PAST EVENTS:
January 2005
Linda Kreger Silverman, Ph.d,
Author of Upside Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner
and her colleague,
Alexandra ("Allie") Shires Golon,
Author of the companion book, Raising the Topsy-Turvy Kids.
Visual-Spatial Learners are talented in right-brained abilities: creativity, intuitive knowledge, multi-dimensional perception, inventive strategies in science and technology. Their talents made the computer, the internet, the vivid displays at the Olympics and the International Space Station possible. Yet these unconventional, talented visionaries often struggle in school. What can we learn from them? How can we teach in the way they best learn?
Dr. Linda Kreger Silverman has spent nearly 30 years researching how children learn. She has found that approximately one third of learners are visual-spatial, and that this percentage is on the rise. She has observed striking patterns of visual-spatial strengths and right-brained dominance in gifted students, students diagnosed with learning disabilities and ADHD, and students who are both gifted and learning disabled/ADHD. The talents and skills of visual-spatial learners are essential as we move through the 21st century. Dr. Silverman’s work reveals the unique thinking and learning styles of visual-spatial learners, and what it takes for them to reach their full potential.
March 2004
Jonathan Mooney
Author of Learning Outside the Lines
Jonathan Mooney is a writer and activist. All through school he struggled with ADHD and dyslexia and did not learn to read until he was 12 years old. He graduated from Brown University with an honors degree in English Literature. A published author at 22 years of age with his acclaimed book, Learning Outside the Lines, Jonathan Mooney's story is both fascinating and inspirational. He opens our eyes to the often unrecognized gifts and potential of highly able students with learning difficulties with his entertaining and humorous style.
Mooney has lectured internationally, and has been featured and quoted in The New York Times, The Providence Journal, The Boston Globe, and USA Today. Mooney was awarded the distinguished Truman Fellowship for graduate study in the field of education and public service and was a national finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship. He is currently traveling around the country in a school bus, researching his latest book.
November 2002
Susan Baum, Ph.d
Author of To be Gifted and Learning Disabled: From Definitions to Practical Intervention Strategies and Twice-Exceptional and Special Populations of Gifted Students (Essential Readings in Gifted Education)
How can a child learn and not learn at the same time? Why do some students apply little or not time to school tasks while they commit time and considerable effort to demanding, creative activities, outside of school? These behaviors defined GIFTED, LEARNING DISABLED students. Indeed, discovering answers to these questions will unlock the unique mysteries of students who are bright but learning disabled. The answers will also clarify the dilemma these students face daily in coping with the paradox of school failure and creative achievement.
Susan Baum, Ph.D. is an educator, an author, a consultant, and a co-founder of AEGUS, the Association for the Education of Gifted Underachieving Students.
She is currently Professor of Education at the Graduate School of the College of New Rochelle. There she draws on her background in both special and gifted education to teach courses in elementary education and the education of gifted and talented students. Her writing and research cover many areas of education, including differentiated curriculum and instruction, gifted education, gifted learning-disabled students, and gifted underachieving students. In addition, she consults nationally and internationally and has served on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Gifted Children.
