Back in the early 1980’s, individuals committed to helping others learn more about and positively support the social and emotional aspects of giftedness came together to found an organization that would do (and has done) just that. SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) fulfills this mission with webinars, parent discussion groups, conferences, continuing education (including home study courses), videos, an articles library, and publications.
Most recent of SENG’s publications is an ebook that gathers together many of the best and most widely-read articles written on behalf of SENG over the years by a multitude of experts in the field. If you want to keep some of their “best of the best” handy, you can download this comprehensive ebook in your favorite digital format (i.e. Kindle, Nook, PDF, and many others). [There is a small fee involved (just $3.99), which of course goes to support this great organization.] Articles included in the ebook cover important topics such as perfectionism, asynchronous development, teasing, creativity, back-to-school suggestions, homeschooling, what pediatricians need to know about gifted youth, twice exceptional, and “what I wish I had known,” among others.
As well as being a handy addition to your digital reading device, this ebook would make a great gift for your child’s teacher, principal, counselor, etc. I find myself utilizing SENG practically weekly as a resource, often searching for articles for my students or their parents, so introducing yourself or another adult in your child’s life to SENG is a helpful step toward broader understanding of the various and sometimes confounding social and emotional issues these kids deal with.
Also recently available from SENG is a powerful brochure aimed at reducing the misdiagnosis of gifted children with psychological and other disorders. While gifted youth certainly aren’t immune to having these (OCD, ADHD, bipolar, autism, sensory integration, etc.), there are also documented cases of gifted kids being misdiagnosed because medical professionals typically don’t have training in how to distinguish gifted traits from clinical traits. For example, does the child have a high energy level and sometimes fail to complete tasks because he is a passionate, imaginative learner - or because he has ADHD? These and other traits of giftedness can be misinterpreted as clinical traits if medical professionals don’t know anything about giftedness. If you only need one or a couple copies of the brochure, you can download it here. If you want to order bulk copies, contact the SENG office. SENG has put this highly relevant and important information into a great format for sharing with the medical professionals you know.
Happy reading and learning!