Program on Academically Gifted Program Held at Plainfield South High School

 Andrew Mahoney, a licensed professional counselor specializing in therapy and counseling for gifted children will speak about serving and advocating for talented and gifted children at a community event on Tuesday, January 25, 2011.
 
Mahoney will speak from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the auditorium at Plainfield South High School, 7800 W. Caton Farm Road, Plainfield. Refreshments will be served starting at 6 p.m.
 
The event is free and open to anyone with gifted students, or who is interested in the topic of gifted education.
 
The event is presented by Partners Recognizing Individual Developmental Excellence, (“PRIDE,”) the District 202 group for parents of gifted children, as part of PRIDE’s Gifted/Honors Winter Parent Event.
 
Mahoney spoke on a similar topic last January and was very well received.
 
He will discuss the process of how children differentiate and integrate an identity that fits who they are, and will discuss how parents can become a better advocate to facilitate that process for your gifted and talented child.
 
Advocating for gifted students requires an understanding of the child’s whole person as well as his or her giftedness and talent, Mahoney said.
 
“This presentation is about your understanding of how your child develops an identity that fits for them and how their giftedness and talent is expressed in a healthy manner through that identity, one that is differentiated and integrated,” he said.
 
“This awareness of who they are as a whole person leads to your capability as a parent to advocate and support their needs in areas such as working with the schools or other overlapping systems that influence their identity development,” Mahoney said.