2009 Symposium for Professionals: March 27 in Van Nuys, CA. Co-sponsored by Science Destinations (website) and the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development (website).

This symposium brought together a group of dedicated experts who have been instrumental in the design and investigation of various tools used in the assessment of giftedness. It provided cutting edge information on measures of intelligence and creativity, as well as qualitative assessment strategies -- breakthoughs in the identification of gifted learners. The following PowerPoint and PDF documents from the presentations and handouts are provided here as a courtesy to Symposium attendees. Please visit the main page for attendees to sign up for CE credits; a link will be added soon for ordering DVDs.

Presentations and Handouts:

Program: program (PDF document)
Alan and James Kaufman (Keynote): presentation (PowerPoint document - Intelligence and Creativity)
Linda Kreger Silverman: presentation (PowerPoint document - A New Era in the Identification of the Gifted); PDF handout: A New Era in the Identification of the Gifted - CAG Communicator; PDF handout: What We Have Learned About Gifted Children
Annemarie Roeper: presentation (PowerPoint document - The Roeper Methold of Qualitative Assessment); PDF handout: The Annemarie Roeper Method of Qualitative Assessment - CAG Communicator
Dawn Flanagan: presentation (PowerPoint - Identification of the Gifted with the WISC-IV: Special Considerations for Students from Diverse Backgrounds)
Bobbie Gilman: presentation (PowerPoint - The Origin of the NAGC's Position Statement: Use of the WISC-IV for Gifted Identivication); PDF handout: Use of the WISC-IV for Gifted Identification
Tommie Cayton: presentation (PowerPoint - Extended Norms for the WISC-IV)
John Wasserman: presentation (PowerPoint - Group Tests for Gifted Identification)
Linda Powers Leviton: presentation (PowerPoint - Whole Child Assessment: Connection, Context & Qualities); PDF handout: A Positive Approach to Change in 2e Families
Kathi Kearney: presentation (PowerPoint document - Don't Throw Away Any Binet!)
Betty Maxwell: PDF handout: WISC-IV Interpretation for Out-of-the-Box Gifted Children
Frank Falk and Nancy Miller: presentation (PowerPoint - Overexcitability and IQ); PDF handout: Overexcitability Questionnaire - short form
General: Symposium evaluation forms - p1 and p2; Recommended Reading List

Abstracts (alphabetical by surname):

Tom Cayton: Extended Norms for the WISC-IV. Historically the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children (WISC) have had maximum obtainable composite scores and intelligence quotients below 160. With the help of the National Association of Gifted Children Task Force on Assessment, which provided WISC-IV protocols from a range of exceptional gifted children, Pearson has recently provided a Technical Report that extends the maximum obtainable composite scores to 210. This presentation will describe how the norms were developed, their appropriate use, and discuss their merits relative to other approaches of estimating IQ scores beyond their usual range.
Learning Objectives for CEUs:

Know the conditions under which it is meaningful to apply the new extended WISC-IV norms

Know the new ranges for computed FSIQ scores and GAI scores

Understand how the WISC-IV extended norms were developed

R. Frank Falk: Overexcitabilities and IQ. Dabrowski's conception of overexcitabilities has received considerable attention in gifted education. Recent research has focused on the Overexcitability Questionnaire II (OEQ-II) (Falk, Lind, Miller, Piechowski, & Silverman, 1999) and the Overexcitability Questionnaire 2-c for children (OEQ-2c) (Daniels, Falk, & Piechowski, 2006), both self-report measures. The OEQ-II was developed for adults and has been used in studies of elementary school students (e.g.,Tieso, 2007a,b). The OEQ-2c was designed as an assessment tool for younger children and is being tested for reliability and validity. A new instrument has been designed to assess parents' perceptions of their children's overexcitabilities. The Overexcitability Inventory for Parents (OIP) has been administered as part of an assessment battery for gifted children since July, 2007. Data from over 200 cases were analyzed to ascertain the degree to which parent reports of their children's overexcitabilities correlate with IQ scores on Wechsler scales. Analysis of parent descriptions is seen as precursors of emotional development and their relationship to OIP scores is examined.
Learning Objectives for CEUs:

Discover a new assessment technique for characteristics of giftedness.

Understand the relationship between Dabrowski's overexcitabilities and intellectual ability.

Learn about the precursors of emotional development.

