A Summer Break? Not When It Comes to Parenting

Join Renowned Educator and Scholar Jim Delisle in Chicago and Get Some Great Parenting Tips at the CTD Annual Family Conference. by Jim Delisle Greetings!  My name is Jim Delisle and I'm returning to one of my favorite cities, Chicago, to speak with parents of gifted kids on June 25 at Center for Talent Development.  The trip promises to be doubly enjoyable: meeting so many good people who care about gifted kids and reacquainting myself with Chicago pizza! It’s going to be a great afternoon, so I hope you can join me. Session topics include the following: Parenting Precocious Kids: Understanding the Ups and Downs of Growing Up Gifted: Parents of gifted children and teens have many questions about how best to meet their intellectual and emotional needs.  They want to know what giftedness is and the label’s impact on other family members.  They want to know how to advocate for their gifted child in a school setting mired in ‘bringing up the bottom’ rather than ‘raising the bar’ at the top.  They want to know how to set expectations that are appropriate and balanced.  And they want to know how to juggle the wide range of emotional intensities that often accompanies growing up gifted.  This session addresses these and other issues that ‘come with the territory’ in parenting gifted kids. The Intensities of Gifted Children: Above all other attributes, intensity is the trait that gifted children, teens and adults have in abundance. These intensities can relate to academics, where nothing below straight-A’s is acceptable; emotions, where extreme highs and lows leave no room for moderation; and in everyday life, where relationships are deeper, disappointment is stronger, and even simple questions can have complex answers. In this session, these and other intensities will be addressed, as will ways that parents and other educators can learn to appreciate them for the assets that they are instead of the deficiencies that many make them out to be. CTD’s annual family conference is designed to provide parents with a better understanding of giftedness and ways to nurture happy and healthy kids. In addition to the sessions listed above, parents have the choice of sessions on acceleration, Talent Search, peer relationships, and working with your child’s school. There are also engaging workshops for students in grades 4 through 12. Fun and games are available for children age 4 through grade 3. For a conference brochure and all details, visit the CTD web site at http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/outreach/#family. Dr. Jim Delisle has taught gifted children and those who work on their behalf for more than 30 years.  Jim retired from Kent State University recently after 25 years of service as a professor of special education.  Throughout his career, Jim has taken time away from college teaching to return to his “classroom roots”, volunteering as a 4^th, 5^th and 8^th grade teacher in 1991, 1997 and 2006.  Also, Jim taught gifted middle school students one day a week between 1998 – 2008 in the Twinsburg, Ohio Public Schools.  The practical nature of Jim’s presentations is a direct result of his frequent intervention into the world of schools. The author of more than 250 articles and 15 books, Jim’s work has been translated into multiple languages and has been featured in both professional journals and in popular media such as The New York Times and on Oprah! A frequent presenter throughout the U.S., Jim has also addressed audiences in nations as diverse as England, Greece, China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Read our previous post featuring Jim Delisle here.