SENG Online Mini Conference: Thriving in the New Normal

SENG is thrilled to bring the experience of our annual conference to a worldwide gifted, talented, and twice-exceptional community! Join SENG’s December Online Mini Conference for two dynamic days packed with valuable speaker sessions, a special keynote presentation from SENG President Dr. Kristina Henry Collins, and of course, making new connections and friendships! Each day includes unique sessions featuring renowned presenters, and will cover a range of topics focused on the social and emotional needs of the gifted community.

Cost: For full conference registration, the cost is $95 for annual members, and $119 for non-members and non-annual members.  For one day only registrations (Friday or Saturday), the cost is $69 for annual members, and $99 for non-members and non-annual members. To receive the membership coupon code, email Trent.Cash@sengifted.org.

Schedule: (All times in Eastern)

Friday, December 10, 2021

9:45-10:00 AM Welcome/Opening Remarks (Michael Postma)

10:00-11:30 AM

Session One: Emily Kircher-Morris

Helping Gifted Kids Manage "All the Feels"

Processing and managing emotions is hard for even the most level-headed of us. For gifted and twice-exceptional kids and teens, dealing with "all the feels" can be exhausting. The skills needed to develop emotional regulation can be developed over time with guidance and compassion from parents and educators. Through stories about intense gifted kids and examples of ways to help them, Emily shares ideas to help our kids who are "a little bit extra" find healthy ways to manage their emotions.

12:00-1:30 PM

Session One: Gail Post

College planning tips for families of gifted and twice-exceptional children: Start early; plan wisely

Finding a college that provides the best academic and social/emotional "fit" is especially critical for gifted and twice-exceptional students. Yet, many families are overwhelmed with the planning process and often regret having relied solely on overworked guidance counselors to shepherd their child along this journey. It is essential to actively support and guide your child in their choices throughout high school and through the college application process. This workshop will explore college planning tips and potential pitfalls, with the goal of successfully easing the transition for your gifted or twice-exceptional child.

Session Two: Julie Skolnick

The What, Why and How of Executive Functioning for Gifted and 2e Students

Executive Functions are commonly thought of as a skill set needed to ‘get things done.’ In fact, Executive Functions are the overarching skill set that allow a person to not only initiate and complete tasks (execute), but also directly affect a person’s ability to regulate mood and behavior. Without understanding Executive Functioning skills and the effect on gifted/2e children, it is nearly impossible to adequately and effectively teach these skills. In this presentation, 2e expert, Julie Skolnick, M.A., J.D., will address the what, why and how of Executive Functioning, utilizing strength based strategies for the classroom and home.

Presentation Goals:

Educate teachers and parents about:

· Executive Functioning (EF) skills,

· How EF challenges present in gifted/2e students,

· Why EF challenges present in gifted/2e students, and

· Best practices for addressing executive functioning challenges in the classroom and the home.

Session Three: Gordon Smith

Improv for Gifted Adults: An experiential Playshop

DESCRIPTION - Laugh, connect, and play. Improv games offer gifted adults a mirroring experience like no other. Through this immersion into Improv's culture of "Yes, and..." you'll feel support and belonging. This 'Playshop' is for people who want to experience Improv's unique path to ease, community, transcending perfectionism, coming into the moment, and accessing intuitive creativity. We'll start playing right away, and you'll come away from the experience with new, fun tools for yourself and your families to relate in new ways.

2:00-3:30 PM

Session One: Cindy Hansen

When Lazy Doesn’t Make Sense: The Impact of Executive Functions on Gifted Families

Difficulty starting a task; staying focused on school tasks; and great ideas without follow-through; are symptoms of executive functioning Often our brightest students are labeled “lazy” and begin to doubt their abilities when their production lags.  Gifted students who have poor executive functions but test within the state-mandated norms are often not recognized as needing specialized assistance, yet these are often underachievers who are most at risk.  This presentation describes current research about the role of executive function delays and how they may manifest in our students with high potential.

Session Two: Terry Friedrichs

Nothing about Us, Without Us    Adult disability activists’ cry “Nothing about Us, Without Us” (Charlton, 1998), expressing activists’ rights to take part in decisions that determine their fate, is increasingly articulated by 2e students. Twice-exceptional teens have the right to partake in Individual Educational Plan meetings (Wright & Wright, 2009) and should be involved in gifted program planning (Berger, 2014). Such inclusion can result in better academic, social, and psychological growth (Bade & Neumann, 2016). This session reviews 20 years of practitioner literature on 2e students’ human and (where applicable) legal rights to planning inclusion. It also explains advantages to 2e students to be included and various techniques by which they can effectively self-advocate.

