Welcome to our new group! Start to learn all that is going on with gifted education here

[Deb]

Today, Brandi Pack and I created this group. Brandi has a gifted
preschooler and elementary aged children. I have two gifted children
- a daughter in middle school and a son in high school. We don't
want parents living here in Napa County to feel "alone" with these
issues, which can be uncomfortable to talk about, so we created this
online group today especially for parents.

I want to share how happy and thriving my kids because of: 1) skills
we taught them at home to support themselves emotionally,
academically, and in general; 2) support for "who they are" that we
provide at home, 3) solutions we found to meet their learning needs in
school and also out of school; 4) friends who appreciate them for who
they are, a number of whom are also gifted.

Here is what is improving greatly for gifted children in the valley
that I will share more on later, to help you find supports you may
need too:

- frequent community talks on the topic of giftedness so parents can
learn information and access supports... many are coming up this
fall. See next post.

- mental health professionals specializing in gifted youth who can
help assess children, prevent misdiagnosis and misunderstanding of
gifted children and teens,and provide support. These professionals
also help train schools. We had to bring in someone out of state to do
this assessment a few years ago in order to prevent misdiagnosis of
gifted children so I'm thrilled that this expertise is here in our
community now.

- teacher training rolling out of the Napa Valley Unified School
district (NVUSD) that teachers in other school districts and in
private schools can often participate in too.

- reforms related to differentiating education that you can be a part
of extending further in the NVUSD and/or other public or private
schools. Parent involvement, with a gracious attitude, speeds up the
pace of education reform relating to gifted learning needs.

- more parent networking on this topic. Creating this on-line group
this networking was the logical, next step.

- DVD's we made last year on giftedness and anxiety (Eng and Span.)
that you can watch over your computer, with your child if needed, to
help your child, for example, to understand anxiety better. These
DVDS are now in NVUSD schools and we can share links to them shortly.

- awareness of resources also in the community which help with
"gifted" needs and struggles, supplementing what's available to
support children in school

- online learning options (these helped my son take classes several
years above grade level and get credit for classes completed... a
number of online learning options are expanding in our schools and in
the nation)

See more in future posts.

Brandi may be doing more of the "group administration than I will be
doing." We're getting the ball rolling and want to invite any
interested adult to lead this process of networking and mutual
support.

I will post resources that I know of..

Feel free to call me with any questions,

Debbie Alter-Starr, 480-7436 (cell.)

[Brandi Pack]

Looking forward to growing this group! :)