My hurried, crooked, parking alignment, three feet from the curb confirms the rush of my excitement when I arrive to a Thanksgiving party last November hosted by old school friends and their parents. They were outside waiting for me to arrive with wide waves of welcome and a beautiful gift related to a forty-year-old inside joke born from an adolescent incident occurring one summer night when we were much younger.  

Although I will not share historical specifics of our youthful merriment, I can tell you we use the phrase: O Tannenbaum! to memorialize the joke as both salutation and touchstone in many of our current day communications, and at all of our special event interactions. I am fortunate in this world to rely on a steady anchor of an inside joke fitted many summers ago, grounded in friendship, high spirits, and remembrance.  

Last summer, after accepting an invitation from IEA to visit camp Yunasa West, I drove on gorgeous Colorado-in-July twisty creekside roads to tour campgrounds, hang out by the lake with Fellows, break bread with staff, and facilitate an art workshop with campers. 

Several of the remarkable experiences I had at camp include: circles of children and camp counselors and Fellows together in conversation, activity, or easeful silence; children seeking out Fellows to share progress on a project or a thought process; camp counselors welcoming me with an inheritance of being former campers themselves; dialogue with a young camp counselor who made excellent suggestions to help me best serve children in my art workshop; witnessing the simultaneous kindness, precision, and flexibility of Nicole and her IEA team in developing and supporting both the structure and flow of the camp day; being let in on a camp inside joke cryptically called Peach Juice!, which is where I wish to focus for the rest of my writing today. 

Although I do not have permission to share details of Peach Juice! with you, I can tell you it is a mighty, mighty inside camp joke, hatched during an ordinary moment, post Pandemic, from the same muse I suspect served me and my friends well in our O Tannenbaum! youth. Celebrity enough of an inside joke to have its own polished Peach Juice! board game, complete with a Michael Piechowski game character, unveiled this past summer by a bright and industrious camper. I hope the legacy of Peach Juice! has the fortitude and legs to thread through the Yunasa West community for the next forty years and beyond.  

Human happiness within the circumstances of time, space, memory, and shared experience is perhaps one of the best ways to find some meaning in this life. O Tannenbaum! has happened. Peach Juice! has happened. I was there. You were there. I hope everyone has something like Peach Juice! in their lives to hold and carry as a personal and community talisman and (also) amulet in bright times and in dark (as I write, IEA’s Pasadena and nearby areas are on fire). I also wish I could somehow see out ahead to witness these camp friends in adulthood, reuniting for a few birthdays and holidays, arriving and parking in crooked haste in order not to miss a minute together nor the toast to the well-being and bestowal of Peach Juice! 

Thank you, IEA and community of camp Yunasa West 2024, for the wonderful visit this past summer. Keep up your good and virtuous work. Stay safe and take good care. Until we meet again…Peach Juice! 

Catherine Zakoian is a licensed and national board certified counselor based in Boulder, CO. For close to 25 years she has specialized in counseling gifted, profoundly gifted, and twice exceptional (2e) children, adolescents, teens, adults, families, and organizations.

Learn more about her and her practice at: https://catherinezakoian.com/

On February 9, 2019, IEA celebrated its 20^th anniversary! The event took place at Annandale Golf Club with over 100 guests in attendance. Student volunteers played music, facilitated jeopardy and mingled with guests. One family even put on a photo booth for the event! It was truly a wonderful night filled with old and new community members celebrating 20 years of friendship and services for gifted youth.

The evening also honored several key players in IEA’s development as an organization: The Bradley Foundation and IEA Senior Fellows, Patricia Gatto-Walden, Stephanie Tolan and Michael Piechowski. The honorees flew in from all over the country for the occasion.

Student speakers, Nico and Alondra, shared about their experiences with IEA and the impact that the programs, teachers and support have had on their life.

After dinner, a there was a DJ, dancing, desert, more jeopardy and photos.

