| Giftedness & Misdiagnosis | Edward R. Amend Psy.D., is a Clinical Psychologist at Amend Psychological Services, P.S.C., his private practice in Lexington, Kentucky, where he focuses on the social, emotional, and educational needs of gifted and talented youth and their families. Dr. Amend is licensed to provide psychological services in Kentucky and Ohio. He has worked in both private practice and community mental health settings, as well as in consulting positions with clinics and hospitals. |
| Individual Assessment of Gifted Students
Individualized assessment, including intellectual, academic, and behavioral testing, is commonly used as part of evaluations for identification of special education populations like learning disabled students. This type of testing provides a wealth of information about strengths and weaknesses as well as learning styles. Even though this type of evaluation can be a valuable tool for educational planning for gifted students, school resources are often not available to provide this type of individualized assessment of a gifted child's strengths and weaknesses. The presentation will cover assessment issues in general, some of the specific information that can be gained from assessment, and the implications for educational planning. The discussion includes instruments such as the Stanford-Binet, the Wechsler Scales, the Woodcock Johnson, and behavioral measures. |
Edward R. Amend Psy.D., is a Clinical Psychologist at Amend Psychological Services, P.S.C., his private practice in Lexington, Kentucky, where he focuses on the social, emotional, and educational needs of gifted and talented youth and their families. Dr. Amend is licensed to provide psychological services in Kentucky and Ohio. He has worked in both private practice and community mental health settings, as well as in consulting positions with clinics and hospitals. |
| Underachievement: Understanding Motivational Paralysis "Have you done your homework?" Parents and teachers resent being forced to act the role of enforcer almost as much as children hate requiring it, especially when the child seems unable to pursue even enjoyable activities. This malaise mystifies adults who worked to create opportunities for a child who seems perversely determined to be miserable. Traditional advice such as "be firm with them" or "it's just a phase" are not helpful. Analysis will compare a healthy motivational system and common forms of motivational paralysis. Discussion will focus on supporting development of long-term healthy motivation and disarming self-sabotaging habits |
Anna Caveney is an education consultant. She has designed and implemented individualized curricula for homeschooling teenagers, developed a theory of the emotional foundations of underachievement and led workshops addressing the challenges and joys of being highly gifted. She has created and taught classes in calculus, thinking skills and peer counseling. She runs the Young Adult program at BIQ. |
| What Is Normal? A Context For Giftedness What do we know about intelligence? What is it, how is it measured, how do people differ in it, and how much does it change? In order to understand what it means to be told, "your child has a 160 IQ", it helps to know something about the typical capabilities and behaviors of people with IQs of 130, 100 and 70. The aim of this presentation is to provide background details about what normal means, to help the gifted understand the typical needs that schools and society are meant to meet. |
Ryan Caveney M.S., is a physicist and mathematician. He has studied at MIT, Princeton and Johns Hopkins, and once taught 9th grade science in Gloucester, MA -- for 13 days. He works near Washington, DC as a contractor to the federal government, including a stint at NASA designing algorithms for weather satellites and interplanetary laser communication systems. His hobby of reading technical research on the influence of biology on personality and society is a continuation of his childhood interest in figuring out why he was so different from the other inmates. His wife, Anna, is the young adult program at this conference. |
| Social and Emotional Benefits of Homeschooling the Gifted Child Gifted children need an educational environment that is tailored to their unique learning style without forcing them into conformity. They learn differently, and their increased emotional and sensory sensitivities leave them vulnerable in some classrooms. There are many challenges in educating a gifted child outside of the traditional school system, but the flexibility allows each child’s individual needs to be met, resulting in life-long social and emotional benefits. |
Corin Barsily Goodwin is Director of the Gifted Homeschoolers Forum (www.giftedhomeschoolers.org), providing support and resources for gifted homeschooling families. Ms. Goodwin, who homeschools her two children, has spent many years in public policy. She co-chairs the legislative committee for the HomeSchool Association of California and served as their Gifted/Special Needs Advisor. |
| 1/2 of Eight is more than Four A metaphorical story about a little car named "Gifford" is the basis for examining the characteristics of creatively gifted children in relation to Dabrowski's theory of overexcitabilities (intensity). Afterwards, in small groups, participants will share examples of this in children they know and propose ways for using this understanding to develop self-awareness and creativity. |
