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Giftedness Resources

 

Understanding Giftedness/General Gifted and Multi-Exceptional Resources

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Unfortunately, we do not have a national organization in Canada that supports people who are gifted/multi-exceptional. 

Debbie is passionate about contributing to the resources available for gifted adults to understand their own neurodiversity, and for parents of gifted/multi-exceptional children to have guidance on this journey.

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Resources Debbie participated in creating:

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Thankfully, there are national organizations in other countries and globally that offer a lot of very helpful resources for understanding giftedness and other exceptionalities.  The list below includes only organizations that Debbie has a good deal of knowledge about and finds very credible and reliable:

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Organization for Parents of Gifted Children in British Columbia

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The Gifted Children’s Association of BC (GCABC) provides connections with parents and others who support gifted children in the province.  This grass-roots organization has been around since the 1980’s, and helps families find each other, support their children through learning about giftedness, discussing ideas and strategies for parenting, and staying in touch with developments in the education system, and learn about educational options for gifted students in BC.

GCABC homepage link: http://giftedchildrenbc.org/

 

Assessments and Mental Health Support for Giftedness and Multi-Exceptionality in BC

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A resource exists for finding professionals in BC who are trained to work with gifted clients. These professionals include:

  • psychologists who offer psycho-educational assessments and therapeutic services

  • counsellors who offer sessions to support mental health and wellness

  • occupational therapists who offer assistance in the home or school setting for things like executive functioning

 

The directory includes information about what type of knowledge or training they have about working with gifted clients. Debbie is proud to have worked with students from Adler University doing their community service “Social Justice Practicum” hours to have developed and updated this directory as well as the Gifted Navigation article hosted by the GCABC.

Professionals Directory link: http://giftedchildrenbc.org/reports/directory-of-professionals/

 

Which Professionals Will Gifted Families Seek Out/Work With?

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In order to make sense of the “Professionals Directory” and figure out which professional you would go to for what, Debbie collaborated on writing the “Gifted Navigation” article hosted on the GCABC website: http://giftedchildrenbc.org/new-to-gifted/gifted-navigation-finding-help-in-understanding-your-gifted-child/

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Publishers that Focus on Giftedness & are readily available in Canada

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For a more comprehensive listing including educational materials, see the Hoagies Gifted page about Publishers

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Educational Options for Gifted Students

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I. Overall

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Broadly speaking, there are 2 main types of gifted-specific educational options. The first is acceleration, which includes 18 different forms from taking online courses to mentoring to grade skipping. 

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I co-authored an article with Dr. Lannie Kanevsky on how educators and parents are creatively using policy in the provinces and territories in Canada to gain access to acceleration options that are appropriate for their children/students: Accelerating gifted students in Canada: Policies and possibilities

The main resource centre for studies on acceleration is at the Belin-Blank Center and Acceleration Institute at the University of Iowa.  They host the document (free downloadable pdf) produced to inform us all about acceleration options: A Nation Empowered

 

The second main option is to focus on learning in-depth, called “enrichment”.  The main resource in the US to help learn about enrichment is housed at the Renzulli Center for Creativity, Gifted Education and Talent Development at the University of Connecticut. 

 

II. In British Columbia

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In BC, each school district and sometimes each school or classroom has a different way of approaching gifted education.  Some school districts do not identify gifted students at all, and overall less identification appears to be more of a trend with the current model with the Ministry of Education towards “inclusive education.” (See the Ministry of Education data posted on the GCABC website, indicating a 70% drop in gifted identification between 2002 and 2018 – the largest drop in any special needs category).

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However, there are determined and creative educators out there who are creating and finding good fits between gifted students’ needs and educational options.  Many of these educators belong to a BC-wide organization called the Lower Mainland Gifted Contacts, and some local contacts can be found on their website.

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A common type of educational adaptation that happens in many classrooms is called “Differentiation”. One resource that is often used for this by parents and educators in BC is Dr. Lannie Kanevsky’s Possibilities for Learning website.  Here they find an assessment called the Brilliant Behaviours Checklist that teachers, parents and gifted students can use to look at the types of giftedness that children have.  Other resources include a Differentiation Strategy Guide where you plug in the brilliant behaviours and it helps you decide which learning strategies are most appropriate (IEP helper!), and a survey to help develop individual learning projects.  

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