Dawn Flanagan: Use of the WISC-IV in the Assessment of Giftedness. This presentation will review the recent literature on use of the WISC-IV in the identification of giftedness. Current methods of interpreting the WISC-IV from contemporary theory will be presented. Special attention will be paid to determining the influence of culture and language difference on WISC-IV test performance for identification of giftedness in English Language Learners.
Learning Objectives for CEUs:

Understand the cognitive constructs that are measured by the WISC-IV.

Understand how gifted students typically perform on the various WISC-IV Indexes.

Understand that culture and language difference may have a systematic attenuating effect on WISC-IV test performance for English Language Learners.

Bobbie Gilman: The Origin of NAGC's Position Statement: "Use of the WISC-IV for Gifted Identification". In January 2008, the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) website offered a new position statement outlining best practices when using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) to identify gifted children. Remarkably, the statement strongly deemphasized use of the Full Scale IQ score (often required for admission to gifted programs) based on concerns that the Composite scores of many gifted children vary excessively, rendering the Full Scale score "not interpretable." In most cases, the General Ability Index (GAI) is a better indicator of advanced intelligence. How this conclusion and other guidelines were reached will be explored through discussion of the NAGC Task Force for IQ Test Interpretation and the studies the group conducted and analyzed. Effective administration and scoring options will be presented to optimize identification of gifted children using the WISC-IV when assessment with a comprehensive intelligence test can be done.
Learning Objectives for CEUs:

Understand the scoring patterns of gifted children on the WISC-IV in three research studies, and interpret their meaning.

Learn guidelines for choice of global scores for gifted identification and options in WISC-IV administration.

Alan S. Kaufman and James C. Kaufman -- KEYNOTE ADDRESS -- Intelligence and Creativity: A Father-and-Son's Perspective on Gifted Assessment. We will discuss advances in intellectual and creativity assessment over the last several decades and their impact on gifted assessment and selection. Alan will talk about the KABC-II, its dual theoretical model, and how gifted assessment played a key role in revising the original K-ABC. James will talk about new advances in creativity assessment, including new studies that examine the parameters by which experts and novices can evaluate creative performance: Do people agree on what's creative? Are there potential biases by ethnicity or gender? Both Alan and James will talk about how their separate research impacts on the identification of gifted children from ethnic minorities.
Learning Objectives for CEUs:

Understand how the KABC-II's dual theoretical model relates to enhanced assessment of gifted children and adolescents.

Understand modern conceptions of creativity.

Know the research on creativity and fairness.

Understand how the methodology for evaluating both intelligence and creativity can increase the number of minority students who are identified.

Kathi Kearney: Don't Throw Away ANY Binet! The last three revisions of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (SBLM, SB-IV, and the current SB5), in whole or in part, remain very useful for assessing specific types of intellectual giftedness and talent. The latest edition (SB5) is one of the best instruments for testing very young gifted children. Because of its wide range and high ceiling, with items suitable for children from aged two through adulthood, there are no artificial limits on measuring capability. This presentation will discuss the use of the SBLM with gifted children who are highly verbal and as a supplemental test for exceptionally and profoundly gifted children; portions of the SB-IV and SB5 that assist with the documentation of strong abilities in visual-spatial and quantitative reasoning; and the use of the SB5's Gifted Composite Score, Extended IQ, and Rasch-Ratio scores to obtain a better estimate of the abilities of gifted children and teens.
Learning Objectives for CEUs:

Become familiar with the ways the various Stanford-Binets can assist in assessment of gifted children, particularly those who are very young; highly gifted verbally; exceptionally or profoundly gifted; or those with specific visual-spatial or quantitative reasoning abilities.

Linda Powers Leviton: Whole Child Assessment: Connection, Context and Qualities. Whole Child Assessment (WCA) is a type of qualitative assessment that uses the interaction and rapport built between the therapist and the child to understand the qualities that make that child unique. Through the use of historical and anecdotal documents, observation, interview, interactive play and trusting connection, the therapist identifies a wide range of qualities that can impact the child's cognitive, social, and emotional reactions in various settings. Parents receive feedback and recommendations concerning the child's learning, and personality styles, as well as their social, emotional, spiritual and cognitive processes. Understanding a child's strengths and weaknesses, skills and deficits, challenges and sensitivities can guide parents in making important decisions that will impact the family for years to come.
Learning Objectives for CEUs:

Understand the ways Whole Child Assessment can be applied to help parents and schools better understand a child's unique qualities, skills, challenges and potential.

