User:L.S.Avecilla/Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted

Founding of the Organization
SENG began from a tragedy. In August 1980, a very bright, talented 17 year old Dallas Egbert, from Dayton, Ohio, committed suicide. His parents contacted James T. Webb, Ph.D., a child psychologist at the Wright State University’s School of Professional Psychology, to inquire whether there were any programs that focused on the social and emotional needs of gifted children and their families. It soon became apparent that despite a clear need, few resources existed.

After discussions with Ronald E. Fox, Ph.D., Psy.D., who was Dean of the School of Professional Psychology (and who was elected president of the American Psychological Association in 1994), SENG was begun as a small program that would counsel with parents of gifted students. SENG was also intended as a place that doctoral students in clinical psychology could gain experience with gifted children and their families.

In January 1981, television talk show personality Phil Donahue hosted a show about gifted children and depression. Dr. Webb participated in that show, along with Dr. and Mrs. Egbert, Jean and Bill Casey of Los Angeles (parents of a gifted son who had also committed suicide), several other families, and Joyce Juntune, who was then the Executive Director of the National Association for Gifted Children. To everyone’s amazement, that edition of “The Donahue Show” resulted in 20,000 calls and letters from people across the country confirming the extent of neglect, misunderstanding, and prevalence of myths regarding gifted children and their families.

This outpouring from viewers caused those involved with SENG to redouble their efforts to increase the awareness of parents, teachers and others working with gifted children, and to help them realize that these children and their families do have special emotional needs and opportunities that are often overlooked and, thus, neglected.

In 1981, the first annual SENG National Conference was held in Dayton, Ohio. Annual conferences have continued annually at various cities around the United States, except in 2000 during which time SENG reorganized itself into a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Conference keynote speakers have included such notables as Pulitzer Prize Winning Cartoonist Mike Peters and American personality, author, musician, actor, writer, and comedian Steve Allen.

It was from this tragedy that SENG began, and today I am happy to say that SENG and its many programs—indeed its very existence—have touched the lives of thousands of gifted children and their families in positive ways. Now, more than 25 years later, we look back on an interesting history—and forward to an even more interesting future.

Many people now take SENG’s existence for granted, but it was not always that way and many people have been key in determining SENG’s growth. SENG started in 1980 as part of the School of Professional Psychology at Wright State University, thanks to the wisdom and support of the Dean, Ronald Fox (elected president of the American Psychological Association in 1994) who protected SENG from faculty members who believed that programs for gifted children and their families had little relevance for psychologists.

Following the Donahue Show, Betty Meckstroth, a parent, volunteered her time and energy. She and I initiated SENG parent support groups—a series of guided discussions focusing on ten major topics of concern to parents. We provided basic written material noting key points relevant to the topic, en­couraged parents to express their concerns, and offered pro­fessional comment, advice, discussion, and guidance. As the parents shared ideas and experiences, they learned from each other—lessons such as how to appreciate and encourage each child, how to anticipate problems and find solutions, and how to prevent difficulties.

We are deeply indebted to those parents for their sharing, courage and support; we probably learned as much from them as they did from us. These parent group sessions eventually led us to write the book, Guiding the Gifted Child, and later Gifted Parent Groups: The SENG Model. The parent support groups continue to be a SENG’s future direction. Committee members were: Dr. Ed Amend, Raenele Côté, Arlene DeVries, Carolyn Kottmeyer, Sharon Lind, Dr. Rick Olenchak, Dr. Joanne Whitmore Schwartz, and Dr. James Webb. This committee became SENG’s first board of directors and decided that SENG should apply for official non-profit 501(c)(3) status. Thanks to Board President Sharon Lind’s dedicated efforts, SENG achieved non-profit status in 2001.

Membership
SENG currently has no membership requirements, nor does it require dues.

Notable Persons Involved in SENG's History
• James T. Webb, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist and Founder

• Elizabeth Meckstroth, M.S.W., co-founder

• Arlene R. DeVries, M.S.E., author of Gifted Parent Groups: The SENG Model and Member, Founding Board of Directors

• Ronald E. Fox, Ph.D., Psy.D., SENG Professional Advisory Committee

• Sharon Lind, M.S., First President, SENG Board of Directors

• Rick Olenchak, Ph.D., Member, Founding Board of Directors

• Joanne Whitmore Schwartz, Member, Founding Board of Directors

• Raenele Coté, R.N., Member, Founding Board of Directors

• Edward R. Amend, Psy.D., Member, Founding Board of Directors

• Carolyn Kottmeyer, Member, Founding Board of Directors

• Ernesto Bernal, Ph.D., Member, Founding Board of Directors

Mission
SENG is dedicated to fostering environments in which gifted adults and children, in all their diversity, understand and accept themselves and are understood, valued, nurtured, and supported by their families, schools, workplaces and communities.

To this end, the organization holds annual conferences each year during the third week of July, which has been recognized as National Parenting Gifted Children Week. SENG works cooperatively with other organizations involved with gifted children, and SENG particularly attempts to educate health care and counseling professionals about the social and emotional needs of gifted children and adults, including the likelihood of misdiagnosis (see below).

