1. MANAGING AND CHALLENGING THE GIFTED CHILD Michael N. Nelson, Ph.D. Director, Section of Pediatric Psychology Rush Children’s Hospital 312-942-6656

2. Can you tell by looking?

4. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791)

6. Charles Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882)

8. Winston Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965)

10. Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955)

11. Early Failure of the Famous Illingworth, R. Pediatrician , 1986, 13 , 70-73

12. Strengths predict the future, not weaknesses Illingworth (1986)

14. Bill Gates (born October 28, 1955)

15. “ When I was in the seventh grade, I was in an advanced math class. And in my math teacher's classroom at the junior high school I went to, they got the first teletype terminal at the school. And this was of course before personal computers, and basically you could like write a program and send it off to a big mainframe -- the answer would come back. And I became kind of, you know, fascinated with this idea of a computing machine. I thought that was pretty cool, so I would sort of program this teletype terminal and sort of learned all I could about computers.”

16. (born February 23, 1965) at age 27, the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company in history

17. Michael Dell (born February 23, 1965) at age 27, the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company in history

18. "God give them wisdom that have it; and those that are fools, let them use their talents." Shakespeare: Twelfth Night

19. “ The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” Shakespeare: As You Like It

22. Families, the essential context for gifts and talents Freeman, J. (2000), in K.A. Heller, F.J. Monks, R. Sternberg & R. Subotnik, International Handbook of Research and Development of Giftedness and Talent . Oxford: Pergamon Press. (pp. 573-585)

23. Freeman, J. (2000) The higher the children's IQ scores, especially over IQ 130, the better the quality of their educational support, measured in terms of reported verbal interactions and activities with parents, number of books and musical instruments in the home etc. In a detailed review of influences on the development of children’s IQ, Slater (1995) concluded that the best predictor of all is parents’ IQ, education and socioeconomic status.

24. Individual differences in infancy and later IQ Slater, A. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry , 1995, 36 , 69-112 .

26. Reward Good Poor Effort Good Poor +++ --- + - + -

27. Reward Good Poor Effort Good Poor +++ --- + - + - Too many gifted

28. If the relationship between effort and reward is compromised, the result can be a reduction of motivation (the lazy gifted child)

29. The challenge for educators and parents is to cooperatively ensure that realistic goals are set that are difficult, but within reach

30. Educators will find a way to differentiate the curriculum effectively, but parents must struggle with unequal requirements for their uniquely different children (a lack of “fairness” that will be noticed)

31. IQ of 156 IQ of ???

32. The normal curve of ability

35. There is tremendous diversity within the gifted and talented population

37. Gifted education requires differentiation of the curriculum just like regular education—individual differences must be respected and dealt with skillfully while maintaining the integrity of the overall curriculum

38. “ Differentiation for Gifted Children: It’s All About Trust” (i.e., trustworthy behavior) Dorothy Knopper and Carol Fertig Illinois Association for Gifted Children Journal , 2005, 6–8

39. “ Because of the three different levels of ability within this high-level math class, Mr. Nelson needed to decide when he would include all of his students in instruction and how he would modify assignments to fit the variety of needs. He wanted to engage all the students in meaningful learning. He realized that everyone didn’t need to be doing the exact same thing at the same time. He saw that one possible option would be to include everyone in the general instruction piece, then split the class into three sections for the practice work. The majority of the students could do the standard practice work provided with the lesson. Those who already understand the concept could be given enrichment activities, preferably using that concept at a higher level…students who were struggling could meet with Mr. Nelson for reinforcement.”

