SENG is dedicated to fostering environments in which gifted adults and children, in all their diversity, understand and accept themselves and are understood, valued, nurtured, and supported by their families, schools, workplaces and communities.
Continuing Education Home Study Program
SENG launched the Continuing Education Home Study Program in response to the great need for professionals with training in aspects of giftedness. Professionals can now earn APA credit from home while preparing to better serve the gifted community.
Courses now available for APA Credit:
New Course!
Misdiagnosis and Dual Diagnoses and Gifted Children and Adults
Handbook of Giftedness in Children: Psycho-Educational Theory, Research and Best Practices
"25 Ways to Love the Gifted" Booklet Now available in English, Spanish or Chinese!
Enjoy the wisdom of these messages from SENG alumni, and share this booklet with your Thanksgiving wishes or as a stocking stuffer this season! Each page offers one of "25 Ways to Love the Gifted." An area for your personal message is provided on the inside front cover.
Holiday Offer: Your group can purchase this booklet in quantities of 100 or more at discount rates. Contact office@sengifted. org for more information.
Read Excerpt... Ordering information...
Audio Library News
Thanks, SENG community! The positive feedback and caring donations you shared over the past month have allowed us to expand the new SENG audio library with these new sessions. If you enjoy this new service and would like to contribute toward its expansion, please support SENG today.
Oversensitivities: How to Cope with Sensory Defensiveness Speaker: Susan Richey, MS, OTR/L Recorded at the 2007 SENG Conference
The Problem of Loneliness: Finding Friends and Fitting in When You Are Gifted Speaker: Victoria S. Ragsdell, PhD Recorded at the 2007 SENG Conference
The SENG Summit 2009: Mission Possible
Save the date! The SENG Summit 2009 will be held July 17-19, 2009 in Orlando, Florida! Speaker proposal forms are now available, and will be accepted through December 1, 2008.
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Director's Corner
Lori Comallie-Caplan
Each month a different member of the SENG team describes a personal passion in the realm of social and emotional needs of the gifted. SENG Secretary, Lori Comallie-Caplan is currently the Coordinator for Advanced Education Services (gifted services) for the Las Cruces Public Schools, Gifted Education Faculty at New Mexico State University and Independent Educational Consultant. She is also a Frasier-Talent Assessment Profile Trainer for the State of New Mexico. Over the last 25 years, Ms. Comallie-Caplan has gained public school experience in the field of gifted as teacher, counselor, educational diagnostician and program specialist. She has also worked with gifted students in the area of music, vocal performance and theater arts in the private sector. She is married to Dr. Marc Caplan, a clinical psychologist in Las Cruces and between them have two gifted sons.
SENG Supporters at the NAGC Annual Convention It was a pleasure presenting at the NAGC Annual Convention last weekend; but the highlight of the conference was meeting so many SENG supporters face-to-face in the exhibit area. Heidi Molbak, Wenda Sheard, Rosina Gallagher, Elizabeth Shaunessy, Sheri Plybon and I manned the SENG booth in the exhibit hall. During the conference, many SENG supporters stopped by to say hello and introduce themselves. I thought it would be nice to gather a few responses to What SENG Means to Me and share them with you.
"SENG website information is an important resource to share at parent teacher conferences. It helps both the parents and the teachers understand gifted students and their emotional needs." "The SENG website has been invaluable for the parents in my district. As a program administrator, the availability of SENG information has been a life saver."
"SENG provides resources for parents, teachers and friends of gifted children. I refer parents to the website on the path to understanding and helping their gifted child. SENG turns my voice into an emotional song for emotional well-being for gifted individuals and allows me to have the calm in the 'storm' of life."
"SENG is the resource for one to go to for any topic related to the true being of children who are gifted. I use their website as my first resource when I need questions answered about the problems my students bring to me. SENG's contribution to the field of gifted is invaluable."
"The support provided by SENG indicates a deep understanding of and commitment to children who exhibit gifted behaviors."
"I have facilitated the SENG Model Parent Groups for parents of gifted children. Parents felt the information was insightful and helpful in assisting their children in reaching their fullest potential."
"SENG is the best resource in our field to help parents, educators, and children accept, recognize, and celebrate the important affective aspects of being gifted 24/7."
"I really appreciate the timely information sent to me regarding my gifted students and my own children."
Obviously, SENG resonates with hope and provides a lifeline to those struggling to nurture gifted children. SENG's services and supports can be accessed at www.sengifted.org. There are also opportunities for you to support SENG in return. Please visit the SENG Programs and Funding Wish List and help SENG continue to make wishes come true.
Feature Article
Linda C. Neumann
Each month a different member of the SENG team describes a personal passion in the realm of social and emotional needs of the gifted. Past SENG Director Linda Neumann is the parent of two gifted children and the co-publisher and editor of the publication 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter.
