The School Counselor as Gifted Educator

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The School Counselor as Gifted Educator

• Roles and Responsibilities
• Mary Schmidt, Gifted Education Consultant
• Heartland AEA
• mschmidt_at_aea11.k12.ia.us
• 1-800-255-0405 or 270-0405 ext. 14375

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Session Outcomes

• Participants will
• learn the characteristics
• identify social-emotional and learning needs
• identify the role of the school counselor in
  meeting the needs of gifted and talented children
  and adolescents

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Discuss at your table

• From the counseling perspective
• what are your assumptions and attitudes about
  gifted children?
• what are the prevalent attitudes in your
  building/district?
• what is your role in the educational lives of
  gifted children?

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WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE?
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WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE GIFTED?

• Looking like a 6 year old.
• Thinking like a 12 year old.
• Acting like a 4 year old.
• Arguing like a high-priced middle-aged lawyer.

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NORMAL IS ONLY A SETTING ON THE WASHING MACHINE.
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• Giftedness is a greater awareness, a greater
  sensitivity, and a greater ability to understand
  and transform perception into intellectual and
  emotional experiences.
• --Annemarie Roeper

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IS IT A CHEETAH?
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PROFILES OF THE GIFTED

• George Betts, Ed.D
• Maureen Neihart, Ph.D

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TYPE ONE SUCCESSFUL

• Positive self concept
• High achiever
• Convergent thinker
• Unaware of deficiencies
• Teacher pleaser

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SUCCESSFUL
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TYPE TWO CHALLENGING

• Bored and frustrated
• Defensive
• Creative
• Independent

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CHALLENGING
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TYPE THREE UNDERGROUND

• Unsure
• Wants to belong socially
• Quiet to shy
• Involved outside of school

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UNDERGROUND
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TYPE FOUR AT RISK

• Resentful and angry
• Poor self concept
• Unaccepted by adults
• Creative

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AT RISK
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TYPE FIVE TWICE EXCEPTIONAL

• Weaknesses
• Hidden strengths
• Unaccepted
• Frustrated

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TWICE EXCEPTIONAL
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TYPE SIX AUTONOMOUS

• Self confident
• Positive self concept
• Appropriate social skills
• Independent learning skills

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AUTONOMOUS
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• Doing well academically should not be an act of
  courage. --Nicholas Colangelo

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School Adjustment Problems

• Stress from loneliness, academic expectations,
  over-commitment, and decision-making beyond
  maturity
• Depression
• Perfectionism
• Peer relationships
• Suicide
• Kerr, 1991 (as cited in Robinson, et.al.,
  2007)

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Have you Been There?

• Discuss at your table
• examples of the school adjustment problems from
  your experience.
• strategies youve used.
• questions you have.

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The Counselors Role

• Understand Gifted Children
• Unconditional Positive Regard
• Participate in Programming
• Social-Emotional Needs
• Academic Programming
• Career Education

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Pulling it Together

• Consider all youve heard/learned today about
  gifted children.
• Work in grade span alike groups.
• Complete the chart Differentiated Program and
  the Role of the School Counselor.

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• Our lives begin to end the day we stop caring
  about what matters.
• --M.L. King, Jr.