This web site contains many resources for Talented and Gifted
children, their parents, and educators in Pennsylvania. There is an excellent Links Section as well as outstanding Articles and Publications available, along with info about membership, events, and legislative activities.
Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education (PAGE)
This MEGA site contains links to all known online gifted resources,
enrichment programs, talent searches, summer programs, gifted mailing lists and early acceptance programs as well as contacts for many local gifted associations and government programs.
Includes the latest research on parenting and education (including academic acceleration or enrichment, home schooling, traditional programs, the highly gifted, etc.)
This page of resources is provided by Mensa in Georgia and includes links to foundations, educational programs, publishers and suppliers of materials for the gifted, etc.
Check out the fine array of educational books, software and games; fill out the FREE Learning Style Survey to find out how your child learns best; explore the Parent Resource Center, which includes activities, tips and a collection of SmarterSites, providing materials for Advanced Students, etc. [Orders are processed VERY quickly!!]
Carnegie Mellon Institute for Talented Elementary Students
(C-MITES) offers programs (commuter only, not sleep-over) at many sites throughout Pennsylvania for students completing grades 3-7. Priority is given to students who have taken the EXPLORE test through the C-MITES office. Site includes info about testing and programs; other resources and information, as well as an online newsletter, are also provided.
.... provides information about his teaching materials and games as well as other resources to enhance creativity and lateral thinking ability. If you are familiar with de Bono's work, you'll find all those wonderful resources described here -- you might even find something NEW!!!! There are also pre-seminar materials at the deBono Institute (finding your way around the site is an interesting lateral thinking puzzle in itself!!).
This article by Anthony J. Le Storti (Director, Center for Creative Studies, Gwynedd-Mercy College) focuses on ways to encourage the development of good thinking skills, both creative and critical. It includes specific suggestions to:
prompt creative, divergent thinking
encourage critical, analytical thinking
establish a supportive learning environment
develop Metacognition (plan, monitor and evaluate how we think)
Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education [reprinted from a PAGE Bulletin]
People of all ages have the potential to learn, with some learning faster than others. This section of the Faculty Development site at Honolulu Community College features links to articles and resources, including:
Learning Assumptions of educational philosophy
Three Learning Domains
Learning Style Inventory
In many respects, gifted children are more similar to adult learners than to their age-peers. Astute educators will find that many of the Principles of Adult Learning will be quite applicable with the gifted learner, regardless of chronological age.
Jerry Cerny / The Faculty Development Committee at Honolulu Community College
A very high percentage of gifted children also manifest some sort of LD, and many LD children are gifted in some area. These articles, by Linda Kreger Silverman, Ph.D. of the Gifted Development Center, help clarify the issues in assessing and effectively working with these paradoxical children who often are not identified until years of educational neglect have passed. Includes:
The Foreign Language Teacher's Guide to Learning Disabilities would be useful to any educator, parent, etc. who wants information about effective techniques for use with a variety of learners. Sections include:
Comprehensive article [P. Kupperman;
S. Bligh; K. Barouski] detailing this syndrome (typified by children who learned to read before the age of 5 with little or no formal training, but who have language disorders and display difficulty in social relationships).
Includes:
Description of the hyperlexic child
Diagnostic methods useful in identifying hyperlexia
Although the communication and social skills of hyperlexic children typically improve dramatically by the time they reach "school age", these children still face difficulties in their
academic and social lives.
This article by James T. Webb and Diane Latimer provides information showing the similarities in behavior and hence the difficulty in diagnosing ADD or ADHD in the gifted population. (Includes references.)
ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education (ERIC Digest #522).
A careful diagnostic evaluation is especially important when dealing with what appears to be attention-deficit disorder in gifted individuals. This paper by Sandra Scheinbaum, Ph.D. presents a thorough discussion of a process called differential diagnosis which is used to differentiate ADD or ADHD from other conditions.
Susan Baum's 1990 article includes info about the difficulties in identification as well as conflicting quidelines, which in some cases preclude a dual diagnosis. Provides curricular guidelines to assist professionals in developing programs that will meet the needs of these students.
ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education (ERIC Digest #E479)
This article by Thom Hartmann clearly explains why our schools so frequently misdiagnose gifted kids as having ADD/ADHD, why children who are both gifted and ADD are almost always labeled as ADD while their giftedness is ignored, and why GT/ADD students hit a crisis point in secondary school because they lack basic organizational strategies and study skills . The author also challenges the the educational establishment to fund programs directed toward our best and brightest students.
Article details WHY individuals and organizations have such difficulty realizing that these apparent opposites CAN (and do) co-exist, describes appropriate remediation, and provides extensive references.
Herrnstein and Murray's controversial book, The Bell
Curve advocates a new form of Darwinistic elitism. Read an
article by (Mensan) Al Siebert, Ph.D. for a different viewpoint and
additional info about what IQ is (and is NOT).
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