Some of us have gifted children who demonstrate their unhappiness by acting out at school and others of us have kids who wait until they get home to explode. Problems, at home and at school, can happen when gifted children feel they have to suppress their overexcitabilities, or if those overexcitabilities are uncontrolled.
“We can make an analogy between people’s overexcitabilities and television channels. Most people are wired to receive, say, 10 channels. Others come equipped with a wide selection on cable. Some have a satellite dish and high definition. They receive and respond to signals that many others don’t even know or can’t imagine might exist. It can be difficult to keep track of several stations, so it’s easy to imagine a person being overwhelmed by trying to manage the hundreds of signals on a satellite dish. While this analogy is helpful as a description, there is one caveat: In our modern world, we can upgrade our television service to receive cable if we don’t have it. Overexcitabilities, which we call OEs, are referred to somewhat tongue-in-cheek as ‘original equipment.’ They are innate predispositions. We are born with them. Although everyone is born with basic modes of experience, persons with overexcitabilities are usually intense in their experiences. They react to lower stimuli than others – that is, one’s reactions may be higher or greater than others’, but also one’s threshold for reaction may be lower, and a person may react strongly to what others perceive as a non-event.” (p.35 Living With Intensity by Daniels & Piechowski)
For insight and tools to help parents/teachers understand overexcitabilities and, thus, help children harness their overexcitabilities, I encourage you to attend this year’s OATAG conference; this year’s theme is “Supporting Success: What Do TAG Students Really Need?” – it will look at the whole child’s needs, awareness of social-emotional development in addition to intellectual stimulation. Insight into ways our children struggle, coupled with strategies on how to turn overexcitabilities into superpowers, can completely change home, and school, dynamics.
The Keynote Speaker is James T. Webb, Ph.D., the founder of the national nonprofit organization SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of Gifted Children, Inc.)
This year’s conference is conveniently in Portland at Floyd Light Middle School (10800 SE Washington St., Portland, Oregon 97216) on Saturday, October 10, 2015 from 9:30am to 4pm.
In addition to attending yourself, I strongly encourage everyone to invite PPS teachers and administrators to go to the conference so they too can learn more about what “TAG Students Really Need”