Nina Greenwald Ph.D. is an educational psychologist. She is Director of the Graduate Program of Critical and Creative Thinking at the University of Massachusetts, Boston where she also teaches courses in creative thinking, critical thinking, humor and thinking, invention and problem-based learning. She is elected to the Danforth Associates of New England, an organization of selected higher education faculty distinguished for excellence in teaching. Nina is a specialist in gifted education and co-founder of MAGE (Massachusetts Association for Gifted Education) and past president. |
| 1st Time BIQ Attendees This will include a brief presentation on terminology you are likely to hear during the weekend, which presentations are aimed at newcomers, and other introductory material. A good chunk of this period will be spent doing Q&A with the attendees. |
Carolyn K. is the winner of the NAGC Community Service award, and PAGE Neuber-Pregler award, for her work on Hoagies' Gifted Education Page (www.hoagiesgifted.org), and she writes for the Gifted Education Communicator. |
| Early College - Personal Perspectives: Panel Some of the greatest value provided by the BIQ conferences is the opportunity to discuss and share experiences with those that have followed similar paths. In that spirit, this presentation is meant to offer an opportunity to share the viewpoints of those for whom early college played a significant role in the journey from adolescence into adulthood. |
Elizabeth Lovance graduated from a private high school in Wisconsin at the age of 14, after a combination of hard-fought accommodations involving a variety of acceleration and supplemental coursework. She received a B.A. in Computer Science and American Studies from Smith College. After a year of graduate school in history, she taught computer literacy at a private school and worked as a consultant. For the past five years, she has worked as a software engineer in speech recognition. Elizabeth has been involved in various online gifted communities for the past 10 years and has attended and presented at BIQ and Hollingworth conferences. |
| Creativity and Intelligence In this presentation, I will explore the double-edged sword of intelligence, as it pertains to creative expression. Being smart, to the extent that it also makes on very emotionally intense and sensitive, can fuel or even compel the creative process. It can also, to the extent that it leads to perfectionism, amotivation, depression, or a sense of emotional vulnerability, screw creative expression almost completely up. |
Cathy Marciniak |
| Gifted Knitting Designers In this session, we will be looking at the work of knitting designers who, by the nature of their work, must be very gifted people. As the participants wish, we can discuss their work and the methods they used. A knowledge of knitting is not required, but will enhance your understanding of the discussion. |
Liz Cademy Pfeffer is the CMO (Chief Maternal Officer) of the Pfeffer family: herself, one "mad engineer" husband and 2 high-energy high-gifted kids, one who is 2E. In a previous life, Liz used her MBA in Finance to help small manufacturers develop reporting systems and financial plans. She has handled the family finances for years, and amazes friends and enemies alike by living well in high expense areas (Silicon Valley, greater Washington, D.C. and now Lexington, MA) on only one income. Liz has been knitting for close to 4 decades (yikes!), and designing and collecting interesting knitting books for nearly as long. |
| In Defense of Appropriate Schooling for the Highly Gifted: A Gifted Magnet School Proposal In the fall of 2006 the Minnetonka Public Schools District School Board entertained proposals for new instructional strategies approaches to education. One of these proposals was to build a new highly gifted magnet school within the district. The department of Teaching and Learning in conjunction with High Potential Services developed an article, a model, and a presentation in the defense of appropriate schooling for the highly gifted student which was presented to the School Board. This proposal is to outline the sequence of events that lead to the School Boards interest in the model, the content of that model, the community reaction to the model, and the School Board’s decision. |
Michael Postma is the District Coordinator of High Potential Services for Minnetonka Public Schools located in suburban Minneapolis. A former teacher, writer, and consultant, Michael has worked in the field of education on and off for the past fifteen years in Minnesota, Michigan, and Ontario. Michael’s education includes a Bachelors Degree from McMaster University in Hamilton, ON, a Teachers Education Diploma from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI, a MA in Gifted & Talented Education from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN and is currently completing an Ed. D in Critical Pedagogy (ABD) from the University of St. Thomas. Michael has also worked as a small business owner in British Columbia and Minnesota. Michael’s interests in the field of education include Gifted & Talented Education, Critical Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, and leadership as they relate to the domain of social studies. |
| The Short Term Effects of a Specialized Math Pullout Program for Highly Gifted Elementary In the fall of 2006 Minnetonka Public School’s High Potential Department, in conjunction with district’s Math Content Committee, developed a pilot program for six fourth grade students. These six students, from three different schools, had tested a minimum of four grade levels above their peers in the mathematics portion of the NWEA tests and were well beyond any level of classroom instruction. In response, a pull-out program characterized by mathematical problem-solving was piloted over the period of two months with the purpose of extending the students math knowledge and challenging their high cognitive capacities. This proposal seeks to outline the program including its origins, methodology, and the response from students, parents, and teachers, as well as plans for a larger implementation for the spring of 2007 and beyond. |
