Special Education Conference

I have just returned home from a two day trip to Hershey for the annual Pennsylvania Department of Education Special Education Conference. Our state provides parent scholarships for those with a child who has an IEP or GIEP. What a wonderful opportunity! I had a chance to network with parents, spent some time with my long distance fellow cyber schooling friend and heard some excellent speakers.

I was able to attend three sessions with two different speakers. The first was Tracy Cross. His presentation was titled, "From Underachievement to Suicide: How Students Cope with Being Gifted". He was such an engaging speaker and so full of knowledge on the subject of gifted children; especially adolescents. He has written much on the topic, both in book form and in articles in many publications such as Gifted Child Today.

I also participated in two sessions that Carolyn Coil presented, "Motivating Gifted Underachievers" and "Differentiation for Students Who are Gifted". She also has a fantastic collection of materials she has published. (books) Including the book "Motivating Underachievers".

What a thoroughly enriching experience! As soon as I came in the door I started spewing out all of my new found knowledge. My poor husband was in no state to receive this information. He had happily taken on the care of the boys for 2 days and was ready to drop. Normally, JT goes with my dad on Wednesday. Unfortunately, this week he didn't feel well. Then this morning, my youngest went off to Kindergarten. The school called mid-morning to ask my husband to come pick him up. They thought he looked like he had pink eye! My husband does so much to support our cyber schooling endeavor. He deserves extra kudos for this one!

There is one thing I learned at this conference that may change my entire approach next year. During his presentation, Tracy Cross pointed out that if you look back at what a particularly successful adult spent their childhood doing; you will find it was usually directly related to what they have accomplished. So many gifted kids are forced to be well-rounded. Dr. Cross points out that gifted kids usually aren't well rounded, "they're lumpy"... and that's okay. I am going to sit down with JT tomorrow and ask him to start thinking of something he feels particularly passionate about. Then I am going to work that into our plan for next year. I need to stop trying to make him less "lumpy". Yes, he needs to learn the things that all kids need for success. However, his quick learning style should allow us to master those and then move our focus to what he loves. Who cares if 4th graders don't usually spend half the year studying Archaeology!? If that's what he loves, we are going to be all over it next year!

If you live in PA and are interested... save the date for the 2010 conference..April 6th-9th. I'd love to see you there!