceptional children who are now adults. He is a past president of Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented, past assistant professor of Elementary Education and Literacy at Metropolitan State University of Denver, and a Founding Member of the Colorado Academy of Educators for the Gifted, Talented and Creative.
Parent Half-Day Conference Info
*Topics and presenters subject to change. Check back for updates.