Session Three: Nurseli Tamer

What happens on the Internet remains on the Internet

Internet activity is permanent. Sir Ken Robinson (Robinson K., 2011) says “Technology is in a state of common relationship with the other elements of the universe, much like the other parts of life. Life and universe keep on changing”. Similar to the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, “No man ever steps in the same river twice”. Today we live in a world of technology and have to deal with hybrid education system. Gifted and talented children are at a higher risk for cyberbullying and need help preventing it. Parental and educational support is necessary have an important role to play in this regard. We will discuss staying safe on the internet and preventing cyberbullying with Netiquette.

4:00-5:30 PM

Session One: Richard Cash

Getting Out of the Quagmire: A Roadmap for Redirecting Underachievers and Selective Producers

Students don’t naturally underachieve. It is often through misguided and unchallenging learning experiences that lead them to underperform or selectively produce. It may also develop from a learning difference. Helping students develop constructive attitudes towards personal growth has a tremendous effect on achievement. This session will show you how to assist students in applying self-regulating strategies that can increase self-esteem, develop greater self-efficacy and produce a positive self-image

Session Two: Yafa Crane Luria

When your Gifted Child/Teen stops blooming: Addressing the pitfalls of Growing up Gifted

What happens when all the brilliant parenting tips and strategies stop working, or only work periodically? How can a parent address their child's needs when the daily routine breaks down? There is, sadly, a bleak side to having an extra-powerful brain, but it doesn't have to permanently immobilize your Gifted child or anyone else in your family. Learning to work your way through the tangle of emotions gives your child both freedom and skills for continued mental health management and nurturing.

Session Three: Cam Werley-Gonzales

Intuitive Unschooling: What it IS (...& is not)

Learning is innate, it’s part of how we are wired as human beings. And thus, we are all learning, all the time. From the moment we are born to the time of our passing, we are learning and expanding and growing. Formal education (as it exists currently, especially K-12) can have a part in our journeys, but it certainly is not necessary. And actually, sometimes (in my experience, often), it actually inhibits learning. How? It gets in the way of our natural development by imposing prescribed timelines and benchmarks, assessments and markers that actually have no basis in authentic human development; rather they are created by committees across the country based on a progression of curriculum, a curriculum that at best serves 40% of children in the U.S., and not even optimally. It’s always been helpful for me to remember that typical school as we know it in the U.S. currently, was primarily created as a place for children to be while their parents worked, not as a place that cultivates human curiosity and innovation. Of course, there are schools that break the mold, but these are rare (and in my opinion, still shackled by the overarching system and its impositions).

Self-directed learning is such a gift to the human spirit. It gives us--as families--the freedom to figure it all out. To try things and to change course, to breakthrough and break down, and to do what our purpose is in this world: to have a most beautiful experience that is wildly fulfilling in every single moment--this is LEARNING.

Intuitive learning is aligned learning; and aligned learning is bliss in a bottle, quite literally. It’s playful and joyful. It’s potent medicine. Anxiety. Depression. They melt away so ...damn ...easily. It’s also the best source of *motivation* that has ever existed; for when our dreams meet our reality, learning is intoxicating and effortless.

In this session, I will share the practical “how tos” of transitioning to fully aligned intuitive unschooling; what it actually means and looks like coming out of a variety of educational contexts.

Saturday, December 11, 2021

10:00-11:30 AM

Session One: Kristina Collins

Building Local Networks and Systems of Support to Guide Gifted Individuals    Utilizing SENG’s mission and vision statements as a framework, this keynote will offer strategies for parents, educators, and clinicians to build local networks and systems of support responsive to the social and emotional needs of the student and cultural values of the community. Participants will be guided through a reflective process for fostering partnerships and team-based interventions.

12:00-1:30 PM

Session One: Amy Estersohn

College Possibilities for Unusual Students

A lot of parents of unusual (gifted, twice exceptional, neurodiverse) college-bound teens assume that there is an ultimate, all-purpose list of "good schools" for these students.  While, sadly, no such list exists, this session will provide in-depth profiles of several colleges as well as a "do-it-yourself" guide for a productive college search.

Session Two: Christine Turo-Shields

The Rocket Science of Raising, Teaching & Working with Gifted Kids

Gifted children can be both “delightful and draining.” They are special needs kids on the other end of the IQ spectrum. Asynchrony rules their lives, and challenges their parents’ and teachers’ lives!