All in all the evening was a wonderful success. Thank you to all of those who helped support this event, including: Dennis Finnerman, Jill Hawkins & MHP Events, the sponsors and guests. We are so grateful for all of you!

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

Giant Sequoia

The Bradley Foundation
The Burke Family

Jeffrey Pine

Betsy Jones & Ted Mergenthaler
The McDonell Family
Teri and John Valentine

Live Oak

The Balbuena Family
Becky and Peter Knell
The Lee Family
Math Academy
Parents of Alexander Miller
Rodriguez, Horii, Choi & Cafferata, LLP
The Tracey Family

Media Sponsor

Pasadena Now

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As part of the festivities, we will be honoring two groups instrumental to the founding of IEA.

IEA Senior Fellows

The Senior Fellows have years of experience working with gifted youth and shaping gifted discourse. Their expertise was crucial to the development of IEA through the research and implementation of the awarding winning Yunasa camps.  Their years of service as facilitators at Yunasa and advisors to IEA remain invaluable.

Dr. Patricia Gatto-Walden is a licensed psychologist who has worked holistically with thousands of gifted and profoundly gifted children, adolescents, and adults for more than 35 years. In her adjunct educational consulting practice, she has helped parents, educators, and administrators understand and accept the multifaceted inner world and needs of gifted individuals. Dr. Gatto-Walden additionally provides two-day comprehensive family retreats, entitled “educational consulting and family renewal,” which blend counseling and consulting services. She is a featured speaker at gifted conferences and educational workshops throughout the nation.

Michael M. Piechowski, Ph.D. is the author of Mellow Out, They Say. If I Only Could: Intensities and Sensitivities of the Young and Bright and Living with Intensity (with S. Daniels). Earning a PhD first in Molecular Biology and later in Counseling Psychology, he served as a faculty member at three universities and one small college. He has published extensively in the areas of emotional development, developmental potential of the gifted, and emotional and spiritual giftedness. He is one of the original designers of Yunasa. In 2016 he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by SENG and the NAGC Global Awareness Network Annemarie Roeper Award.

Stephanie Tolan, M.A. is author of 27 books of fiction for children and young adults, including the Newbery Honor Award-winning novel Surviving the Applewhites and Applewhites at Wit’s End, Listen!, Welcome to the Ark, Flight of the Raven, and Ordinary Miracles. Her non-fiction writing includes Guiding the Gifted Child (co-author), Change Your Story, Change Your Life, and an article about highly gifted children that has been translated into more than 40 languages, “Is It a Cheetah?” She is a well-known lecturer and advocate for highly gifted young people.

The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation

The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation has been a pivotal supporter of IEA since the organization’s inception. Their generosity has assisted IEA in its general operations, public policy efforts, and technology program.

In 2014, with generous support from Sarah D. Barder, The Bradley Foundation has continued to fund the  Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship initiative.  Since its inception in 2002, the program has awarded 293 high school students with merit based scholarships. These students are provided with the resources and guidance to find and attend an optimally-matched high school program that meets their unique intellectual and personal needs. This guidance and support continues throughout their high school careers.

Support from The Bradley Foundation has enabled IEA to serve thousands of gifted children over the years and continues to help us fight for a population very much in need of services.

Join the Celebration!

Join us on February 9th at our 20^th Anniversary Celebration, to be held at The Annandale Golf Club of Pasadena, and help show our appreciation for these and other exceptional advocates for gifted education.

To sponsor and/or purchase tickets or a program ad to the event, click here.

“I’m bored out of my mind” says a piano student who practiced for hours every day under the diligent watch of his parent.

How could someone work so much and be so bored?

People who work and study for the sake of doing, or do it because of external pressure, can burnout quickly. Gifted children, who are highly sensitive and embody various cognitive, physical, and emotional intensities, are more prone to burnout and boredom, as explained in Dabrowski’s over-excitabilities (OE).

For example, gifted children can concentrate on learning one subject for a long time as long as they are mentally stimulated. This is characterized as psychomotor OE – a high-energy child. However, if their mind is insufficiently stimulated, or if they already know the subject before class starts, they get bored quickly and lose interest in the subject they are learning. Children with psychomotor OE can often be misdiagnosed as ADHD.