Finding the Glory - On and Off the Playing Field On the school athletic field, it seems that everyone expects and reveres top-level performance. A common expectation is that schools will offer special programs and opportunities to help athletes develop and hone their abilities in competition. Equally common is allocating money in the education budget to athletic programs, facilities, and equipment. "The athletically gifted, in our society and in almost all cultures across the globe, are highly respected, looked up to, and even admired for their athletic gifts," says SENG board member Steven Pfeiffer, a psychologist and professor at Florida State University. "This special status comes early, to some as early as the elementary grades. The intellectually or academically gifted child, on the other hand, quite often is teased, taunted, disparaged, and treated with anything other than admiration, particularly in elementary and middle school."
Pfeiffer observed what he considers to be this striking difference in treatment between athletically and intellectually gifted students when he served as a sport psychologist for the women's soccer program at Duke University. This experience provided him with a unique opportunity to learn more about the lives of elite, young, female athletes. According to Pfeiffer, he discovered similarities as well as differences between the two groups of gifted students.
One of the most important similarities he found is that all children fortunate enough to have a gift - athletic, academic, or artistic - require the same basics to reach their potential: good teachers, hard work over an extended period of time, and often a mentor to guide them. He observes, "No matter what the gift, natural ability alone rarely, if ever, leads to full actualization of one's talent. This lesson is often a difficult one for both the highly gifted athlete and the highly gifted student to accept! Whether it's long hours spent on the playing field and in the weight room or it's long hours spent in the physics lab, one needs to put in the time and commit to sweat and hard work to accomplish big goals!"
The disparity in attitudes toward the athletically gifted and the academically gifted can be hard for both students and parents to take. Pfeiffer states, "I spend a lot of time talking about this difference with gifted youngsters that I treat in my private practice." With parents, who may feel that their academically gifted student is being short changed, Pfeiffer works to change their focus from the short term to the long term.
In the here-and-now, parents of academically gifted children are often focused on how to provide their own gifted son or daughter with a more challenging and intellectually stimulating classroom experience. "This makes a lot of sense," explains Pfeiffer, "but if the parent pushes too hard or in a way that antagonizes others, the outcome may not be beneficial for the gifted child."
To avoid this situation, Pfeiffer asks parents to think about how they would like others to describe their son or daughter in the future - to focus on the long-range goals, wishes, expectations, and fears the parents have for their gifted child. With this shift in focus, according to Pfeiffer, "parental concerns quickly take on a new, different, and, I would argue, very important slant - a slant well-worth discussing." The discussion of long-range and short-term goals becomes even more interesting and productive when teachers and gifted students join in. It can help all parties re-frame their view of a child, and it can help parents and teachers formulate a new set of long-range goals to consider as they address immediate, unmet academic needs.
Partnerships such as those that Pfeiffer's discussions help forge between parents and educators can help minimize the differences between the treatment that athletically gifted and the academically gifted students receive. But what about the glory? What can academically gifted students do that will bring them the rewards and recognition that those who excel athletically often receive? The answer is competition, and there are plenty of competitions open to those who excel in areas such as mathematics, science, geography, writing, and the arts. To start your search for competitions like these, check the resources below. Academic competition might lead not only to glory, but to scholarships as well!
Websites:
The Educator's Reference Desk: http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi/Resources/ Educational_Levels/K- 12_Education/Academic_Achievement/Academic_ Competitions.html Imagine magazine's links to academic competitions: http://cty.jhu.edu/imagine/linkb.htm Hoagies Gifted Education Page - Contests and Awards: http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/contests.htm Books:
Tallent-Runnels, M.T., & Candler-Lotven, A.C. (2007). Academic competitions for gifted students: A resource book for teachers and parents. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
For more on giftedness, see these books written or edited by Steven Pfeiffer:
Olszewski-Kubilius, P., Limburg-Weber, L., & Pfeiffer, S.I. (Eds.). (2003). Early gifts: Recognizing and nurturing children's talents. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.
Pfeiffer, S.I. (Ed.). (2008). Handbook of giftedness in children. NY: Springer Publishing.
SENG Editorial Board News Call for Articles
The SENG Editorial Board seeks articles from psychologists, teachers, parents, students, counselors, and others knowledgeable about the unique social and emotional needs of gifted children and adults. We seek articles for the monthly SENG Update, and articles for publication on our website. Book reviews, research reports, reflections, creative pieces, and other writings that address the mission of SENG are welcome.
"SENG seeks to inform gifted individuals, their families, and the professionals who work with them about the unique social and emotional needs of gifted persons. The mission of SENG is to empower caring families and communities to influence more positively and effectively the development of giftedness in those individuals entrusted to their care." -- From the SENG Mission statement
Submissions should be emailed as Word documents under the subject line "SENG Submission" to sferguson@mbc. edu by the first of each month for possible publication during the following month. All submissions, except those previously published in peer-reviewed forums, are subject to peer review and editing.
About SENG Update Articles in the SENG Update reflect the opinions of their authors and do not necessarily represent the philosophy of SENG. SENG is committed to sharing complex issues relating to the social and emotional needs of giftedness. Your comments and discussion about this issue's articles are invited at Feedback for SENG.
Thank you for sharing this information! Be sure to visit www.sengifted.org for the latest news on The SENG Summit.
Suzanne O’Boyle SENG Programs and Office Manager PO Box 488 Poughquag, NY 12570 845-979-5054 Office@sengifted.org www.sengifted.org