They may have the vocabulary of a 16 year old, the passion for world peace like a 34 year old, and then meltdowns and outbursts like a 2 year old... all at a ripe young chronological age of maybe 6 or 7. It’s hard to tell them to “act their age” because their age is so variable.  Learn how to best deal with some of the more difficult parts of giftedness (i.e. brain lock, transition, asynchrony, over-excitabilities, anxiety, and perfectionism).  Resources for gifted kids are plentiful... if you know where to look and know what you’re looking for. Add to your toolbox of resources from acceleration and testing options to online support for educators, families and GT kids, local groups and many more.

2:00-3:30 PM

Session One: Susan Jackson

The Role of Anxiety in the Lives of Gifted Adults: Origins, Manifestations, and Amelioration

Exceptionally bright human beings are infinitely more than the sum of their complex intellects and remarkable talents. Gifted adults have the inborn capacity for extraordinary cognitive, affective, physical, and intuitive functioning. They have a core substrate of advanced and accelerated functions within the brain which is enhanced or inhibited by their interface in the environment. Due to their innate differences from the norm, there may be a gross lack of fit and absent or inadequate opportunities for them to develop holistically, without injury. Yet, it is every gifted person’s birthright to live a fully actuated “switched-on” life. We will examine guiding principles, habits, mindset, and skills that contribute to a life well-lived for this extraordinary populace. Central to this discussion will be recognizing the complex role of anxiety in their lived experiences. Whenever we explain, mediate perception, or directly guide the gifted adult, we must be mindful of their uncommon core traits and anxiety’s ubiquitous (and often masked) role in their experiences. We will explore fostering creativity, courage, focus, balance, and resilience to help our gifted adults thrive and not just merely survive. Drawing from research in neuroscience, psychology of the gifted, extensive clinical data, and research and conceptualizations from the social sciences, the material presented here is explicitly fine-tuned for gifted adults.

Session Two: Michele Kane

Gifted Adults and The Power of Play:  Shifting the Narrative and Opening Possibilities

Stress? Anxiety? Overwhelm? Trauma-informed?  It seems as if everywhere you turn there is an emphasis on the stressors of modern life in these difficult and complex times.  For gifted adults who are perceptive, intense, sensitive, and perfectionistic then inner and outer challenges are magnified.  The purpose of this session seeks to address a low-cost, effective, and evidence-based solution that can be readily implemented—revisiting the power of play.  Playful, childlike (not childish), creative, and curious are the hallmarks of gifted adults who are on the path of self-actualization.  Join in the fun as we explore the notion of deep play as described by Diane Ackerman, “When one enters the realm of deep play, the sacred playground where only the present moment matters, one’s history and future vanish. One doesn’t remember one’s past, needs, expectations, worries, real or imaginary sins. The deep-play world is fresh, wholly absorbing, and full of its own unique wisdom and demands”.

4:00-5:30 PM

Session One: Susan Daniels & Nicole Tetreault

The Neuroscience of Creativity, Play and Friendship Everyday

Neuroscience is illuminating that creativity and connection are key elements for longevity and living meaningful life. Creativity is an innate birthright and it builds a better society and world. Daily acts of creativity and play stem from the spirit of exploration like painting, baking cupcakes, playing music, writing, dancing, even speaking in a mindful manner to defuse an argument, or gardening. Gifted people are naturally highly creative which revolves around their unique brain wiring and processing of their internal and external worlds. Gifted creatives can at times feel isolated and need to connect other creatives and develop friendships. In this session connect with Dr. Susan Daniels and Dr. Nicole Tetreault and explore your creative path and ways to develop and nurture your friendships.

Session Two: Otto Siegel

POP – The Power of Play for Parents: When talking just isn’t enough

We are born with an innate ability and desire to play.

Play is the first language we use, long before we speak our native language. What if you could use this language as a powerful communication tool, especially in situations when talking just isn’t enough?

Research by play experts like Stuart Brown show clear evidence:

• Play connects instantly and      across generations
• Play builds creativity, joy      and trust.
• Play nurtures emotional      health.
• Play shapes the brain
• Play opens imagination
• Play invigorates the soul

How ready are you to rediscover this powerful behavior tool for yourself to minimize daily stress, avoid unnecessary confrontations and increase your peace of mind?

Join us for a joyful interactive presentation to experience POP in action with practical behavior tools you can apply immediately with your family.

CLOSING REMARKS

Thank you for Coming!