Betty Maxwell: WISC-IV Interpretation in the Light of Gifted Complexity. There is more to learn from an IQ test situation than its scores. When testing the gifted, there are also intensitivities and their fallout. This presentation looks at the way being visual-spatial, overexcitable, attentionally challenged, profoundly intelligent, or affected by sensory processing deficits, to name a few possibilities, can leave their traces among test results. Although a high level of intelligence tends to mask such problems, their footprints are not totally invisible to an alert eye. Betty will share her observations about score rankings and test item responses that point to diagnostic factors helpful to uncover in serving the whole child.
Learning Objectives for CEUs:

Gain a sense of how factors other than intelligence may affect test results.

Become aware of the role of sensory processing in its many guises.

Delight in the complex individualities of gifted children.

Sylvia Rimm: How Can We Find Exceptionally Gifted Children? Using Rimm Ratios to Go Beyond Ceiling Scores. In 1922, Columbia University's Leta Hollingworth divided her highly gifted students into two classes: one with an average IQ of 145: the other, 165. Teaching and observations of the groups were very different. Because contemporary standardized IQ tests rarely score beyond 155, and exceptionally gifted children achieve ceiling scores on some subtests, these tests do not identify the differences among the exceptionally gifted. The assumption that we must use standard scores has stymied our efforts to identify extraordinarily gifted children. A ratio based score is developmentally defensible and can be criterion referenced. Although the WISC-IV was not developed to be used with ratio scores, the age equivalent tables provided in its manual can lay the groundwork for exploring the impact of using ratio scores and can provide the impetus for test developers to explore such possibilities in the future.
Learning Objectives for CEUs:

Become aware of the need to differentiate among gifted students to identify those who are exceptionally gifted.

Understand how to use a ratio approach to calculate IQ scores should they wish to apply it to gain a better understanding of exceptionally gifted children.

Annemarie Roeper: The Annemarie Roeper Method of Qualitative Assessment. Gifted children are emotionally, as well as cognitively, different. The ANNEMARIE ROEPER METHOD OF QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT is an alternative to IQ testing or it can be used in conjunction with IQ tests. It has been practiced successfully for over 20 years with thousands of children. It uses the evaluator as an instrument who relates to the child with no preconceived agenda. The purpose is to look into the Soul of the child. This method has been demonstrated on videotape through a grant from the Malone Foundation and is now available at Roeper School. The accuracy of this method has been validated repeatedly by other measures.
Learning Objectives for CEUs:

Gain a different perspective on the assessment of gifted children using qualitative methods.

Linda Kreger Silverman: A New Era in the Identification of the Gifted. We have entered a new era in the testing industry marked by a resurgence of interest in the gifted. In August, 2005, the first symposium on assessment of the gifted was held in New Orleans in conjunction with the World Council for Gifted Children. In June, 2006, the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) appointed what was to become the first Task Force on Assessment. In November, 2007, the NAGC Task Force completed a study of 334 gifted children from 8 sites. In January, 2008, NAGC posted a position statement on the use of the WISC-IV for eligibility to gifted programs. In February, 2008, Pearson Assessments posted extended norms for the WISC-IV. This second symposium was created to discuss the implications of these historic events.
Learning Objectives for CEUs:

Understand the necessity and methodology of locating exceptionally gifted children.

Understand the implications of the NAGC Position Statement and extended norms for the identification of twice exceptional children.

John Wasserman: Use of Group-Administered Tests in Selection of Gifted Students: A Comparative Review. Large scale group-administered ability testing in school represents a common method of screening students for possible placement in gifted academic programs. This presentation will critically review leading and upcoming group ability tests, including the CogAT, OLSAT, Raven's Progressive Matrices, and NNAT. Findings from a large East Coast gifted and talented screening program will be reported. The strengths and limitations of group testing are described, and directions for future research suggested.
Learning Objectives for CEUs:

Know the characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of leading group ability tests

Understand the relationship between group- and individually-administered intelligence tests

Know about issues in fairness with group tests

Know the major limitations of group nonverbal tests

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The Symposium is pleased to acknowledge its gratitude of our co-sponsors:

With any questions about the Symposium, please contact Symposium organizer Donna Hay at 818-905-6249 or email: dhay16301@sbcglobal.net.