Organizational Structure
SENG was organized into a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2000. The founding members were Sharon Lind, Arlene DeVries, Jim Webb, Ed Amend, Joanne Schwartz, Rick Olenchak, Carolyn Kottmeyer, and Raenele Coté, all of whom were well known in the gifted child field. The Board of Directors is self-perpetuating, with term limits, and supplements itself through outside committees, executive director, and staff.

SENG also established, in 2003, a National Professional Advisory Committee to provide links to relevant health care and counseling professions. The members of that committee are: Richard Clouse, M.D., Family Practice; Steve Curtis, Ph.D., School Psychology; Brock Eide, M.D., Internal Medicine; Fernette Eide, M.D., Neurology; Ronald E Fox, Ph.D., Psy.D., Psychology; Jean Goerss, M.D., M.P.H., Pediatrics; Gerald Grobman, M.D., Psychiatry; James Webb, Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, Chair.

Notable Events in SENG's History
In 1981, SENG began to develop a parent support group model specifically for parents of gifted and talented children. This resulted in several publications of a book specifically for parents as well as a manual to teach others how to implement similar support and guidance groups elsewhere. . Doctoral students in clinical psychology received training in psychoeducational testing, guidance, counseling, and treatment of gifted children and their families.

From these experiences came another realization; many gifted children were incorrectly diagnosed with emotional or behavior disorders when, in fact, the problem was really a lack of understanding of gifted behaviors by the teachers and parents or a mismatch between the educational program and the child. These experiences prompted a book and a DVD “The Misdiagnosis of Gifted Children: A Documentary.”

By 1983, SENG was offering a variety of services. These included a graduate level course on social and emotional needs of gifted children and their families, diagnostic testing and consultations with parents, practicum experiences for doctoral clinical psychology students, special services for deaf gifted, outreach to African-American gifted students, SENG Parent Support groups, training to export the parent support groups, research on the social and emotional needs of gifted children and their families, workshops and speakers, and annual conferences for parents, educators, and other professionals.

From 1986 – 1989, The American Association for Gifted Children merged with SENG, and the two programs worked cooperatively with the U.S. Presidential Scholars program. In 1989, the American Association for Gifted Children moved to Duke University.

SENG began to develop an international reputation. In 1991, SENG was visited by Professoressa Angela Grappelli and Achille Cardinal Sylvistrini of the Vatican. The Vatican had been supporting a self-contained school for gifted children in Italy, and they wanted to learn more about SENG’s programs. Arlene DeVries, Dr. James Webb, and others spoke abut SENG at numerous international conferences, and it was clear that the issues were frequently the same in all countries.

In 1995, SENG moved briefly to Kent State University, where it was hosted by the College of Education. Dr. Jim Delisle and Dr. Joanne Whitmore, two leading scholars in the field of gifted education, fostered SENG’s development.

SENG Programs
SENG continues to conduct outreach programs. These include:

• Annual SENG conferences for parents, educators, and other professionals; these conferences also have a parallel children’s conference

• Continuing Education credits for psychologists offered at all SENG conferences since 2002

• Home study courses for continuing education for psychologists

• A DVD documentary on issues of misdiagnosis and dual diagnoses of gifted children

• A brochure (developed jointly with NAGC in 2007) about gifted children to be distributed to all pediatricians and family practitioners in the U.S.

• An updated SENG website www.sengifted.org,and periodic SENG updates via e-mail

• Establishment of SENG Nos Apoya, a program with emphasis on special needs of Hispanic parents of gifted children, currently in development

• The SENG Honor Roll, to provide national and local recognition to educators making a difference for gifted children

• New fund-raising initiatives to help SENG grow

• Designating National Parenting Gifted Children Week, the third week of July of each year, launched July 2008

• Webinars on social and emotional issues of gifted children and adults

Funding
SENG was initially supported by a few small contributions that were made to the School of Professional Psychology at Wright State University. In 1984, the South Park Remedial Association, a non-profit association, contributed $75,000 and continued that level of support for several years. In 1990, just as support for the South Park Remedial Association languished, Mrs. Eugenie Radney, a philanthropist from Akron, Ohio, began to support SENG. When she died, Mrs. Radney left a specified donation to SENG that is being managed by the Arizona Community Foundation in an Advised Donor account.

Book Publishers
Three publishers are particularly good resources for books on social and emotional needs of gifted children and adults.

Free Spirit Publishing Great Potential Press Prufrock Press

Useful WebSites
The following websites (listed alphabetically), contain information about conferences, as well as providing many free downloadable articles and other helpful resources. Certain of these pertain not only to Social and Emotional Needs of the Gifted, but to the entire spectrum of gifted and talented topics of interest.

Davidson Institute for Talent Development

Genius Denied

Gifted Development Center

Hoagies' Gifted Education Page

NAGC National Association for Gifted Children

The Theory of Positive Disintegration (Kazimierz Dabrowski)

SENG Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted

TAG Families of the Talented and Gifted

World Council for Gifted and Talented Children

State Associations (U.S.A.)
Almost every state has an association for gifted children that holds conferences and provides helpful information for parents and educators. Using search terms such as: "(State name) Gifted Talented org" (e.g. type: Texas Gifted Talented org) yields,for example, Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented

Worldwide Associations and Resources
Gifted and talented organizations and resources worldwide may be found in List of gifted and talented programmes.