41. Implication: Gifted education is not “easier” because the classroom is filled with good learners

42. The first step on the educational ladder—school readiness

45. How do you know a child is not “school ready?”

52. The child is ready. Now What?

54. Avery Coonley School Mission The Avery Coonley School is an independent school whose mission is to provide a learning environment that is appropriate both for academically bright and gifted children who are motivated to learn and have demonstrated the potential for the scholastic achievement necessary to succeed in a challenging academic program, in order that they may become positive, productive, and respectful members of society

55. Avery Coonley School Philosophy We believe that the joy and excitement of learning must begin early in life. We place a high premium on developing the desire in our students to become critical thinkers and independent, life-long learners. We assist our students in realizing their intellectual, emotional, social, creative, and physical potential by promoting academic achievement, character development, self-reliance, self-confidence, independent thought, and personal fitness.

56. Avery Coonley School Philosophy We recognize and are sensitive to different learning styles of gifted children. Within a traditional structure, we provide acceleration and enrichment, and foster a supportive atmosphere that provides opportunities for creativity, problem-solving, and risk-taking. We believe that diversity is the foundation for a strong, competent, and compassionate community. Therefore, we seek racial, religious, economic, and cultural diversity in our student body, faculty, and staff.

57. Avery Coonley School Philosophy We strive to build a community that encourages understanding and mutual respect and nurtures appreciation of the individual, civility, gratitude, honesty, kindness and consideration, responsibility, and volunteerism. (These must be the shared philosophy and goals of both educators and parents)

58. Why is a selective magnet school superior to clustering in a mainstream school?

59. Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom: Strategies and Techniques Every Teacher Can Use to Meet the Academic Needs of the Gifted and Talented Susan Winebrenner (edited by Pamela Espeland) Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing, 2001

69. Einstein’s office and desk at Princeton

75. "The root of excellence is perfectionism. It is the driving force in the personality that propels the individual toward higher and higher goals. There is a strong correlation between perfectionism and giftedness. I have yet to meet a gifted person who wasn’t perfectionistic in some way." Linda Kreger Silverman, Ph.D.

76. Perfectionism in children: associations with depression, anxiety, and anger Paul L. Hewitt, Carmen F. Caeliana, Gordon L. Flett, Simon B. Sherry, Lois Collins and Carol A. Flynn, Personality and Individual Differences , 2002, 32 , 1049-1061

78. E. S. Gollin, Developmental studies of visual recognition of incomplete objects. Perceptual and Motor Skills , 1960, 11 , 289-298 “ The main objective of his study was to investigate the performance of humans in recognizing objects with incomplete contours as a function of developmental characteristics, such as mental and chronological age and intelligence quotient.” (Ghosh and Petkov, 2005)

79. Incomplete Contour Representations and Shape Descriptors: ICR Test Studies Anarta Ghosh and Nicolai Petkov Institute of Mathematics and Computing Science, University of Groningen P.O.Box. 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands In M. De Gregorio et al. (Eds.): BVAI 2005, LNCS 3704, pp. 416–425, 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005

87. Appendix

89. Genius transforms the unique inspiration of the individual into common knowledge of humanity

90. The first and last thing demanded of genius is the love of truth Goethe

91. Wisdom, intelligence, and creativity synthesized (Cambridge University Press, 2003) Robert J. Sternberg Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Psychology at Tufts University Author of over 1,100 articles, chapters, and books

92. Creativity tied to mental illness William J. Cromie Harvard University Gazette October 23, 2003 Whether IQ tests are the best way to measure intelligence is debatable, but some studies do show a correlation between high IQ and creativity. Such studies conclude that the two increase together up to a score of 120. Beyond that level, little increase in creativity has been found. (The average IQ score of the general population is 100.) "We didn't find this…We saw creativity (and low levels of latent inhibition) increase as IQs climb to 130 (the average score of Harvard students), and even up to 150."

93. Sex Differences in the Functional Organization of the Brain for Language Shaywitz, B.A., Shaywitz, S.E., Pugh, K.R., Constable, R.T., et al. Nature , 1995, 373 , 607-609

94. Sex Differences in Language--PET Scans

95. Brain Sex. The Real Difference Between Men and Women Moir, A., & Jessel, D. New York: Dell Publishing, Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, 1991

96. Coren, S. The Left-Hander Syndrome . New York: Vintage (Random House), 1993