In addition, the thirst for knowledge, or intellectual OE, is a common trait in gifted children. They are deeply curious about the world around them, love to ask probing questions, and can be highly self-critical with their struggles to be “perfect”. The need to be “perfect”, which is often measured by test scores and achievement, can be a disastrous recipe for burnout.

Gifted children often struggle with over-developing one aspect of self, while overlooking the rest of who they are. As Dr. Michael Piechowski, author of  Mellow Out, They Say. If I Only Could. Intensities and Sensitivities of the Young and Bright.  eloquently stated, “… cognition without an emotional sense to give it value, positive or negative, is sterile. The passion for learning and mastery, so characteristic of the gifted, is driven by a very powerful emotion: intense interest.”

It is important to recognize that gifted children not only think differently than other children, they also feel differently. Their intellectual complexity combined with their emotional intensity gives them a qualitatively different way of experiencing the world. Nurturing a gifted child’s body, heart, social and emotional self is key to putting value to their achievement and finding balance.

Elizabeth Jones is the President and Founder of The Institute for Educational Advancement. She has worked with gifted and special needs children and their families for more than 20 years. Her current work emphasizes advocacy and the development and administration of specialized programs for underserved youth. She also consults with gifted children and their families to help them find solutions to meet each child’s intellectual, physical, spiritual, social and emotional needs.

Tragedies make us feel helpless. As adults looking for answers, dealing with heartache and trying to process what has happened, it is vital that we honor the fears and concerns of our children, as well. This can be extremely difficult when we don’t understand the events ourselves. It is hard to grasp entering into a conversation with our children without knowing the answers to who, what, why and if it will happen again.

Children can be extremely affected by catastrophes, whether acts of nature or human infliction. They see adults as the gatekeepers to their safety; but when the adults in a child’s world have no control over a tragedy occurring, children often lose their sense of security. They just cannot understand why.

Gifted children exhibit high levels of intensity and sensitivity and can be even more deeply impacted by events such as the Boston bombings. Not only do they feel a loss of security, but they also have a profound feeling of empathy for the victims and a tremendous need to understand and “fix” the problem.

A six-year-old client going through some stress recently had a dream that he was able to bring back a World War II battleship to the New York harbor on September 11, 2001, and the ship saved the Twin Towers. He used what he knew to fix a problem – and prevent a horrible tragedy – that happened years before he was born. It brought him comfort.

Emotionally sensitive, highly able students feel very deeply and have a strong sense of justice and moral fairness. It is hard enough to cope with horrific events; yet, when you feel a responsibility to fix the problem, it can be completely overwhelming. Gifted children have an early awareness of complex problems facing humanity. They experience emotional intensity at a greater level than their non-gifted counterparts. As a result, their concerns should be understood and respected. Telling children they should not worry or think about a tragic event that is now part of their frame of reference can cause children to feel inadequate because they are not able to control their emotions. Feeling insecure can trigger more anxiety and loss of control.

Michael Piechowski speaks about the complex inner lives, early ethical concerns and heightened awareness of the world gifted children experience. This often causes internal confusion and tension between “what is” and “what ought to be.”

How can we help our children cope with tragic events when we don’t even understand the why? Here are some suggestions:

• Gifted children have vivid imaginations. Without appropriate, honest conversation, they will often imagine the worst that could happen to their family, pets, friends and others.
• If possible, be the first one to communicate the event. Give your child honest answers, but do not overload them with details. Limit exposure to media and graphic images. Be prepared to have several conversations that may include asking the same question over and over. Gifted children have a strong affective memory, which causes them to relive significant moments in their lives. Your child will not forget about it, even if you stop them from talking about it.
• Be consistent and reassuring, but do not make unrealistic promises. Children take cues from their parents. Share your concerns and grief, but do not do all the talking. Listen and let your child take the lead. Ensure they know that you always do the best you can to make them and other family members safe.
• Coordinate information between school, home and other locations where your child spends time. Articulate your child’s concerns and deep feelings of empathy to the teachers and others who interact with your child. Remind these people that your child is likely to react differently than peers and that your child is likely to continue to remember and be affected by the event for a longer time than classmates. It is important for everyone in your child’s life to understand this.
• Reestablish a schedule or routine as soon as possible. The normalcy of activities is comforting and can assist children in healing.
• Work with your child to establish ways to take action to support the victims. Encourage and suggest positive ways they can make a difference, like raising money or writing notes.
• Reinforce things in your child’s life that provide safety, including police, fire fighters, school officials and protocol of what to do when a potential problem occurs. Discuss the fact that, although tragedies occur, they are rare; it is important to be prepared, though.
• Encourage emotional, physical, creative and spiritual outlets that can relieve your child’s tensions. This is a good opportunity to discuss ways to rejuvenate yourself when difficult things happen. Expression through the arts can be calming.

Most importantly, be together and reach out to help. And, by far, touch, understanding and unconditional love are the most powerful coping mechanisms for all of us.

What strategies have helped you talk to your child about tragedy? Please share with others in the comment section below.

Children who feel things with great intensity experience the world in a different way. Gifted young people are often more aware, stimulated, and affected by their surroundings. Emotional or physical reactions to events can last longer than expected and are often replayed in the child’s mind.

Intensities can be characterized by:

• Extreme feelings: positive or negative feelings; complex emotions; connection with the feelings of others; grand laughter and tears
• Physical reaction to emotion: stomachaches and headaches; blushing; rise in body temperature
• Strong affective memory: re-living or re-feeling things long after the triggering event; nightmares; elaborate daydreams connected to actual events

Psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski studied the mental health of gifted youth and adults. He described the areas of heightened stimulation observed in gifted individuals as “overexcitabilites.” The five areas of overexcitabilites are:

1. Psychomotor: extreme physical activity and movement; rapid talk; pacing; use of hand gestures
2. Sensual: perceptiveness of sensory experiences; unusual awareness and enjoyment of sensation
3. Imaginational: clear visualizations; metaphorical speech; dreaming; magical thinking
4. Intellectual: need to question or analyze; delight in the abstract and theoretical; puzzle and problem solving
5. Emotional: intensity of feeling and relationships; natural empathy and compassion; susceptibility to depression, anxiety, or loneliness

Dr. Michael Piechowski, who studied alongside Dabroswski, has dedicated much of his life to researching the emotional and spiritual aspects of gifted children. In his book ‘Mellow Out,’ They Say. If Only I Could: Intensities and Sensitivities of the Young and Bright, he stresses the need to “give voice to the emotional life of bright young people, to show how their intensities and sensitivities make them more alive, more creative, and more in love with the world and its wonders.”

Piechowski, along with other gifted experts, teaches gifted children a variety of techniques for coping with their overexcitabilities. For Caroline, this required her teachers, parents, and siblings to understand and embrace her overexcitabilities. At the same time, Caroline learned exercises to calm her senses and help her focus.

Guided imagery and meditation are excellent tools for those like Caroline learning to master their sensitivities. A good place to start is with a simple exercise. Have your child close his or her eyes, breathe deeply, and say with the breath,

“Breathing in I calm my body,
Breathing out, I smile.”

Learning to use the mind to control the body through exercises like this — along with overall awareness and understanding — is an important step in mastering intensities.

For more strategies, see our post 15 Strategies for Managing Your Gifted Child’s Intensities.

Does your child experience any of these overexcitabilities? What coping techniques have worked for you? Please share with us in the comment section below!

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We are excited to share this post as part of the New Zealand Gifted Awareness Week Blog Tour. Gifted children worldwide share many unique characteristics, including intensities. It is important for those who are in the lives of these gifted individuals to better understand these characteristics in order to help nurture and support their intellectual, social, spiritual, emotional, and physical growth.