Our Speakers:

Dr. Richard M. Cash is an award-winning educator who has worked in the field of education for more than 30 years. His range of experience includes teaching, curriculum coordination, and program administration. Currently, he is an internationally recognized education consultant (www.nrichconsulting.com). His consulting work has taken him throughout the United States, and internationally. Richard has a doctorate in Educational Leadership, a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction, a bachelor’s degree in Education, and a bachelor’s degree in Theater. His areas of expertise are educational programming, rigorous and challenging curriculum design, differentiated instruction, 21stcentury skills, brain-compatible classrooms, gifted & talented education, and self-regulated learning. Dr. Cash authored the books Advancing Differentiation: Thinking and Learning for the 21stCentury; Differentiation for Gifted Learners: Going Beyond the Basics (co-author Diane Heacox); and Self-Regulation in the Classroom: Helping Students Learn How to Learn.

Richard lives in Minneapolis, MN, and Palm Springs, CA, USA.

Dr. Cash may be reached at:

www.nrichconsulting.com

nrichconsulting@msn.com

Dr. Kristina Collins is a graduate of the The University of Georgia, where she earned a Ph.D. in educational psychology. She also holds an Ed.S. in educational psychology from the The University of Georgia, a M.S.Ed. in mathematics from Jacksonville State University, a B.S. in engineering from the University of Alabama, and a Military Science diploma in cryptology from the United States Navy. Dr. Collins has many years of experience with STEM teaching and leading in Title I middle schools and high schools. Her professional certifications include technology education, AP computer science, and educational leadership/administration. At Texas State University, she teaches courses related to talent development and gifted education.

Dr. Susan Daniels is co-founder and Educational Director of the Summit Center as well as Professor Emerita of Educational Psychology and Counseling at California State University – San Bernardino. At the Summit Center, Dr. Daniels provides Personality, Creativity, and Learning Profile (PCLP) plans for children and adolescents as part of the Gifted Comprehensive and Gifted Complex Assessments. Using the Murphy-Meisgeier Type Indicator and the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking – among other assessments – she analyses and synthesizes the data for each individual, making recommendations for appropriate academic differentiation, enrichment, acceleration, and more.  Dr. Daniels is an internationally recognized expert in the field of gifted education and creativity, with numerous publications and presentations at educational and psychological conferences. She specializes in working with gifted, creative, and 2e children and youth; the social and emotional development of gifted children and adolescents; intensity and sensitivity of gifted individuals across the lifespan; and the development of creative potential. She is also available for consultation with families and schools. Dr. Daniels is co-author of Raising Creative Kids (Gifted Unlimited, 2013), and co-editor and co-author of Living with Intensity (Gifted Unlimited, 2008). Her most recent book, Visual Learning and Teaching: An Essential Guide for Educators K-8, was published in 2018 by Free Spirit Publishing

Amy Estersohn is an educator and college adviser.  Her passion is working with so-called stubborn, passionate, sensitive, and intuitive souls towards their personal and professional goals. (Hey, that rhymed!) Learn more about Amy at www.leadwithtalents.com

Terry Friedrichs hold a Ph. D. in gifted education and special education and a Ed. D. In advocacy and organizing for underrepresented students. He has advocated for 2e students — including himself — for 45 years. He has effectively used academic and social advocacy and self-advocacy to provide additional opportunities for gifted children and adults with various disabilities.

Cynthia Z. Hansen, M.Ed., ET/P, is an Educational Therapist and Twice-Exceptional Consultant facilitating the growth of gifted and creative individuals with executive function delays, ADHD, dyslexia, and complex learning profiles using a strength-based, whole-child approach.  Promoting awareness of the strengths of these learners, Ms. Hansen leads parent and professional development workshops about cognitively diverse learners. She has been a California certificated teacher for over 30 years and serves as President of the Tri-County GATE Council in Southern California. Ms. Hansen is pursuing her doctorate in Cognitively Diverse Learners and Twice-Exceptionality at Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education.

P. Susan Jackson is a leading expert in the gifted, specializing in the exceptionally and profoundly gifted. She is a researcher, author, filmmaker, consultant, and parent. Her clinical work spans 25 years, comprising over 60,000 hours of psychotherapy wholly with this exceptional population. She is the author of numerous articles and chapters in gifted education literature and consults and speaks worldwide. Her ‘Integral Practice for the Gifted model addresses multiple aspects of human functioning-including cognitive, emotional, spiritual, physical, and talent-based dimensions – and in 2021, she received the ‘Mental Health Practitioner of the Year Award’ (conferred by the Supporting the Emotional Needs of Gifted (SENG) Organization. In addition, in 2020, she was chosen as a ‘Person to Watch’ for her exemplary work supporting the Neurodivergent, presented by the international 2-e-Newsletter organization.