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| Keeping the Creativity in Mathematics | Lisa Rainen Lisa Rainen earned her M.A.Ed. in Gifted Education from the College of William and Mary. She taught a self-contained 5th grade gifted classroom in Wausau for two years and has now worked as the gifted specialist for three years at John Glenn Middle School in Bedford, Massachusetts. Her research interests include social and emotional issues of the gifted, gender and sexual orientation and their interaction with giftedness, and the needs of highly and profoundly gifted students. |
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Dabrowski: Beyond the Basics This presentation is aimed at attendees already familiar with the Overexcitabilities and the Levels of Personal Development. At each level of development, the patterns of personality have an impact on daily life, on love, on friendship and more. Similarly, the effect of the overexcitabilities is different at the different levels. We'll explore these and other aspects of Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration and how they affect the lives of HG/PG people of varying ages. |
Josh Shaine is a migrant teacher, working for homeschool families, public and private schools, and whatever else comes down the pike. He works predominantly with gifted children, with a focus on underachievers and hg/pg issues. He is also slowly researching non-linear thinking styles. |
| Educational Alternatives This workshop will be a dialogue about the different kinds of placements and how they work with different kinds of students. Conversation will center around relative strengths and weaknesses of types of programs, appropriateness of fit, and other topics, largely determined by the attendees. |
Melinda Stewart is the founder and former Director of Voyagers, Inc homeschool resource center. She is a clinical social worker and currently works at Groton School as the Director of Counseling. She is mother of two PG kids. |
| The Influence of Intensity In this session we examine the relevance and impact of Dabrowski’s theories, especially when working with highly able young people. A life committed to the optimal personal development of our profoundly able children implies both privilege and awesome responsibility. As teachers, parents, facilitators, psychologists, counselors, advisers we can and do make a difference. Our contribution is often crucial to the full realization of an individual’s potential. |
Trevor J Tebbs, Ph.D. is a veteran educator with almost 40 years of experience in all levels of education both in the United Kingdom and the United States. He has been a regular classroom teacher, art teacher, special educator, enrichment coordinator, administrator, assistant director of the Honors Program at the University of Connecticut, a university and college education professor, a consultant in schools, and a counselor. Trevor has two undergraduate degrees from the UK. He gained his Masters and Doctorate in Educational Psychology with emphasis on Gifted Education and Counseling while studying at the University of Connecticut. His special interests while at the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented included self-efficacy and higher order thinking. |
| What's Depression Good For? Is depression one illness or many? Is it even one condition? Did it evolve to serve some useful purpose, or is it purely and always a defect? What role does serotonin play in the brain, and how does it relate to depression? What does a little-known (but completely impractical) sure-fire cure for depression tell us about its chemical nature? Eric M. Van presents his original theory of depression that answers these and other questions. |
Eric Van entered Harvard in 1972 as one of future Nobel Laureate Sheldon Glashow's particle physics tutees and graduated in 1978 as one of the late Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Elizabeth Bishop's students. He has spent the last six years back at Harvard, as a Special Student affiliated with the Graduate Department of Psychology, taking 20 undergraduate courses in the field in preparation for an eventual Ph.D. He lives in Watertown, Mass. |
| A Conversation about Assessment This will be an attendee-driven discussion, focusing on assessment issues from both theoretical and practical perspectives. |
Aimee Yermish is an educational therapist specializing in work with children who are gifted, learning-disabled, or twice-exceptional, providing assessment, enrichment, remediation, mentoring, individualized program development, and parent and teacher guidance. She draws upon her analytical background as a research scientist and her practical background as a classroom teacher in order to create individualized strategies for each child. |
| How to Combat Global Warming: Creating a Community Campaign In this workshop, participants will learn about global warming; how to assess and reduce their own “carbon footprints”; and how to start local campaigns to encourage their towns’ residents, businesses and governments to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. This is a great project for home-schooled teens. |
Colin Carlson |
