This article was first published in IMprint, the Newsletter of Northern New Jersey Mensa in August 2005.  All or portions of this article may be reprinted by other Mensa publications as long as credit is given to the Kathe Oliver and IMprint.

<> 
LEARNING TO BE AN ADVOCATE FOR GIFTED CHILDREN

In August calendars start to fill up for the fall.  Sports schedules and other events are pencilled in.  Everything revolves around the most important fall calendar date: the first day of school.  That’s when students start to find out what their days will really be like.  Will the school year be full of interesting challenges, or will it be a year of academic repetition?

If school gets off to a good start, parents can relax a bit.  If it looks as if there is trouble ahead, parents need to get involved immediately.  Either way, the more that parents know, the more successfully they will be able to support their child.

There are many resources which can help parents decide how to approach advocacy for gifted children.  Libraries and bookstores offer various possibilities, and there are thousands of online resources. Start your Internet search at American Mensas website, us.mensa.org/activities/giftedchildren.php3. After looking at the articles posted there, click on the HoagiesGifted Resources link, or go directly to www.hoagiesgifted.com to reach the site with the widest selection of gifted resources online. Articles available on this website include Asimovs Law and Advocacy, which applies Mensan Isaac Asimov's advice: "Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by ignorance or stupidity", to working for gifted children.

One of the resources that American Mensa provides to help people become effective advocates for gifted children is the BrightKids e-mail list.  Mensa hosts this list, but it is open to anyone who is interested in gifted children. BrightKids provides the opportunity to talk to people from all over the world about advocacy and other issues.  One parent recently recommended Becoming An Advocate for Your Gifted Student, an interview with Carol Morreale, a past President of the Illinois Association for Gifted Children, at http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/resources/advocacy/carolmorreale.html. Some BrightKids participants are experts, and others are not, but they all care about gifted children and their families.  To join the conversation, go to http://www.lists.us.mensa.org/mailman/listinfo/brightkids.

For face to face discussions as well as information, attend one (or more) of the three conferences that the Summer Institute for the Gifted is offering for the teachers and parents of gifted children this fall.  On October 7, Escalating Reading Engagement for Talented Readerswill be the topic of a conference at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut.  The morning workshop will feature strategies to meet the needs of gifted readers, and the afternoon will focus on books that engage gifted readers and encourage critical and creative thinking.

The second conference will be held at Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, on October 14.  Titled Loving Language: Literacy and the Gifted Student, it will focus on developing literacy and writing skills for gifted children.  After a keynote address by Michael Clay Thompson on Abraham Lincoln and the Gifted Child, looking at the Gettysburg address as literature, there will be a series of breakout sessions on various topics.

On October 28 the conference series comes to New Jersey with Developing Life Long Strengthsat the Olde Mill Inn in Basking Ridge.  The conference will begin with the keynote address Once Upon a Pedestal: True Callings, False Steps and the Burden of Great Expectations, by Dr. Felice Kaufman, past Director of the National Training Program in Gifted Education for the Council for Exceptional Children.  The theme will continue with workshops on Helping Gifted Students Find and Follow their True Callings, Tips for Negotiating Life, and related topics.

To learn more about the three conferences sponsored by the Summer Institute for the Gifted, go to their website at http://www.cgp-sig.com/general_conferences.htm. Online registration is available.  If you have questions, call the Summer Institute for the Gifted toll-free at 1-866-303-4744, ext. 5159, or e-mail them at aritz@aifs.com.

Mensa provides resources and support for gifted children and their families, but it is not an advocacy group. The primary advocacy group for New Jerseys gifted children is the New Jersey Association for the Gifted (NJAGC). Every adult in New Jersey who cares about gifted children should join this organization. Its annual conference will be held on March 3 and 4, 2006.  Attending the conference is a great way to learn about giftedness, and it has programs that are fun for the entire family.  For more information, contact the NJAGC at 1-856-273-7530, or www.njagc.org.

The New Jersey Association for Gifted Children is an affiliate of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), the most effective nationwide advocacy group for the gifted. The NAGC funds research, lobbys for gifted education, and publishes magazines that are useful for parents and teachers.  This year its annual conference, with the theme “Setting the Pace”, will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, from November 9-13.  Contact the NAGC at 1-202-785-4268 or www.nagc.org for more information.

Remember: you are your child’s most important advocate.  If you won’t speak up for them, who will?