Michele Kane, Ed.D., is Professor Emerita in Special Education from Northeastern Illinois University, where she coordinated the Master of Arts in Gifted Education program for over a decade. Beginning her career as a parent, Michele has additionally served the gifted community as an educator, leader, author, and counselor. She has been a passionate advocate for enhancing well-being for gifted people across the lifespan for more than forty years.

Emily Kircher-Morris, M.A., M.Ed., LPC, inspired by her own experiences as a twice-exceptional person, is dedicated to destigmatizing neurodiversity and supporting gifted and 2e people of all ages. She started her career in education and is now in private practice near St. Louis, Missouri as a licensed professional counselor, where she specializes in supporting gifted, twice-exceptional, and neurodivergent kids and adults (and their families).  Emily is the author of two books related to the development of children and teens who are neurodivergent and cognitively gifted. Teaching Twice-Exceptional Learners in Today's Classroom (Free Spirit Publishing, 2021) focuses on supporting 2e learners in the educational setting, and the forthcoming Raising Twice-Exceptional Children: A Handbook for Parents of Neurodivergent Gifted Kids (Routledge, 01/22) is a guide for parents navigating the world of twice-exceptionality.

Yafa Crane Luria, MA, MS, MEd specializes in helping ADHD families who have tried nearly everything and are still frustrated and confused by their child’s or teen’s Blocked but Brilliant brain. An ADHD advocate since 1984, Yafa is a 35-year veteran teacher and school counselor, a Positive Discipline trainer, and the author of the Mom’s Choice Award®-Winning book: How To Train Your Parents in 6 ½ Days and the Amazon Kindle Best Seller: Getting Schooled: 102 Practical Tips for Parents, Teachers, Counselors, and Students about Living and Learning with ADHD. Her most recent book, “Six-Word Lessons for Parenting Your Child with ADHD, takes a wholly positive approach to neurodivergence and explains ADHD to teachers, skeptical relatives, and to the kids themselves. During her career as an educator, Yafa has worked with Gifted and learning challenged kids and teens (sometimes the same group), as well as with those who have challenges that often appear with ADHD:  Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, ODD, Sensory Processing Disorder, and High-Functioning Autism.

Yafa was one of the first adults to be diagnosed with ADHD (then called “Minimal Brain Dysfunction”), back in 1980 when it was assumed that people grow out of ADHD once they hit adulthood. She has Combined Type ADHD.

Yafa can be reached at her website: BlockedtoBrilliant.com

Gail Post, Ph.D. is a Clinical Psychologist, parenting coach, workshop leader, and writer. In clinical practice for over 35 years, she provides psychotherapy in the Philadelphia area with a focus on the needs of the intellectually and musically gifted; consultation with educators and psychotherapists; and parent coaching throughout the U.S. and Canada. Dr. Post served as co-chair of a gifted parents advocacy group when her children were in school, and continues to advocate through workshops with schools and parenting groups. Her writing includes online articles, several book chapters, plans for an upcoming book, and a long-standing blog, Gifted Challenges. You can follow her at www.giftedchallenges.com, https://www.facebook.com/GiftedChallenges/ and https://twitter.com/giftedchlnges, or find out more at https://www.gailpost.com

Otto Siegel, M.Ed., MCC is The Genius Coach with his own company Genius Coaching in Scottsdale. He supports parents of bright and sensitive children to decode and activate their innate genius to succeed at school and in life. His unique combination of professional coaching and the power of play creates openness and willingness to upgrade outdated behavior in children, young adults and adults. Genius Coaching has been serving clients inside and outside the US since 2003. As a frequent public speaker, Otto is associated with the AZ Association for Gifted and Talented (AAGT), the International Coach Federation ICF and SENG.

Julie Skolnick, M.A., J.D., Founder of With Understanding Comes Calm, LLC, passionately guides parents of gifted and distractible children, mentors 2e adults, trains educators and advises professionals on how to bring out the best and raise self-confidence in their 2e students and clients. Julie serves as Secretary to the Maryland Superintendent’s Gifted and Talented Advisory Council, is an advisor for the Masters of Education Program for the Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity, is the Maryland liaison for Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG), is a Committee member for the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) and serves as an advisor to “The G Word” feature documentary currently in production.

