More than 120 parents and educators gathered at La Colina Junior High School on May 4 for the Spring Colloquium on Gifted Children, the Central Coast’s only conference on gifted education.

Attendees mainly came from Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties, but some were from as far as Bakersfield. 

The event was coordinated by the Tri-County GATE (Gifted & Talented Education) Council and The Knox School of Santa Barbara.

“This is an underserved, at-risk population,” said Angela Tanner, founder of The Knox School of Santa Barbara.

“The state of California does not ensure earmarked funding for gifted education, which leaves many schools on the Central Coast unable to provide appropriate gifted programs, if at all,”she said.

“Teachers are often left to fend for themselves, and parents are left isolated and unsupported,” she said. “The goal of this conference is to educate teachers and parents and provide them with ideas, materials, and resources so that they may provide for these children.”

The event was focused on embracing all sides of gifted children, from academic to social and emotional to intellectual needs. 

Featured speakers included psychologist Linda Kreger Silverman, who spoke on Perfectionism and Giftedness, and distinguished professor of education James Delisle (ret.), who discussed Underachievement and Giftedness.

The speakers have a combined 97 years of experience studying gifted education and working with the gifted population.

Another 17 field experts presented in breakout sessions on such subjects as Gifted Assessment, Myths on Giftedness, Mindfulness, and Common Disorders within the Population (learning, executive functioning, anxiety, sensory processing, reading, emotional dysregulation).

Sessions also focused on tools for the classroom and included Inquiry and Project Based Learning, Using Humor, Games, and Theatre for Critical Thinking and Life Lessons, Interdisciplinary Learning, and Nurturing School and Home Partnerships.

“Truly gifted children are only 2 to 3 percent of the population and they have unique needs that require a comprehensive program that can be tailored on an as-needed basis,” Tanner said.

“We would be appalled if special-needs children on the low end of the IQ spectrum were required to solely participate in a classroom designed for average IQ children with no additional support,” she said. “They would not thrive.

“Why, then, do we require this of children whose high IQs skew just as far from the mean and whose individual struggles often require specific attention in order for them to thrive?”

The Tri-County GATE Council, a volunteer organization, is an affiliate of the California Association for the Gifted (CAG). It belongs to the Pacific region of CAG, which includes Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties.

The council meets monthly during the regular school year to provide opportunities for GATE teachers, coordinators, parents and other interested people to share information and to support gifted programs and students through special events and projects.

The council supports all public-school districts within the tri-county area.

The Knox School of Santa Barbara serves gifted and talented students in kindergarten through eighth grades. For more information, visit www.KnoxSchoolSB.org.

— Sarah Savage for Gifted Education Conference.