| Improvisation Games Play some games that are guaranteed to make you think fast and crack up! Improvisation is the art of acting without a script, and the only limit is your own imagination. The improv games we’ll be playing are designed to make you (and your audience) laugh out loud. We’ll also prove that necessity really is the mother of invention; you’ll be amazed by what you can come up with. |
Arika Cohen is very pleased to be teaching and learning for the second time at Beyond I.Q.! Arika is not at liberty to identify her home planet, but she will say that she is enjoying herself here on earth, teaching middle school drama at the Cambridge Friends School and working towards her masters at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In her free time, Arika continues to work on writing her slightly scary, hopefully funny play for young audiences and attempts to do laundry once in a while, too. |
| Spellbinding Public Speaking Learn some techniques that will increase your effectiveness as a public speaker and help you feel more confident in front of an audience. We’ll be telling scary stories and figuring out what makes these stories so scary. We’ll also explore how a storyteller can use public speaking techniques to enthrall (and scare the socks off of) his or her audience. |
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| The Suspense is Killing Me
A good story- in any medium- will have you “sitting on the edge of your seat.” But how did you get there? Come to this class and learn the secret! We’ll use the powerful (and tricky!) techniques of suspense, mystery, and dramatic irony to create some nail-bitingly good material. |
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| Without Conflict there can be No Drama
Would there be theatre in a perfect world? Probably not. Without conflict, there can be no resolution, and drama would cease to exist. If you like a little drama in your life, give this class a try! We’ll create scenes that exemplify different types of conflict and play acting games that delight in friction, discord, contention, and strife. |
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| Chess Challenges (6-12) A round robin of fun based challenging competitive activities such as a brain game obstacle course, including for example: chess and other puzzle making contests and problem solving challenges. |
Eric Cushing & the team from Chess Corps
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| Interactive Chess Workshop (6-12) An interactive workshop of learning and play by a team of teachers customized for beginner, intermediate and advanced chess players with attention to age related learning styles. |
Eric Cushing & the team from Chess Corps |
| Public Speaking 101 (9-12) The goal is to feel more comfortable speaking in front of groups. This involves listening skills as well as speaking skills. Students build self-confidence by learning the tools of speaking in front of others and by practicing giving presentations in class, while having fun doing it. The younger you build the foundation results in many more opportunities in life that can be realized as time goes on. |
Carol Goward & Marcia Wyman, Instructors of Public Speaking to Adults and Youth, specialize in teaching classes to Homeschoolers. Both are members of Toastmasters International. |
| "SET" Theory (6-12) the theory behind, variations and solitaire versions of the game of SET - everything you never wanted to know, and more... (Bring your deck if you have one.) |
Alexa K is a freshman at Mount Holyoke College, majoring in math, and maybe physics and computer science and... |
| Art Trading Cards (6-12) Discuss trading cards, make your own out of our wealth of materials. |
Susan Levitin |
| Multimedia Art (6-12) Come see how artists work with a variety of non-traditional ways. Then take a crack at it yourself with a wide variety of materials. |
Susan Levitin |
| Origami (6-12) Origami with master origamist, Jenny Mosely. (who has been to Japan as an Origami Convention Guest of Honor). |
Jenny Mosely |
| Poetry Workshop (6-12) Poems by engaging writers such as Emily Dickenson, Matsuo Basho, Shel Siverstien, and X. J. Kennedy will be discussed. We will then try our hands at various styles such as haiku, cinquain, clerihew, acrostic, and limerick poems. Awake the poet within! |
Lorel Shea |
| Introductions & No Sew Costuming
Use your imagination, create a costume from our vast supply of fabrics, ribbons and trim. |
Internationally-known Persis Thorndike has been running Children's programming at science fiction conventions, home schooling, and gifted and talented conferences for the past 5 years, and has assisted in the activities room at the New England Folk Festival for over 10 years. Mother of a home-schooled 11-year-old, Persis draws from a broad range of interests to plan captivating and entertaining children's activities to keep kids in the 6-12 age range happy and occupied at conferences and conventions. Children's programs designed and overseen: ConCertino 1999, 2003, 2006; Noreascon 4, 2004 (World Science Fiction Convention); Arisia 2004, 2005, 2006; Boskone 2005, 2006; Learning In Our Own Way home schooling conference, August 2005; Beyond IQ conference May 2006, April 2007 Assisted with: Torcon 3, 2003 (World Science Fiction Convention); Beyond IQ conference May 2004; NEFFA children's activities room, 1996-2006; Maryland Fairy Festival May 2005, May 2006; LA Con IV, September 2006 |
| Not Your Everyday Masks Investigate how different cultures use masks as art of expression. Then create your own. |
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