Julie produces Let’s Talk 2e! virtual conferences, hosts the Let’s Talk 2e! Parent Empowerment Series, maintains the free listing service, 2eResources.com, and publishes “Gifted & Distractible,” a free monthly newsletter.

A frequent speaker and prolific writer, Julie is also the mother of three twice exceptional children who keep her on her toes and uproariously laughing.

Subscribe to “Gifted & Distractible” monthly newsletter at www.WithUnderstandingComesCalm.com, find resources at www.2eResources.com and learn more about our conferences and parent series at www.LetsTalk2e.com. Follow Julie on social media: Facebook: WithUnderstandingComesCalm, Let’s Talk 2e – Parents, Let’s Talk 2e – Teachers’ Lounge, Instagram: @LetsTalk2e, Twitter: @JulieSkolnick, LinkedIn: Julie Rosenbaum Skolnick, and YouTube: Let’s Talk 2e.

Nurseli Tamer is an educator, author, and public speaker on topics such as "Digital Citizenship," "Netiquette: Internet Ethics," and "Living with Gifted Kids." In her seminars, she focuses on the importance of family members playing an active role in the development of their children. While she continues to run SMPG's and coaching parents with the core belief of empowering families in family awareness, her heart and soul are in family awareness. Her motto is, Educate Moms to educate the future.”.

Nurseli completed her Master's of Education at Bahçeşehir University Faculty of Educational Sciences in 2014. The story behind SENG's inception continues to inspire Nurseli to this day.

Most recently, Nurseli is working on the SENG CAFE Project, focusing on the emotional and interpersonal conflicts of gifted adults.

In December 2020, her first book was published in Turkey, "Internet Doesn't Keep Secrets", which explores cyberbullying and netiquette.

Dr. Nicole Tetreault is a compassionate neuroscientist, author, meditation teacher, and international speaker on topics of neurodiversity, neurodevelopment, creativity, mental health, and wellness. Her book, Insight into a Bright Mind ,explores groundbreaking research examining the experiences of unique, creative, and intense brains while advocating for new directions of human diversity and neurodiversity. Nicole is the founder of Awesome Neuroscience and translates the most promising neuroscience and positive psychology for people to live their best life. She is Faculty at Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education. Nicole leads a new generation of meditation practices by fusing novel discoveries in neuroscience with the ancient art of meditation. As recipient of the Milton Career Exploration Prize from Caltech, she founded the novel non-profit Beyond the Cell, a transformative program to rehabilitate incarcerated women through guided meditation, neuroscience, literature, and expressive writing. Nicole believes we have the ability to wire our minds for positive plasticity through compassion and wisdom and live the life we dream. For more about Nicole, please visit nicoletetreault.com and beyondthecell.org.

Christine Turo-Shields, LCSW, LCAC is an EMDR certified therapist and has a personal and professional passion of working in the world of the gifted. . . raising two 2e children (one gifted and one profoundly gifted). She is the co-owner of Kenosis Counseling Center and has worked with a plethora of gifted children, teen, and adults, and she currently facilitates gifted women’s groups. She knows the blessings and burdens of the minds of our brightest! With specialty in the GT/HA world, she consults with school districts on case consultations regarding gifted students as well as conducts and coordinates trainings and presentations for educators and parents. She coaches gifted parents, introducing them resources which will aid in navigating their children’s world emotionally, socially and behaviorally.Christine has been an integral part in the development of the Gifted Family Program for Central Indiana Mensa – a program so successful that it won the American Mensa Gifted Children Program Award for 2010. Her article, "The Rocket Science of Raising Gifted Kids" has been published in the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) newsletter, and she has been a presenter at the NAGC and SENG national conferences, most notably on trauma healing and anxiety management among gifted individuals. She has co-facilitated SENG 2e online parent groups, and is proud to have been named as SENG State Liaison for Indiana. Additionally, she has served as a member of the Behavior Team with PGR (Profoundly Gifted Retreat) as well as a webinar facilitator for the Davidson Institute.

Cam Werley-Gonzales is the owner of The Cambria Institute, a company that celebrates gifted learning and living that is fully out of the (proverbial) education box. With over 25 years as an expert educator, it is Cam’s deepest conviction that while gifted learners can engage with some success in typical schools, they are optimally served by alternate learning pathways, most notably homeschooling and unschooling. The Cambria Institute supports gifted families to embody their giftedness in all areas of their lives; the truth is, we get to learn, friend, work, love, parent, hobby, and enjoy all the things that come along with this intense and massively phenomenal gifted life with ease and alignment. Uniquely, each in our own way.