WELCOME TO GIFTED MINDS
To be clear, at our practice we take a broad view of giftedness - and see clients with all types neuro-diversity, perceptive differences, intensities and varieties of creativity. We have many years experience working with individuals at the extreme in very different ways.
Although we see clients face-to-face our Gifted Minds Counsellor Dominic does phone calls and zoom sessions globally for adults, parents, adolescents and children to help with their frustration and to talk through feelings of anxiety about the future.
Fiona & Dom will be visiting Perth in early 2024 for assessments with the WISC-V and for counselling sessions. Please contact Kriss at GATCA-WA if you are in or can come to Perth and would like to make a booking. We are also planning a trip to Adelaide and other parts of SA in 2024. If you are interested in testing with the WISC-V or WIAT-III or counselling sessions please contact us for details:
Dom@giftedminds.com.au
Fiona@giftedminds.com.au
Our consultant, Anna (see ‘Team’) is now offering a one-on-one test-taking skills workshop for those thinking of sitting Opportunity Class, Selective High School and Scholarship tests - as an ex-OC and Selective High student herself she has inside knowledge on how to help.
Anna is also offering one-on-one mentoring and a new ‘out-and-about’ program taking individuals or groups of two friends or siblings to a variety of Sydney Museums for a morning of afternoon of intellectual challenge and delight.
Please contact us on fiona@giftedminds.com.au if these new offerings are of interest.
“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar! – Helen Keller
Tina Harlow from Guiding Bright worked with over 30 children from 25 countries spanning 6 continents to produce this wonderful video. As Tina says…"Each one of these children has worked so hard to support this vision; some participating in two video conferences, as well as endless coordination and retakes. And yes, the 9-year-old child in the video who says, "a virtual pangea" actually came up with that concept and those words. Gifted kids never cease to amaze me.”
This is the first endeavor for this international video troupe.
Here is the link. https://youtu.be/lobEbMiKyyc
PAST TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS
Fiona and Helen talked to staff at Bennet St Preschool to help with appropriate interventions for exceptionally gifted preschoolers.
Fiona presented at the SENG Conference in Denver in July. This was the second in a series about patterns of giftedness within families: Patrilineal Ability – giftedness in the male line - Grandfather, Father and Grandson
Abstract: Identification of giftedness in a son can be a double-edged sword for many fathers, who may struggle to comprehend and accept their own giftedness. Formal acknowledgement of their son’s ability may unearth memories of both positive and negative socio-emotional experiences in childhood and adolescence regarding schooling, family life and gender stereotyping.
Fiona and Dr Helen Van Vliet gave a talk to parents at The Emanuel School entitled Celebrations and Frustrations – The Joys of Parenting a Gifted Child
Fiona provided a full day of Professional Development for psychologists and school psychologists interested in gifted children and their needs in Launceston, Tasmania .
FIONA PRESENTED FOR K-12 STAFF AT LAKES GRAMMAR, WARNERVALE - Divergent Minds
FIONA PRESENTED FOR K-12 STAFF AT ROSEVILLE COLLEGE IN THE AFTERNOON - AS WELL AS FOR PARENTS OF GIFTED STUDENTS IN THE EVENING
FIONA PRESENTED AT THE DABROWSKI CONGRESS IN CALGARY - Walking In Another’s Shoes: A personal account of the blessing and curse of intense empathy as a force for personal growth. (This is available on Youtube for those who are interested.)
FIONA PRESENTED AT THE SENG CONFERENCE IN WILLIAMSBURG VIRGINIA - Gifted Families, Past and Future: Understanding intellectual giftedness across gender and generation. This presentation will focus on intergenerational patterns of giftedness through matrilineal and patrilineal lines: mother-son, father-daughter, grandmother-grandson and grandfather-granddaughter.
FIONA PRESENTED AT THE Australian Psychological Society (APS) Congress in MELBOURNE on SEPTEMBER 16 - this talk is available on the APS website.
Psychologists and gifted clients: Intellectual and creative giftedness can influence and compromise psychometric and personality test scores leading to misdiagnosis and pathologising of atypical yet psychologically healthy individuals.
This workshop aims to educate Psychologists who have had no specific training in the emotional and social needs of gifted individuals. Discussion will focus on the impact of heightened intensity and sensitivity and will offer strategies to identify these traits in gifted clients without misinterpreting them as symptoms. Psychometric and personality tests will be examined to determine how certain questions and scores may be compromised. The SENG (Supporting the Emotional Needs of Gifted Children), initiative: “Decreasing Medical Misdiagnosis in Gifted Children”, the brainchild of Dr James Webb who served on the American Psychological Association Council of Representatives and founded SENG will be discussed in relation to Australian concerns. The second half of the workshop will aim at helping Psychologists understand how reactions and behaviours are exacerbated by the chronic boredom and resultant frustration that gifted individuals often feel at school and in the workforce. Specific case studies and profiles of gifted and creative students and adults will be presented for discussion as to best practice.
FIONA AND DOMINIC SPOKE AT THE WORLD GIFTED CONFERENCE IN SYDNEY
The Frustration Inferno: Counselling gifted children experiencing chronic boredom and acute frustration
Most educators, medical practitioners, psychologists and counsellors receive no specific training in working with gifted clients. Yet, by definition, gifted individuals are different to the norm and practices that may work for others may not necessarily work for them. In this session a Psychologist and a Counsellor-in Training will discuss effects of chronic boredom and how easily extreme frustration can masquerade and be misinterpreted as mental health issues and learning difficulties.
FIONA PRESENTED TWO TALKS AT SENG IN CHICAGO
Inside the Gifted Creative's Brain
Thinking is something we tend to take for granted. Yet, in the almost twenty years that I have worked with a population of unusual and atypical thinkers I have learned that how we think is a unique experience. Like a fingerprint, our thinking is a whorl of individuality. Most of us can see visual images when we think, some of us cannot. Some of us think of numbers and letters and days of the week as having particular colours or smells. Most of us do not. Aphantasia and synaesthesia are just two of the many ways in which our thinking differs.
Gay, trans and gender diverse gifted creatives: personal narratives of the experience of extreme diversity.
A person’s gender identity and expression, intelligence and creativity all encompass multiple factors including genetic influences, brain chemistry, learned behaviors, and personal choices. These factors are shaped by culture, custom, social constraints and beliefs, and affect us all.